Policy Positions
Core Principles
Systemic financial exclusion is a threat to everyone, not a partisan hobby horse.
The overwhelming plurality of people affected by this practice are content creators and small business owners that do not lie cleanly on one side of any political line. The attempts to frame this issue as a partisan one are misleading and unproductive.
Lawful businesses deserve financial access.
If an activity is legal, the businesses engaged in it should be able to open bank accounts, accept payments, and participate in the financial system. The threshold for financial inclusion should be legal compliance, not reputational palatability to private infrastructure providers. No blanket-level exclusion of any legal industry should be permitted, nor any concept of reputational risk.
Financial infrastructure should be content-neutral.
Payment rails are essential infrastructure, consolidated utilities comparable to roads or telecommunications networks. Restricting access based on the legal content being transacted is a form of discrimination by infrastructure providers that has no basis in financial risk analysis.
All merchants are consumers with respect to financial utilities.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the only federal agency with the authority to regulate the card networks and processors that gatekeep access to the financial system. It has thus far taken an extremely narrow view of its scope and powers. The CFPB should be retooled to monitor and take action against business debanking. The transparency, disclosure, and dispute rights established under the Fair Credit Reporting Act should be extended to cover the Mastercard MATCH list, the Visa Merchant Screening Service (VMSS), and any functionally equivalent merchant-level reporting or screening system.
The legislative gap must be closed.
Federal policy and regulation changes with political cycles. All changes to combat systemic financial exclusion must also be written into law.
Specific Advocacy Positions
OCC/FDIC Proposed Rule on Elimination of Reputation Risk
OCA supports the OCC and FDIC proposed rule eliminating "reputation risk" as a factor in bank examination and supervision. The basis for this rule is now well-documented: the OCC's December 2025 preliminary report found that the nation's nine largest banks maintained formal policies restricting entire industry sectors based on reputation risk, media sentiment, and ideological alignment independent of financial risk. The proposed rule would codify the principle that such considerations have no place in bank supervision.
The rule would also prohibit agencies from requiring or encouraging institutions to close or deny accounts based on "politically disfavored but lawful business activities perceived to present reputation risk."
Status: The public comment period closed December 29, 2025. OCA supports finalization of the rule. Congressional contacts can be urged to support prompt finalization.
Caveat: This rule is necessary but not sufficient. It addresses the bank supervision layer, but has no effect on card network or payment processor restrictions where the binding gatekeeping continues.
CFPB Data Collection on Systemic Exclusion
Docket CFPB-2026-0005: Consumer Response Intake Form, comment deadline March 2, 2026
The CFPB's Consumer Response system currently does not effectively capture complaints about payment processor and card network account terminations. OCA advocates for modification of the intake form to specifically capture these complaints, including the identity of the processor or card network, the stated reason for termination, whether a MATCH list placement occurred, and the industry category of the affected business.
This data collection is foundational. Without systematic data on the scale and scope of processor and card network debanking, there is no evidentiary basis for CFPB enforcement or Congressional legislation.
Action available now: The CFPB comment period is open through March 2, 2026. Learn how to submit a comment.
Congressional Action on Payment Network Common Carrier Obligations
The most durable solution to card network content restrictions is Congressional legislation establishing common carrier-style non-discrimination obligations for payment networks. Congress is the only body that can definitively close the regulatory gap that exists around Visa and Mastercard merchant restrictions.
OCA supports Congressional consideration of legislation that would:
- Prohibit card networks from denying merchant category access based solely on the lawful nature of the business activity
- Establish a fair access right for lawful businesses to payment network participation
- Provide a private right of action for businesses wrongfully denied access
- Apply to payment processors operating under card network agreements