By Elizabeth Dilts Marshall
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Recent changes that big U.S. banks made to overdraft and bounced check fees are progress but “not enough,” the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said on Wednesday.
CFPB Director Rohit Chopra made the comment on a call with reporters held to discuss a new initiative the agency launched to collect public comments about various “junk fees” consumers are charged by banks.
Under Chopra, the CFPB has targeted bank fees that are particularly unpopular with consumers, such as overdraft charges and non-sufficient funds fees, signaling an intent to whittle away at the fees it says harm consumers and pad banks’ profits.
In recent months, the nation’s largest banks, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co, have changed their overdraft policies, including giving customers more time to bring account balances above zero and cutting fees from $35 to $10.
“This is progress, but it is not enough,” Chopra said.
The CFPB will use the comments it collects from consumers about junk fees to guide rulemaking and guidance, and to spur competition and transparency, Chopra said.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Dilts Marshall; additional reporting by Matthew Scuffham; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
