Sen. Brown to Introduce Overdraft Bill. On July 22 Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, announced his intention to introduce a bill to stop banks from “reordering transactions to cause consumers to rack up penalties.” The bill would seek to ensure that banks post transactions in an objective way that is clear to their customers; give the CFPB the authority to monitor banks’ overdraft practices to deem if they are acting predatorily; and direct the CFPB to provide a safe harbor from litigation for banks that follow agency guidelines.

In the House, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced the Overdraft Protection Act of 2013 (H.R. 1261) in March. The bill would require overdraft fees to be reasonable and proportional; limit overdrafts to one per month and six per year; codify the opt-in provisions that the Fed promulgated requiring that consumers opt-in to overdraft coverage; prohibit institutions from manipulating the order of transactions to maximize overdraft fees; and add additional disclosures to consumers about overdraft coverage

endangered human quality known as personal responsibility