Judge temporarily halts Biden plan to lower credit card late fees to $8

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in Texas temporarily halted a plan by the Biden administration to lower late fees on credit cards to $8 that was slated to go into effect next week.

The temporary nationwide injunction imposed by Judge Mark Pittman in the Northern District of Texas is a win for the big banks and major credit card companies, which collect billions in revenue each year in late fees and were looking to stop the proposal from going into effect. It is also a win for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which led the lawsuit on behalf of the banks.

The new regulations proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would have set a ceiling of $8 for most credit card late fees or require banks to show why they should charge more than $8 for such a fee.

The rule would bring the average credit card late fee down from $32. The bureau estimates banks bring in roughly $14 billion in credit card late fees a year.

White House spokesperson Jeremy Edwards said in a statement Friday night, “We are disappointed ... a court sided with House Republicans ... and special interests to hit pause on a ... measure to save (Americans) billions in junk fees.”

Banks sued to stop the lawsuit, but ran into a roadblock when Pittman ordered the case moved to Washington, D.C., because few banks operate in northern Texas. However, an appeals court reversed most of Pittman’s decision and ordered him to rule on the bank’s request for an injunction.

While Pittman imposed the injunction, he used a significant portion of his order to chastise the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for sending the case back to him after he had already ruled that the case should be handled out of Washington. Critics of the lawsuit have called the case the latest example of judicial “forum shopping,” where a company files a lawsuit in a friendly district in order to have a greater likelihood of getting a favorable ruling.

As part of his reelection campaign, President Joe Biden tried to highlight his administration’s push to clamp down on what he calls “junk fees,” which are bank-related fees like late fees and overdraft fees.

“Every month that the credit card late fee rule is blocked will cost Americans over $800 million,” the White House said Friday.

Banks have seen the campaign as a political battle against their business model, while consumer advocates have seen those bank fees as excessive based on the amount of risk banks and credit card companies are taking on.

“In their latest in a stack of lawsuits designed to pad record corporate profits at the expense of everyone else, the U.S. Chamber got its way for now — ensuring families get price-gouged a little longer with credit card late fees as high as $41,” said Liz Zelnick, with Accountable.US.