December 02, 2025

Warren, Booker, Blumenthal Press Twenty-One Credit Unions on Predatory Overdraft Fees Amid Trump's Illegal Attempt to Shut Down the CFPB

“Charging excessive overdraft fees when almost 40 percent of American households have less than $400 to cover an emergency expense, prices for food, utilities, and other essential items are rapidly rising, and Trump’s chaotic, half-baked policies are wreaking havoc on the economy is inexcusable.”

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent letters to 21 credit unions asking them to provide information on their overdraft and non-sufficient fund (NSF) fee policies. The Senators’ letter follows concerning steps taken under the Trump Administration, including the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)’s decision to stop publishing overdraft and NSF data for individual credit unions and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s repeal of its rule limiting most overdraft fees to $5.

“Overdraft and non-sufficient fund (NSF) fees are ‘one of the most common exploitative mechanisms big banks use to target the poor,’” wrote the Democratic Senators. “The CFPB found nearly twice as many consumers with incomes between $35,001 and $65,000 were charged overdraft and NSF fees (35%), versus consumers with incomes between $100,001 and $175,000 (18%). ... Banks are not the only ones who charge overdraft fees; credit unions––despite being created to serve individuals of modest means––also collect significant overdraft and NSF fees.”

The Senators highlighted how the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans raised costs on consumers by rescinding the CFPB final rule that limited most overdraft fees to $5: “For covered credit unions the rule required them to disclose the terms of their overdraft loans, just like they’re already required to do for other loans like credit cards. Had President Trump and Republicans in Congress not rescinded the CFPB’s final rule, these changes would have saved consumers up to $5 billion in annual overdraft fees, or $225 per household that pays these fees.”

They continued: “Charging excessive overdraft fees when almost 40 percent of American households have less than $400 to cover an emergency expense, prices for food, utilities, and other essential items are rapidly rising, and Trump’s chaotic, half-baked policies are wreaking havoc on the economy is inexcusable. These fees are not necessary for a credit union’s survival: one of the largest credit unions, Alliant Credit Union, eliminated overdraft fees and still had a record dividend payout to members in 2023, proving that credit unions can protect consumers without sacrificing their financial health.”

Senators sent letters to the following credit unions requesting answers by December 14, 2025:

###