CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General
The FDIC board on July 30 approved a notice of proposed rulemaking intended to strengthen the prudential protections of the agency’s safety and soundness rule for brokered deposits (12 CFR 337.6).
The proposal would subject brokered deposits to heightened regulation as well as expand the definition of brokered deposits, including by eliminating certain exceptions to the rule.… Continue Reading
On April 8, 2024, a Minnesota federal district court dismissed without prejudice the complaint filed by the Minnesota Bankers Association and Lake Central Bank (Plaintiffs) against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) challenging the FDIC’s guidance on non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees.
Plaintiffs filed their complaint in July 2023 seeking declaratory and injunctive relief under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) against defendants FDIC and Chairman Martin J.… Continue Reading
In January 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed two new rules: one restricting overdraft fees and the other prohibiting nonsufficient funds fees on certain declined transactions. The proposals are the CFPB’s latest moves in furtherance of the Biden Administration’s “junk fees” agenda. They represent a particularly aggressive use by the CFPB of its regulatory authorities with potentially significant implications.… Continue Reading
The CFPB has released a new issue of Supervisory Highlights that carries the title “Junk Fees Update Special Edition.” The report discusses the CFPB’s examinations involving fees in the areas of deposits, auto servicing, and remittances that were generally completed between February 2023 and August 2023. The report updates the CFPB’s “Junk Fees Special Edition” of Supervisory Highlights issued in March 2023. … Continue Reading
The CFPB and the OCC announced that they have each entered into a consent order with Bank of America, N.A. for alleged violations arising from the Bank’s representment fee practices (“Fee Consent Orders”). The CFPB also announced that it has entered into a second consent order with the Bank for alleged violations arising from certain of the Bank’s credit card-related practices. … Continue Reading
The CFPB has issued a circular that addresses the reopening of closed deposit accounts (Circular 2023-02). Specifically, the circular warns that it can constitute an unfair act or practice for a financial institution to unilaterally reopen closed accounts to process debits or deposits.
By way of background, the CFPB describes a scenario in which, after a consumer has completed all of the steps required by the financial institution to close a deposit account and the financial institution has closed the account, the financial institution unilaterally reopens the account after receiving a debit or deposit to the account. … Continue Reading
The Consumer Bankers Association has released the results of a national survey that looked at how consumers value banking services and innovation. The survey was conducted in February 2023 and included 1,197 adults across the U.S., representative by geography, age, gender, education level, and race.
Key survey results included the following:
In light of ongoing events concerning the recent bank failures and the response of regulators, we are releasing this week’s podcast episode earlier than our regular Thursday release date.
After reviewing the circumstances leading to the failure of SVB and historic parallels, we discuss the merits of the regulators’ decision to invoke the Systemic Risk Exception and protect all SVB deposit accounts, notwithstanding the $250,000 FDIC insurance limitation, alternate approaches that regulators might have considered for protecting uninsured funds, and the Fed’s creation of the Bank Term Funding Program to make available additional funding to eligible depository institutions. … Continue Reading
On October 26, 2022, President Biden appeared at the White House with Rohit Chopra, CFPB Director, and Lina Khan, FTC Chair, to announce that his Administration is taking action to eliminate all “junk fees,” such as fees for deposited checks that are returned unpaid, surprise banking overdraft fees, hidden hotel booking fees and termination charges to stop people from changing cable plans. … Continue Reading
The FDIC has issued new supervisory guidance (FIL-40-2022) on multiple non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees arising from the re-presentment of the same unpaid transaction. The guidance directly applies only to state-chartered banks and thrifts that are not members of the Federal Reserve System. National banks and federal thrifts are supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System are supervised by the Federal Reserve Board (FRB). … Continue Reading
