WASHINGTON — Indicative of the kind of scrutiny credit unions have felt a touch of and which could grow much stronger in the future, a consumer watchdog group is blasting several big banks for “predatory” interest rates and fees it says contribute to their most robust profits reports.
In this case the banks are U.S. Bancorp and Synchrony Bank, which announced $2.25 billion in combined Q2 2024 earnings, up 17.7% and 13%, respectively, “while harming consumers with junk fees and predatory interest rates,” according to an Accountable.US review.
Accountable.US said U.S. Bancorp generated $277.3 million from fees on deposit accounts, including $55 million from overdraft fees, between January and March 2024. Meanwhile, Synchrony Bank announced $643 million in Q2 2024 earnings—13% year-over-year growth that “comes after Synchrony began increasing APRs to as high as 39.99% and implemented a $1.99 paper statement fee per card—hiking costs for many consumers by more than $100 a year,” according to Accountable.US.
Earlier Claims
In releasing its commentary, Accountable.US noted Synchrony’s executives had previously claimed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed rule to cap credit card late fees at $8 would force the bank to impose new junk fees and predatory interest rates in.
The bank did so in the “same breath they announced plans to spend as much as $1 billion on stock buybacks by June 2025,” the organization said.
‘Can’t Have it Both Ways’
“Big banks like U.S. Bancorp and Synchrony can’t have it both ways: boast of huge profits and also claim to have no choice but to punish consumers with excessive junk fees and interest rates,” Accountable.US’ Liz Zelnick said in a statement. “Despite enjoying bigger earnings and enough fun money to reward wealthy investors with a billion dollars in new stock buybacks, Synchrony Bank jacked interest rates to predatory levels and tried to blame the administration for making them do it. Synchrony’s own SEC filings continue to show no one is making them price-gouge everyday borrowers but their own greedy executives. Greed is why Synchrony Bank is connected to the lawsuit blocking the Biden administration crackdown on abusive credit card late fees – a lawsuit costing everyday Americans $27 million every day it drags on.”