Bank overdraft fee income has dropped precipitously since before the onset of the coronavirus crisis, according to a federal consumer financial protection agency report issued Tuesday – and banks have not yet replaced that income with charges in other areas, the report adds.
But that doesn’t mean the agency has dropped consideration of regulating the fees, it said.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued the report which it said found that overdraft/non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees in third quarter 2022 were down 43% compared to third quarter of 2019. The agency said that suggests a $5 billion reduction in fees on annual basis.
CFPB also said its report states that overdraft/non-sufficient funds (NSF) fee revenue was 33% lower over the first three quarters of 2022 compared to the same period in 2019. Finally, the report states, the agency said, that the fees have trended downward in each quarter since the fourth quarter of 2021.
“At the same time, we have not observed correlating increases in other listed checking account fees, which suggests that banks are not replacing overdraft/NSF fee revenue with other fees on checking accounts,” the bureau added.
Regardless of the trend of falling fee revenue, the agency said it will continue to track overdraft/NSF fees. “We are considering rulemaking activities related to these fees,” the agency added. “We will also continue to follow other listed account fees to discern to what extent these fees might create barriers to account access.”