WASHINGTON— The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday warned four of the nation’s biggest payment companies that cutting off consumers for political or religious reasons could trigger enforcement action, escalating the Trump Administration’s broader push against so-called “debanking.”
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said the agency sent letters to the CEOs of PayPal, Stripe, Visa and Mastercard cautioning that denying or degrading service to law-abiding Americans based on protected viewpoints or beliefs could raise issues under the FTC Act.
In its announcement, the FTC said the letters focus on “potential FTC Act violations related to debanking American consumers,” and Ferguson said he “abhors and condemns” efforts to deny financial services based on political or religious beliefs. The agency signaled it is scrutinizing whether company policies and practices align with public representations in their terms of service and customer-facing commitments.
The move adds pressure to a politically charged fight that has widened beyond banks to the payments ecosystem. American Banker reported the letters put the four firms “in the regulatory hot seat” over alleged offboarding tied to politics or religion, while MLex reported the warnings explicitly told the companies not to deny services on those grounds. The FTC’s action also fits with the Administration’s broader campaign against alleged financial discrimination, which has increasingly been framed by Republicans as a consumer access issue.