Hybrid Hearing - The End of Overdraft Fees? Examining the Movement to Eliminate... (EventID=114574)

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Connect with the House Financial Services Committee Get the latest news: https://democrats-financialservices.house.gov/ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HouseFinancialCmte Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FSCDems ___________________________________ On Thursday, March 31, 2022, at 10:00 p.m. (ET) Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chairman Perlmutter and Ranking Member Luetkemeyer will host a hybrid hearing entitled, “The End of Overdraft Fees? Examining the Movement to Eliminate the Fees Costing Consumers Billions." ___________________________________ Witnesses for this one-panel hearing will be: • Jeremie Greer, Co-Founder/Executive Director, Liberation in a Generation • Elyse Hicks, Consumer Policy Counsel, Americans for Financial Reform • Paul Kundert, President and CEO, UW Credit Union • Santiago Sueiro, Senior Policy Analyst, UnidosUS • Todd Zywicki, George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University ___________________________________ Overview “Overdraft” refers to when a consumer carries out a transaction of an amount that exceeds the balance in their checking account, and their financial institution allows the transaction to proceed by covering the difference.1 In many cases, financial institutions charge a fee for this service, which can be as high as $36, and institutions can repeatedly charge this fee for multiple transactions in the same day. Similarly, when a consumer does not have enough funds available in their account at the time of a transaction (e.g., a check bounces), a financial institution can reject the transaction and may issue a nonsufficient funds (NSF) fee. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) estimates U.S. consumers paid $15.47 billion in overdraft and NSF fees in 2019 and $8.84 billion in 2020. In recent months, the CFPB has launched an initiative to investigate exploitative fees charged by financial institutions, while several institutions have announced plans to reduce or eliminate the overdraft fees they charge. This hearing will examine evolving trends regarding overdraft programs and fees, their impact on consumers, alternative products or services available to consumers to help avoid overdraft fees, and policy proposals to improve consumer protections when consumers overdraft... Hearing page: https://democrats-financialservices.house.gov/events/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=409153