Tell Congress: Support the CFPB’s $5 Cap on Overdraft Junk Fees

December 16, 2024

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) overdraft fee rule is at risk. This important new protection will slash typical overdraft fees at big banks from $35 per transaction to just $5, saving the 23 million households who pay overdraft fees $5 billion a year, an average of $225/year for households who pay overdraft fees.

The new rule helps millions of people, but it still faces threats. Siding with Wells Fargo and other big banks over working families, Republican leadership, joined by several senators and House members, has introduced Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions to overturn rule.

The rule will help everyone but especially families that are struggling with high prices and making ends meet. The rule:

• Reduces most deceptively-named “courtesy” overdraft fees from $35 to $5, while allowing safer, more transparent overdraft lines of credit with no price limit; 
• Saves $5 billion in overdraft fees annually, averaging $225 per household every year that pays overdraft fees; and
• Addresses a major reason people – particularly people of color – avoid banks or lose their bank accounts and become unbanked. 

If Congress sides with big banks over struggling families and votes in support of the resolution to overturn the rule, it would remove the reasonable cap on overdraft fees and stop future attempts to adopt a rule that is substantially the same – which could mean the sky is the limit for big banks.

The attack on the overdraft fee rule is part of a broader attack on the CFPB itself and its efforts to rein in hidden junk fees and corporate abuses. Since its formation, the CFPB has obtained over $21 billion in relief for over 205 million people.

Consumers and advocates should also share their story about how the CFPB’s overdraft rule and broader junk fees initiative impacts them, their clients, and their families. NCLC will be working in the courts and in Congress with all of you and our allies to preserve this important rule that will save consumers $5 billion or more in fees every year.

Thank you for your help!