I want to talk about one way working people are getting squeezed right now — and how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is fighting to get them some relief.

Let’s say someone pays their credit card bill a little late. Maybe by just a few hours.

It costs the credit card company some money to collect the late payment — let’s say about $8. But then the company gets visions of dollar signs dancing in their eyes. So they charge a bigger late fee. Maybe $20. Or $30. Or $40. That could be up to five times more than the actual cost to the company. 

So let’s be clear: excessive late fees are designed to wring some extra profits out of someone who’s already stretched thin. The whole missed payment may even be less than the fee.

Credit card late fees cost American families about an estimated $12 billion a year. They take a real toll on people’s pocketbooks, and combined with all the other junk fees that giant corporations devise, they can feel like getting stung by a whole swarm of bees. 

But our government is fighting back.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed a new rule for credit card companies: no more excessive late fees. Companies could still charge what it costs to cover their expenses, but if it’s more than $8, they’ll have to show their math.

Now, this might shock you, so you might want to sit down if you aren’t already: credit card companies aren’t wild about this plan.

In fact, they’ve rolled out a massive lobbying campaign to try to stop it in its tracks. They’re claiming that ending excessive late fees would destroy their industry as we know it — even though the rule wouldn’t stop them from charging late fees that cover their costs.

It’s time to beat back the lobbyists, make our voices heard, and help get this rule over the finish line. I’ll keep working to bust the credit card companies’ myths and stand up for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s powerfully important work, but I can’t do it alone.

Will you add your name to say you support the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s crackdown on excessive credit card late fees? Together, we can push back against corporate greed.

This is all part of a larger fight to put more money back in people’s pockets. That includes taking on other junk fees. And capping the cost of insulin. And working to cancel student debt.

Through all these efforts and more, the Biden-Harris administration and Democrats in Congress have been putting government on the side of families, not powerful special interests. And I’m in that fight all the way.

Thanks for being a part of this,

Elizabeth