An Office of the Comptroller of the Currency review of 100,000 complaints found JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and six other lenders cited “reputation risk” to drop conservative, religious and other disfavored clients between 2020 and 2025. The CFPB has opened an investigation.
The nation’s largest banks closed accounts and refused credit to customers because of their political, social or religious views, according to a report released Wednesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the federal regulator for national banks.
The 47-page review, titled “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans,” examined about 100,000 complaints and 50,000 internal bank records. It names nine institutions: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC, TD Bank and BMO Bank.
“Reputation risk” as the rationale
According to the report, the banks most often pointed to “reputation risk” — fear of bad press, protests, criticism from advocacy groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, or pressure from regulators and politicians. Those most affected included MAGA merchandise sellers, pro-life and Christian organizations, and industries out of favor with the Biden administration, among them firearms, Arctic oil and gas, coal, private prisons, tobacco and e-cigarettes.
Among the examples cited: WePay, a payments business owned by JPMorgan Chase, shut down merchants selling pro-Trump merchandise, and its screening tools flagged phrases like “MAGA” and “America First.” PNC turned down a credit line for a media company partly because one owner’s foundation had funded Christian conservative groups. Wells Fargo declined loans to two firearms businesses, with an internal review warning of possible “supervisory pressure” under the Biden administration.
The regulator said the practice cut both ways in some cases. Capital One, for instance, refused to serve partisan groups on either side, turning away both an abortion-rights organization and a gun-rights group.
Regulators promise more action
All nine banks told the OCC they have changed their policies, but the regulator said the reforms do not go far enough. Comptroller Jonathan Gould said the findings were “irrefutable evidence” of discrimination against customers and lawful businesses, and said the agency is weighing further steps.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced its own investigation the same day. Acting Director Mark Paoletta called the conduct “appalling” and said the bureau would examine whether the banks broke federal consumer finance laws.
The review follows President Trump’s August 2025 executive order directing regulators to stamp out politicized debanking. Trump is separately suing JPMorgan Chase over the closure of his accounts in 2021.
In a statement, JPMorgan Chase said a WePay process “did not meet our expectations,” that it had corrected the problem and wound down the business, and that its policies prohibit discrimination based on political or religious views.
Reporting in this story is based on the OCC report and on coverage by the New York Post, which first reported its findings. The photographs are stock file images.
