Credit card late fee legislation would harm cardholders and reduce access
Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., introduced legislation Thursday to codify an $8 cap on credit card late fees. America’s Credit Unions has consistently maintained that such a rule would create increased costs for all cardholders and reduced access to affordable credit.
America’s Credit Unions wrote Senate leadership Thursday in strong opposition to the bill, noting the misguided legislation would threaten the viability of many credit union card programs, and ultimately harm consumers.
America’s Credit Unions previously opposed a CFPB rule to cap credit card late fees at $8, which was ultimately vacated by the bureau as part of an April 2025 legal settlement. The CFPB’s own data showed that such a cap would harm the 74% of consumers who pay their credit cards on time by forcing issuers to increase costs to offset delinquencies for those late- or non-paying users due to the significantly reduced late fee penalty.