CFPB Is After Nine Banks Over Overdraft Fees

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is once again checking in on JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and other banks to obtain a closer look at those banks’ overdraft fee practices.

Those two banks and Bank of America are among the nine institutions being investigated by the CFPB, Bloomberg reports.

“The inquiry focuses on how financial institutions persuade customers to enroll in what they call overdraft protection programs. Examiners are looking at online and mailed marketing material as well as scripts used by the banks’ customer-service representatives to determine whether they could be confusing to consumers,” sources told Bloomberg’s Carter Dougherty and Margaret Collins.

Overdraft fees generated $31.6 billion in revenues for banks in 2011, Bloomberg says, down from $33.1 billion in 2010.

Regional banks U.S. Bancorp, Regions Financial Corp., and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. are also being included in the inquiry.

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