--- title: The Government Needs Your Help Cracking Down on Fees From Banks and Mortgage Lenders description: Tired of bank fees and surprise charges from mortgage lenders and credit card companies? The CFPB wants to hear your complaints. authors: - name: Javier Simon url: https://money.com/author/javier-simon/ bio: Javier is a personal finance reporter covering retirement, investing, crypto and more. His work has appeared on leading financial websites including NerdWallet, Bankrate and SmartAsset. He’s also written for newspapers, magazines and video. at_money_since: 2021 articles: 39 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Housing - Investing - Loans - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology former_staff: true published: '2022-01-28T15:46:48.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T13:57:23.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - bank fees - fees word_count: 455 canonical: https://money.com/mortgage-bank-fees-complaints-cfpb/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau building](https://img.money.com/2022/01/News-This-consumer-watchdog-wants-to-hear-the-worst-fees-youve-encountered.jpg) If you're tired of outrageous fees charged by banks, mortgage lenders and other financial institutions, a federal consumer watchdog group wants to hear your story. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) just [launched a new initiative](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-launches-initiative-to-save-americans-billions-in-junk-fees/) encouraging people to lodge complaints about the worst fees they've encountered. The CFPB — a federal agency established in 2011 to protect and enforce consumer financial laws — says it will use this feedback to crack down on “junk fees” charged by [banks](https://money.com/best-bank/), [credit unions](https://money.com/best-military-banks-and-credit-unions/), credit card companies, [mortgage lenders](https://money.com/best-mortgage-lenders/) and more, potentially saving Americans billions of dollars in the process. “Many financial institutions obscure the true price of their services by luring customers with enticing offers and then charging excessive junk fees,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra in a press release. “By promoting competition and ridding the market of illegal practices, we hope to save Americans billions.” Consumers have until March 31 to submit comments about fees to the agency. If you believe you’ve been charged an excessive or unexpected fee by a financial institution, reach out to the CFPB by filling out this [online form](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/) or calling (855) 411-2372. ## What are junk fees? The CFPB is casting a wide net for what it considers junk fees. Here’s a list of what you can reach out to the agency about: - Excessive fees you believe were covered the baseline price of a product or service - Fees you thought were too high for the product or service - Unexpected fees - Instances when you didn’t understand why certain fees were charged ## How to avoid bank fees In addition to reaching out to the CFPB with complaints about excessive fees, it's smart to be proactive and find ways to avoid fees on your own. One fee you may have encountered in the past is a bank overdraft fee. Overdraft fees are charged when there isn’t enough money in your account to cover a transaction — often a purchase made with a debit card — but the bank covers it and charges you a fee for doing so. The average overdraft fee is about $30, according to the CFPB. However, many of Money's [favorite online banks](https://money.com/best-online-bank/) don't charge overdraft fees. Some major banks, like [Capital One](https://money.com/capital-one-drops-overdraft-fees/) and [Bank of America](https://money.com/bank-of-america-overdraft-fees-change/), have also recently announced plans to reduce or eliminate overdraft fees. If you're thinking about switching banks to avoid overdraft fees and other annoying charges, explore our list of [best banks](https://money.com/best-banks/). In some cases, you may also be able to get [certain fees waived](https://money.com/how-to-negotiate-bank-fees/) just by asking your bank. Our advice is to be polite and request to speak to a supervisor, if needed. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/mortgage-bank-fees-complaints-cfpb/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Federal Agencies", "item": "https://money.com/federal-agencies/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The Government Needs Your Help Cracking Down on Fees From Banks and Mortgage Lenders" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/mortgage-bank-fees-complaints-cfpb/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/mortgage-bank-fees-complaints-cfpb/", "name": "The Government Needs Your Help Cracking Down on Fees From Banks and Mortgage Lenders", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2022-01-28T15:46:48.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/mortgage-bank-fees-complaints-cfpb/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/mortgage-bank-fees-complaints-cfpb/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:57:23.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "The Government Needs Your Help Cracking Down on Fees From Banks and Mortgage Lenders", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2022/01/News-This-consumer-watchdog-wants-to-hear-the-worst-fees-youve-encountered.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-This consumer watchdog wants to hear the worst fees youve encountered" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Javier Simon", "url": "https://money.com/author/javier-simon/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/javier-simon/#author", "description": "Javier is a personal finance reporter covering retirement, investing, crypto and more. 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