Letter - People Power United joined coalition efforts to oppose a resolution to harm consumers
🗽A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.
People Power United joined coalition efforts to oppose a resolution to harm consumers. Shout out to the National Consumer Law Center for leading these efforts. Here is the letter sent on behalf of our membership.
For Immediate Release
February 5, 2025
Committee on Financial Services
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Re: Oppose resolution to overturn CFPB overdraft fee rule
Dear Representative,
The undersigned 201 consumer, civil rights, labor, legal services and community organizations and academics write to urge you to oppose efforts to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s overdraft fee rule, which will reduce most overdraft fees from $35 to $5, stop manipulative practices by big banks, improve transparency, and put $5 billion back into the pockets of everyday people and their families. The public widely views current overdraft fee practices as unfair.
The overdraft fee rule closes a paper-check era loophole that has allowed big banks to trick people into paying excessive overdraft fees and earn billions in profits off of the most vulnerable families. The rule lowers most so-called “courtesy” overdraft fees from $35 to $5, saving households that pay overdraft fees an average of $225 a year. The rule gives big banks a variety of options to cover overdrafts, including safer, more transparent overdraft lines of credit with no price limit and the same disclosure requirements as credit cards. The rule only applies to very large institutions with over $10 billion in assets, many of which have already adopted similar protections. Smaller banks and credit unions are completely exempt.
We urge you to stand with everyday people over big banks. Banks should not profit off the struggles of working families through excessive, back-end overdraft junk fees.
Yours truly,
20/20 Vision National
Accountable.US
American Association of People with Disabilities
American Friends Service Committee
Americans for Financial Reform (AFR)
Blue Future
CAARMA
CAMEO Network National
Center for Economic Justice
Center for Justice & Democracy
Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research (CLEAR)
Center for Responsible Lending
Center for Survivor Agency and Justice
Coalition on Human Needs
Consumer Action
Consumer Federation of America
Consumer Reports
Demand Progress Education Fund
Disability Belongs
Disability Rights Advocates
Equal Rights Advocates
Faith in Action National Network
Family Values @ Work
HEAL (Health, Environment, Agriculture, Labor) Food Alliance
Impact Fund
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
Justice in Aging
National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB)
National Association of Consumer Advocates
National Black Justice Coalition
National Center for Law and Economic Justice
National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD)
National Coalition for the Homeless
National Community Reinvestment Coalition
National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients)
National Consumers League
National Disability Institute
National Employment Law Project
National Partnership for Women & Families
National Women's Law Center National
P Street
People Power United
Public Citizen
Public Good Law Center
U.S. PIRG
Woodstock Institute
***
People Power United is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.