The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ramped up its battle on fees.  Under a notice of proposed rulemaking issued Jan. 17, overdraft charges would be treated as extensions of credit. Similar to credit card loans, interest rate disclosures and other consumer protections would be required of financial institutions regulated by the Bureau. Days later, the CFPB proposed another rule banning nonsufficient funds fees tied to debit card, ATM and some digital transactions.  Banks typically charge an overdraft fee when a customer’s account balance falls below zero. Overdraft fees were once considered a courtesy. Rather than return a check if a…

More than 18 million Bank of America customers use Erica, the company’s AI-powered chatbot.  In its fourth quarter earnings call on Jan. 12, Bank of America Corp. reported that a record 18.5 million customers engaged with Erica, which it launched in mid-2018. Those customers interacted with Erica around 673 million times during 2023, a 28% increase over the prior year, the company said.   Without Erica, those interactions might have been directed to a human working in a call center or branch, meaning the chatbot represents tremendous savings in terms of employee productivity, CEO and Chair Brian Moynihan said in a…