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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Some financial institutions charge up to $36 or more for each overdraft. California consumers paid an estimated $200 million in overdraft fees in 2022, with the financial burden disproportionately falling on low-income consumers and consumers of color. Bonta’s letter was sent to banks and credit unions in California with assets under $10 billion.
“Overdraft and returned check fees needlessly strip away money better spent elsewhere and penalize poor consumers. All too often, consumers don’t have a chance to avoid these surprise fees,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The CFPB has already put a stop to the worst practices by the biggest banks and credit unions. Now it is time for everyone else to follow suit: I urge all of California’s banking institutions to comply with federal and state law by eliminating these unfair fees.”
Consumers from poor households are more likely to incur overdraft fees, as are Black and Hispanic consumers.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has found that people who pay more than 10 overdraft fees per year end up paying nearly three-quarters of all overdraft fees. These fees can lead to substantial financial losses for families and turn setbacks into crises.
Meanwhile, financial institutions nationwide generated over $7.7 billion in revenue from overdraft fees and non-sufficient funds fees in 2022.
In the letter, Attorney General Bonta explains how overdraft and returned deposited item fees harm consumers and may violate the UCL and CFPA, which both prohibit unfair acts and practices against consumers. Under the UCL, an act is unfair if the “the gravity of the harm to the alleged victim” outweighs “the utility of the defendant’s conduct.”
The CFPA defines an unfair act as one that “causes or is likely to cause substantial injury to consumers which is not reasonable avoidable by consumers” and is not outweighed by benefits to consumers or competition.
In many cases, overdraft fees cannot be reasonably anticipated by consumers due to the complexity of how transactions are processed by financial institutions and the time lag between when transactions are authorized and when they are ultimately settled.
This technical process makes it difficult for the average consumer to make an informed decision on whether to use overdraft protection or another form of payment for their purchase.
The letter also warns about the use of returned deposited item fees, which are charged to consumers when the consumer deposits a check that is returned due to a problem with the check originator — the check originator has insufficient funds, their account is closed, there is a stop payment order, or the signature or other information on the check is questionable.
The consumer that deposits the check typically has no knowledge of or control over the circumstances that cause the check to be returned. Charging such fees causes substantial harm because a consumer cannot reasonably avoid the injury in most instances.
The individual consumer does not receive any extra service or benefit for the fee — they are simply penalized for unknowingly attempting to deposit a bad check. The practice of charging surprise fees that cannot be reasonably anticipated by a consumer likely is an unfair business practice that violates the UCL and CFPA.
The financial harm imposed on consumers by surprise fees is not outweighed by any utility or benefit to consumers or competition. This “back-end” pricing actually obscures the true cost of banking while making it more difficult for consumers to compare financial products and services.
The letters follow action by the CFPB, which recently issued guidance to large banks regarding similar fees.
The CFPB has also issued guidance indicating that the blanket practice of charging returned deposited item fees for every returned check likely is an unfair practice that violates the CFPA.
Additionally, the CFPB has brought enforcement actions against several banks for charging overdraft fees. Regions Bank agreed in a consent order to pay about $191 million in restitution and penalties for charging overdraft fees, and Wells Fargo agreed to pay $200 million in restitution to affected consumers for surprise overdraft fees.
In April 2022, Attorney General Bonta, as part of a multistate coalition, urged JPMorgan, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo to eliminate overdraft fees.
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- Written by: California Farm Bureau
The program has a website where beginning farmers and ranchers with one to 10 years of farming and ranching experience in California may enroll for free in the mentorship program.
Farmers and ranchers interested in serving as mentors may also sign up via the webpage. Mentors are financially compensated for providing six hours of mentoring services to beginning farmers and ranchers.
The program will allow 200 beginning farmers to be paired up with mentor farmers and ranchers with more than 10 years of experience. Half of program participants must be specialty crop growers. Under program funding requirements, priority consideration will be given to socially disadvantaged farmers and military veterans in farming and ranching.
Mentoring will focus on a range of topics, including market access, climate stresses, navigating the regulatory system, production management and business aspects of farming in California.
The program will also provide educational workshops that offer insights on regulations for farming and ranching in California.
Additionally, participants will learn about financial incentives, including grant opportunities that can help them fund conservation management practices and climate-smart agriculture.
They will be exposed to resources from the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources and UC Cooperative Extension.
Grant funding for this project was made possible through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
“This program is designed to bring our agricultural community even closer together as a family through mentoring opportunities,” said Dr. Amrith Gunasekara, science and research director for the California Bountiful Foundation. “Mentoring the new generation of farmers and ranchers by experienced farmers and ranchers will ensure agriculture and food security is sustained into the future.”
The California Farm Bureau works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of more than 26,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of 5.8 million Farm Bureau members.
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- Written by: California Department of Food and Agriculture
The session, titled “Defining Regenerative Agriculture for State Policies and Programs,” will take place from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22.
The webinar link is here.
Spanish interpretation services will be available.
The listening session will begin with an update including summaries of the previous public listening sessions and the first work group session, which took place on Jan. 31.
Recordings of previous sessions may be found on the CDFA website.
The California State Board of Food and Agriculture, as advisory body to the Governor and CDFA Secretary, is positioned to advise on how the state’s farmers, ranchers and consumers may be best served by agricultural policies in the state.
Incorporating a definition of regenerative agriculture for state policies and programs provides a science-based criterion for the designation or recognition of the term “regenerative” in agriculture-related policies of the state.
By defining “regenerative agriculture” and its associated practices, we are working to formalize holistic methods of farming that are designed to protect, sustain and enhance natural resources on our farms and farming communities throughout California.
The public listening sessions will help provide recommendations on a definition of “regenerative agriculture” and inform the State Board's process.
Updates on the public listening sessions and the process for defining “regenerative agriculture” are available at https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/RegenerativeAg/.
Written public comments can be sent to
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- Written by: Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
“We are excited to bring an online method for licensees to apply and pay for the most common application submitted to the department,” said Licensing Division Chief Jaime Taylor. “Catering authorizations are used for selling and serving alcohol at many types of events, from weddings to large scale music festivals. Our new online applications will make the process much simpler and faster, providing an enhanced service to Californians who are applying for a catering authorization.”
Catering authorizations allow licensees with an active caterer’s permit to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption during events approved by ABC. Applicants must have an ABC Online Services account with the License Administrator role. Applicants can submit their application, pay with a credit card or eCheck, and upload required documents or approvals.
To qualify for the online authorization, the event must be more than five days but not more than 60 days from the application date. Users can submit and pay for events online for up to three consecutive days if each day has the same number of attendees and hours during which alcohol is served. If the dates are not consecutive, or if the number of attendees and hours are not the same, each day must be submitted and paid for as a separate event.
There is a limit of 36 catered events per year at any given location. This limit applies to all Caterer’s Permits (Type 58), including those held by club licenses (Type 50, 51, and 52). An exception may be made to exceed 36 catered events if the licensee can clearly establish that additional events are in the best interest of the State and necessary to satisfy substantial public demand. Exceptions can be requested at a local ABC District Office.
For more information about online catering authorization applications, please visit https://www.abc.ca.gov/licensing/license-forms/caterers-permits/.
ABC is a department of the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency.