Category: Fees and Policy Changes

Millions of former and current Capital One 360 Savings account holders may receive payments from a $425 million settlement fund, with no claim form or sign-up required. The money is intended to resolve allegations that Capital One kept interest rates on its legacy 360 Savings product artificially low while promoting a newer, higher-yield account. Public…

Starting June 9, 2026, federal banking regulators will be barred from pressuring banks to shut down customer accounts based on political, religious, or social views. The rule, jointly finalized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, strips “reputation risk” from the supervisory toolkit that examiners use when…

Air travelers 18 and older who show up to a TSA checkpoint without a REAL ID or another accepted form of identification now face a $45 non-refundable fee to attempt identity verification through the agency’s ConfirmID program. The charge, which took effect on February 1, 2026, buys a 10-day window of access, but only if…

Millions of U.S. merchants that accept Visa and Mastercard stood to see modest relief from credit card swipe fees under a proposed settlement valued at roughly $30 billion, but a federal judge has now blocked the deal, calling it “not likely” to survive final approval. The ruling throws the future of interchange fee reform back…

Bank customers who have faced account closures tied to their political beliefs or religious affiliations are about to gain a new federal protection. The FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finalized a rule that, according to the FDIC’s Federal Register index, takes effect on June 9, 2026, under the designation RIN…

Travelers booking a hotel room in the United States now face a different checkout screen than they did a year ago. The Federal Trade Commission’s rule on unfair or deceptive fees, published in the Federal Register on January 10, 2025 and codified at 16 CFR Part 464, requires every hotel and short-term lodging provider to…

Starting June 9, 2026, federal bank examiners will no longer be able to push banks into closing customer accounts based on political beliefs, religious affiliations, or social views. The new rule, finalized by the FDIC and fellow banking regulators, strips examiners of a tool that critics say was used to quietly cut off lawful businesses…

A restaurant owner in Chicago who runs $50,000 a month in credit card sales might pay $400 or more in interchange fees just on tips and sales tax. Illinois passed a law to eliminate those charges. In 29 days, the federal government will undo that protection. On June 30, 2026, an interim final rule from…

In 31 days, a pair of interim final actions from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will give every national bank and federal savings association explicit authority to charge interchange fees on the full amount of a card transaction. The orders override Illinois’s Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, the first state law to ban…

In 2014, a licensed firearms dealer in Wisconsin discovered his bank account had been closed with 30 days’ notice and no meaningful explanation. He was not accused of fraud, money laundering, or any legal violation. His business simply fell into a category that federal examiners considered a “reputation risk” for the bank. Variations of that…