The news: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a request for information on credit card late fees and late payments.

This could signal that the Trump administration is considering reviving Biden-era limits on what banks can charge consumers for late payments.

How we got here: Under the Biden administration, the CFPB took a stronger stance enforcing rules and charting new regulations, but the Trump administration reversed most of those efforts when it effectively neutered the agency.

• The agency dropped its suit against Early Warning Services for inadequately warning consumers about fraud attempts.
• The agency dismissed its previous suit against Navy Federal’s overdraft fee violations.
• The CFPB also withdrew its open banking rule.

Why this matters: New movements from the CFPB could revive the push for late fee caps last attempted in 2024. Courts blocked the rule in 2024, and the rule was vacated in 2025.

Before the rule was vacated, issuers took different steps to prepare for the rule. Those strategies may reemerge if rulemaking continues:

• Bread Financial tossed out a “soft cap” of 29.99% on APRs and planned to charge other fees. 
• Synchrony lifted some store card rates as high as 34.99%.
• Chase planned to raise interest rates and underwrite credit card loans more conservatively in response to the cap. 
• And Capital One said it would take “mitigating actions” in response to the rule.

Implication for issuers: The CFPB has taken a first step toward publishing new rules around late fees. The move would help the administration show that it’s trying to act on consumers’ rising cost of living concerns, but the hollowed-out consumer agency may lack the resources to act quickly.

Issuers can start planning strategies now to rework revenue streams under possible regulatory changes. The new rule would likely be less ambitious than the Biden-era rules, but even that could face a lengthy court battle after the first rule was vacated.

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