U.S. Senate Approves of Big Banks Charging Excessive Overdraft Fees

March 27, 2025

For Immediate Release:

Senate Approves of Big Banks Charging Account Holders Excessive Overdraft Fees

The U.S. Senate today voted (52-48) to repeal a Consumer Protection Bureau rule that limits overdraft fees. Below is the statement of Christine Hines, Senior Policy Director at the National Association of Consumer Advocates

“The Senate’s vote today to approve a Congressional Review Act resolution that would overturn a newly required limit on big-bank overdraft fees is not only deeply disappointing, it also lacks foresight.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a rule that updates an overdraft fee practice from the paper-check era. By limiting overdraft fees from $35 to $5, the bureau closed a loophole that had allowed the largest banks to earn billions in unearned profits on the backs of working families. Based on the CFPB’s estimates at the time, the rule would save $5 billion annually in overdraft fees, about $225 per household typically charged these fees.

The Senate denied itself the opportunity to protect struggling military families and seniors from these unwarranted junk fees. Instead, it kept the door open for the largest financial institutions—the only providers required to comply with the rule—to continue imposing outlandish costs on people.

The Senate also failed to move in step with innovation in the consumer financial market, specifically with the big banks that have already ended or limited predatory overdraft fee practices.”

The full House has yet to vote on the resolution.

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