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"I
am asking the staff to look at whether we should reopen the CARD
Act rules ... to determine whether there needs to be any
changes," said Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
Director Rohit Chopra.
"We want to make sure ... that credit cards are a competitive
market that people can use to find lower rates," he added,
highlighting the need to specifically address late fees.
Chopra was responding to a lawmaker's question about the Credit
Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, a measure
enacted in 2009 to curb abuses following the global financial
crisis.
His statement to members of the House Financial Services
Committee comes after Reuters reported this month that the
agency would ramp up enforcement actions against lenders that
illegally charge credit card late-payment fees and may rewrite
its rules that set thresholds for such fees.
The development also marks an escalation of a broader crackdown
by the CFPB on what it calls "junk fees," a catch-all for
overdraft, credit card late-payment fees, bounced check fees,
and other charges.
Banks and credit unions pulled in more than $15 billion
inoverdraft and related fees in 2019 and $12 billion in
latecredit card fees in 2020, according to CFPB estimates.
Chopra, who was sworn in as CFPB director in October, testified
to lawmakers for a second day on Wednesday after spelling out
his agency's policy directions and enforcement actions to the
Senate Banking panel a day prior.
"The credit card market is critical to the U.S. and we need to
make sure we're living up to the ideals that Congress has set
out in the CARD Act," Chopra added.
(Reporting by Katanga Johnson in Washington; Editing by Michelle
Price and Richard Pullin)
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