Washington, D.C. — The American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement after President Biden and CFPB Director Rohit Chopra spoke today about the administration’s efforts to crack down on junk fees across the economy, including bank overdraft fees, airline ticketing fees, hotel booking fees, and more.

“By taking on junk fees, President Biden is putting working families’ economic well-being ahead of powerful corporations’ record profits,” said Sarah Miller, Executive Director of the American Economic Liberties Project. “From banking to credit cards, healthcare to entertainment, and hotels to airlines, big corporations all across the economy are abusing their market power to drain Americans’ bank accounts and undermine fair competition. CFPB Director Chopra and FTC Chair Khan’s focus on combatting junk fees are a model for how the administration can prove it fights for working families and fair markets, full stop. We’re encouraged to see the President demand every agency in his administration follow the CFPB’s lead and will work to make sure they do.”

At the White House today, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra announced new guidance issued by the agency that is designed to stop two common junk fee practices — surprise overdraft fees and surprise depositor fees. In the over 50,000 comments the agency received, consumers described junk fees as a “scam”, “menace,” and a system “designed to prey on the weakest,” and “a way of punishing people for being poor.” Most major banks make more than 25% of their income through overdraft fees — some as a high as 44% — with the industry as a whole raking in billions of dollars a year in profit.

President Biden also discussed recent action by the Federal Trade Commission to explore whether to issue a rule addressing junk fees. At a commission hearing last week, the agency voted 3-1 to initiate a rulemaking proceeding to crack down on fees that are charged that have little or no added value to the consumer.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.