CFPB SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENTS REGARDING CREDIT CARD FEES

The CFPB has announced that it will begin seeking public comments regarding “back-end fees” to help inform its future agenda. This initiative is part of the CFPB’s recently announced examination of credit card rates and fees with an eye toward ensuring “robust and fair competition” in the credit card market. See our ALERT of Jan. 25, 2022. The CFPB is targeting the so-called “fee economy” that “conceals the true price of products (including credit cards) from the competitive process,” citing internal research that found that credit card companies charged over $14 billion in late fees and over $15 billion in overdraft and NSF fees in 2019. In the CFPB’s view, “excessive” and “exploitative” fees charged by banks and non-bank financial institutions, whether predictable and transparent or not, have become “widespread,” “far exceeding” the marginal cost of the services they purport to cover. Read More