Warren Presses Vought on the Administration's Failure to Use CFPB Tools to Lower Credit Card Costs

Warren Presses Vought on the Administration's Failure to Use CFPB Tools to Lower Credit Card Costs

"The CFPB was designed to help protect consumers from financial exploitation, and it has a key role to play in reducing credit card costs for Americans. Yet rather than use the CFPB's authorities to their fullest extent, you have prioritized dismantling it."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee wrote to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Acting Director Russ Vought to address the CFPB's failure to address excessive credit card costs and crack down on bad actors.The letter also provides five concrete recommendations for how the agency could follow the President's goal of bringing down credit card costs.

"President Trump called for "a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10%" … while Congress considers legislation to address the issue, your own actions are directly undermining the President's stated goals. Either President Trump is not serious about making credit cards more affordable or you are insubordinately disregarding his direction. Under your leadership, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has taken steps to make it easier-not harder-for big banks and credit card companies to rip off Americans," wrote Ranking Member Warren.

"According to the CFPB's own data, released just weeks ago, the average annual percentage rate (APR) for credit cards has reached the highest level since 2015," wrote Ranking Member Warren. "Today, credit card borrowers pay interest rates that are about 8.8 percentage points higher than what would be needed to cover default losses. In other words, banks and credit card companies are hoarding profit while Americans struggle to keep up with rising interest payments."

The Ranking Member continued: "The CFPB was designed to help protect consumers from financial exploitation, and it has a key role to play in reducing credit card costs for Americans. Yet rather than use the CFPB's authorities to their fullest extent, you have prioritized dismantling it."

Ahead of legislation to be considered by Congress, Ranking Member Warren called on Vought direct the CFPB to do the following to bring down credit card costs for consumers:

1. Rein in credit card late fees.
2. Stop surprise interest charges.
3. Resume TILA and CARD Act compliance.
4. End rewards bait-and-switch tactics.
5. Review thousands of unaddressed credit card complaints.

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