US Consumer Regulator Weighs Allowing Banks to Charge Data Fees

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been holding meetings with stakeholders interested in shaping a revamped open banking rule, and has come across as being receptive to permitting lenders to charge for access to customer data, according to people with direct knowledge of the discussions.

The consumer watchdog is returning to the drawing board to reshape a Biden-era regulation governing personal financial data rights after JPMorgan Chase & Co. began informing financial-technology companies that it plans to charge each time a customer’s account data is accessed.

The meetings are occurring ahead of a deadline to issue an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking within three weeks of a July 29 filing. If the CFPB allows banks to levy fees each time customer data is accessed by a fintech, it would be a significant policy change from last October, when the agency made clear banks would have to make the information available for free.

The CFPB didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The retooled rulemaking is at an extremely early stage, with the agency only now considering a series of questions that will be put out for public comment.

According to the people who asked not to be identified discussing nonpublic information, the technical questions under consideration relate to the costs banks incur when maintaining the infrastructure required for data aggregators and other fintech companies to access customer information, as well as the expenses accrued by the aggregators and fintechs to access that data.

The CFPB is also considering questions to learn more about whether third-party companies can access customer accounts without seeking direct permission each time, potentially addressing concerns raised by banks about repeated calls on customer data, the people said.

The CFPB is also weighing a question about what authority the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act gives the agency to write the rule, and another about what former Director Rohit Chopra may have gotten wrong when finalizing the rule last year, the people said.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Evan Weinberger in Arlington at eweinberger4@bloomberg.net;
Paige Smith in New York at psmith494@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sally Bakewell at sbakewell1@bloomberg.net

Evan Weinberger, Megan Howard

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.