Sponsors (6)
The bill limits and clarifies allowable credit-card late fees—providing meaningful relief and greater transparency for many consumers—while risking cost-shifting by issuers, uneven protections for customers of small issuers, and potential legal challenges that could create new uncertainties.
Millions of credit-card customers—especially low- and middle-income households—will pay much smaller capped late fees (explicit $8 cap indexed to CPI-U and/or fees limited to amounts proportional to issuer costs).
Low- and middle-income consumers will likely experience less debt escalation and fewer penalty-triggered harms because lower late fees reduce additional interest, penalties, and downstream consequences.
Consumers and financial institutions gain greater regulatory clarity and transparency because the bill codifies the CFPB's approach and requires publication of the research informing the rule before notice-and-comment.
Large card issuers may offset lost late-fee revenue by raising other fees or increasing interest rates, which could raise costs for many cardholders.
Framing the provision as codifying or expressing Congress's 'view' about a prior CFPB rule could invite litigation over the CFPB's authority, generating legal uncertainty and potential costs for institutions and taxpayers.
Consumers of smaller card issuers (issuers with under 1,000,000 open accounts) may face unequal fee burdens because those issuers are exempted, producing inconsistent protections across customers.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Limits late-payment fees for large credit card issuers to $8 (CPI-U adjustments allowed), defines large issuers, requires fees to reflect only costs, and mandates APA rulemaking with public research release.
Introduced January 15, 2026 by John Karl Fetterman · Last progress January 15, 2026
Limits late-payment fees charged by large credit-card issuers and codifies the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) prior late-fee rule into federal law. It defines a "large credit card issuer" as one with 1,000,000 or more open accounts, caps large issuers' late fees at $8 (with limited CPI-U inflation adjustments), requires the CFPB to ensure late fees reflect only actual costs and do not produce profit, and narrows the considerations the CFPB may use when making rules about late fees. The bill also requires APA-style rulemaking with public release of supporting research before notice-and-comment and makes the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia the exclusive venue for legal challenges under the new subsection.