Sponsors (152)
The bill expands nondiscriminatory access to bank and payment services for lawful consumers and businesses and strengthens transparency and enforcement, at the cost of higher compliance and litigation risks for financial firms that may raise consumer prices, create legal uncertainty, and—in some enforcement scenarios—risk instability at very large institutions.
Small businesses, low-income individuals, immigrants, and middle-class consumers will face fewer arbitrary denials of bank accounts, loans, ACH/card acceptance, and payment services because covered banks and networks must use impartial, quantitative risk standards and may not de‑bank legally compliant customers.
Taxpayers and depositors may benefit from stronger risk‑based, empirical decisionmaking and limits on industry‑wide de‑banking that can reduce concentration of risk and improve financial stability and safety of banks.
Merchants and consumers will retain broader ability to accept and use card and ACH payments because payment networks and large banks face limits or penalties for deplatforming lawful sellers, reducing sudden payment disruptions.
Banks, card networks, and credit unions will face higher compliance, documentation, and litigation costs (including potential treble-damage suits), costs that are likely to be passed through to consumers and small businesses as higher fees or reduced service offerings.
Ambiguous terms (e.g., 'impartial' standards, 'refuse to do business', rebuttable $50B presumption, what counts as 'legally compliant') will create regulatory and legal uncertainty, prompting litigation and administrative disputes that burden banks, regulators, and customers.
Covered institutions may respond to increased legal risk by restricting, tightening onboarding, withdrawing complex or high‑risk products, or exiting lines of business—reducing choices and specialized services for small businesses, commercial customers, and underserved communities.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Bans large banks, credit unions, payment networks, and ACH participants from denying service to lawfully operating persons for political or reputational reasons and creates enforcement remedies including regulator penalties and private lawsuits.
Official title: To amend certain banking laws to prohibit certain financial service providers who deny fair access to financial services from using taxpayer funded discount window lending programs, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 5, 2025 by Garland H. Barr · Last progress February 5, 2025
Requires large banks, credit unions, payment card networks, and ACH participants to provide financial services to persons lawfully engaged in commerce and forbids denying services based on political or reputational risk. It conditions access to certain Federal Reserve and deposit insurance processes on covered institutions not refusing to do business with lawful customers, creates a private right of action with trebled damages, and authorizes civil penalties for payment-network violations. The bill sets asset-size thresholds to identify "covered" institutions, mandates individualized, quantified, risk‑based denial standards, forbids coordination of denials, and requires written notice when services are denied. It also directs regulators to enforce these rules and allows private lawsuits without administrative exhaustion.