WASHINGTON–During a hearing before the House, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra offered additional direction on where the Bureau may be headed when it comes to fees, cards and more.
Appearing one day after a similar (and contentious) hearing in the Senate, Chopra again said a primary focus remains on so-called “junk fees.” But in response to a question from Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO) on possible rulemaking initiatives and the scope of the CFPB’s probe of fees, Chopra said that inter-exchange fees, while a concern for many businesses, were not part of the investigation. But junk fees such as late fees will be getting scrutiny.
But just what is a junk fee? asked Wagner.
“The way I define it is when there is a fee that is often not subject to the full competitive process, and specifically for services you may have never asked for or its cost is way in excess of what a competitive market would offer,” Chopra responded.
Chopra also told the House hearing the Bureau is concerned over “fee creep,” that is those fees that come as a surprise to many consumers.
What About Card Fees?
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) asked Chopra about card fees, and in response the CFPB director said those are a priority. In fact, said Chopra, he has asked staff to investigate whether the Bureau can reopen CARD Act rules related to any changes that are needed.
“Certainly, late fees are an area that I expect to be questions where we will solicit input on because it is important that this market is competitive,” Chopra said.
When it comes to fintech, Chopra expressed support, but added, “I have a worry. I don’t want technology in finance services just dominated by big tech companies like we see in China.”
You May Be (Actually Are) Missing Out!
Don’t forget to check your Spam/Junk email folder if you haven’t been receiving your free, popular and daily CUToday.info news headlines.
And if you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time.
CUToday.info has received very positive response from readers following the move to an improved provider of the daily headlines, but many also noted they did need to go to their Spam/Junk folder and mark it as safe.
The new email solution has not only improved every reader’s delivery experience, but it also features a fresh, new format that is easy to read, especially on mobile devices.
Please note and/or make your IT department or email administrator aware the emails will be coming from the domains CUTodayinfo.com and CUTodayinfoReply.com