Congress kills CFPB overdraft-fee limits for big banks
S.J.Res. 18 — A joint resolution disapproving the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to "Overdraft Lending: Very Large Financial Institutions". · Filed by Tim Scott (R-SC) · 16 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 13, 2025 · Signed
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This resolution uses the Congressional Review Act to block a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that would have restricted overdraft fees charged by large banks. The rule is nullified and has no legal effect. Banks keep their current overdraft-fee practices.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole function is to eliminate a consumer-protection rule limiting overdraft fees at large financial institutions. It is a straightforward deregulatory action using the Congressional Review Act mechanism.
What the text implies
- Overdraft fees disproportionately affect lower-income consumers and those with volatile income; elimination of the rule perpetuates a regressive fee structure.
- The rule was finalized in December 2024 after a lengthy CFPB rulemaking process; disapproval signals Congressional rejection of executive-branch consumer protection authority.
- Large banks are the explicit target of the blocked rule; smaller institutions were not subject to the same restrictions, creating a two-tier system that now favors large competitors.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Consumers lose a federal protection against excessive overdraft fees. Large banks retain the ability to charge overdraft fees without the new CFPB restrictions, meaning consumers—particularly those with lower account balances who are most vulnerable to overdraft charges—face continued or higher fees without regulatory guardrails.
Who stands to gain
- large commercial banks
- financial institutions subject to the overdraft rule
Named in the bill
Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB), Large financial institutions, U.S. Congress, 89 Fed. Reg. 106768
Where it stands
16 cosponsors: 16 Republicans.
- Feb 13, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 13, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs”
- Mar 26, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs discharged, by petition, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 802(c)”
- Mar 27, 2025 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Yea-Nay Vote. 52 - 48. Record Vote Number: 153. (text: CR S1884)”
- Apr 9, 2025 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 217 - 211 (Roll no. 96). (text: CR H1519)”
- May 5, 2025 — Sent to president · Congress.gov: “Presented to President”
- May 9, 2025 — Signed into law · Congress.gov: “Became Public Law No: 119-10”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
4 lobbying clients named this bill on 8 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $55,960,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 28 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 72% of bills with at least one filing.
Tim Scott, the sponsor, reported $214,300 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $54,660,000 on 3 filings
- Bank Policy Institute — $1,130,000 on 2 filings
- New York Bankers Association — $90,000 on 2 filings
- Gowest Credit Union Association — $80,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,069 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress kills CFPB overdraft-fee limits for big banks” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/sjres18 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.