Consumer Groups Back Rep. Maloney's Continued Push for Overdraft Reform

Center for Responsible Lending
Consumer Federation of America
Consumers Union
National Consumer Law Center, on behalf of its low-income clients
U.S. PIRG

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- We applaud Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney as she renews her push for overdraft reform with the
"Overdraft Protection Act of 2009" (H.R. 3904), introduced last week.

Momentum in Congress toward substantive reform is building and welcome. Abuses
have rapidly thrust consumer overdraft fees to well over $20 billion per year.

Rep. Maloney's bill, like similar legislation introduced last week by Senator
Dodd, would give consumers an informed choice on whether they want to pay for
high-cost overdraft coverage; would limit the number of fees charged per month
and per year; and would make fees reasonable and proportional to the bank's
cost of covering a shortfall. Both bills would also ban the widespread bank
practice of triggering avoidable overdraft fees by re-ordering customer
transactions to maximize overdrafts.

We applaud the co-sponsors of H.R. 3904 and thank Congresswoman Maloney for
her longstanding leadership on this issue. We urge Congress to pass
comprehensive overdraft reform as soon as possible.

About the Center for Responsible Lending
The Center for Responsible Lending is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and
policy organization dedicated to protecting homeownership and family wealth by
working to eliminate abusive financial practices. CRL is affiliated with
Self-Help, one of the nation's largest community development financial
institutions.

SOURCE Center for Responsible Lending

Kathleen Day, +1-202-349-1871, kathleen.day@responsiblelending.org, Ginna
Green, +1-510-379-5513, ginna.green@responsiblelending.org, or Charlene
Crowell, +1-919-313-8531, charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org, all of the
Center for Responsible Lending