The CFPB today issued a request for information seeking comments on fees associated with financial products and services offered by banks and non-bank financial institutions, including overdraft fees, insufficient funds fees, credit card fees, remittance fees, prepaid account fees and mortgage fees, among others. Comments on the RFI will be due March 31.
The bureau said it would use the feedback received from the RFI to “assist the CFPB and policymakers in exercising its enforcement, supervision, regulatory and other authorities to create fairer, more transparent and competitive consumer financial markets.”
In a joint statement with six other financial trade groups today, the American Bankers Association called the CFPB’s effort “misguided,” noting that it paints a “distorted and misleading picture” of the nation’s financial services marketplace. “Multiple federal laws and the CFPB’s own rules already require banks, credit unions and other providers of consumer financial services to disclose terms and fees in a clear and conspicuous manner, and our members do so each and every day,” the groups said. “Consumers in this country know they have a wide range of choices when it comes to financial services products, and those businesses compete every day, including on fees. We look forward to responding to this request for information with facts and perspective sadly lacking from today’s announcement.”
