Overdraft Fees
Building on a bulletin and circular from late 2022 warning banks about certain overdraft practices, the CFPB has now proposed a rule that would sharply and expressly limit fees for extensions of credit related to overdrawn transaction accounts unless the account comes under an array of consumer-protection requirements. Part of the Administration’s campaign against “junk fees,” the proposal sets a “break-even threshold based on a bank’s costs” and provides for an alternative break-even benchmark CFPB-set fee that would allow a lender to avoid costly additional regulatory requirements, expanding the Bureau’s recent focus on mandating industry pricing evident in its controversial proposal on credit-card late fees. Lines of credit and ready access to credit-card credit associated with overdrafts would also come under new limits and come under additional consumer-protection standards.