A new federal review has turned years of political debanking allegations into documented findings, including evidence that a JPMorgan Chase payment subsidiary screened merchants for terms such as “MAGA,” “Make America Great” and “America First” before escalating accounts for review.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released its 47-page report on October 14 after examining the nine largest national banks under its supervision. The agency reviewed nearly 100,000 complaints, hundreds of individual bank decisions and about 420,000 pages of bank documents covering 2020 through September 2025.
The OCC said all nine banks-maintained policies during that period that could influence employees to deny or limit financial services because of customers’ political or religious beliefs or lawful business activities.
The banks were JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC Bank, TD Bank and BMO Bank.
The report also triggered a second federal response. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced on October 14 that it will investigate whether the institutions named by the OCC, and potentially others, violated federal consumer financial laws. The CFPB said its review will examine possible violations involving the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act and federal prohibitions on unfair, deceptive or abusive practices.
“The CFPB will fully investigate whether the institutions featured in OCC’s report and others have complied with federal consumer financial laws and take appropriate action,” Acting CFPB Director Mark Paoletta said in the agency’s announcement.
What The OCC Found
One of the report’s most detailed sections focuses on WePay, a payment processor owned by JPMorgan Chase. The OCC found that WePay used an internal system to screen terms against merchant customer profiles, websites and transaction-level information. An exemplar list reviewed by the OCC included “MAGA,” “Make America Great” and “America First,” along with names of organizations that outside advocacy groups had labeled as hate groups.
The OCC said WePay closed the account of a merchant selling Trump and MAGA merchandise in February 2021 after determining that the merchandise promoted hate, violence or racial intolerance. An employee later wrote that the account closed because MAGA and Trump-related items fell under WePay’s terms-of-service concerns, according to the report.
In September 2021, WePay closed another merchant account that sold “conservative/republican t-shirts, hats, etc.” Internal notes flagged merchandise including a “Trump-Won” flag and a “Biden-Illegitimate” T-shirt, the OCC found.
The report also details decisions involving religious organizations. In June 2021, WePay closed an account belonging to a nonprofit that employees internally described as a right-wing religious conservative organization. JPMorgan reputation-risk employees recommended exiting the relationship. The OCC said a bank employee later removed references to the group as “right wing” and “religious” from an internal tracking system.
A month later, WePay closed an account that raised money for a legal challenge brought by a person the report described as a “devout Christian.” The OCC also found that WePay terminated other accounts after employees treated customers’ religious or social views as elevated reputation risks.
The report does not say Facebook directly supplied information to the banks. It does show that bank and payment-processing employees considered social media content in some cases. In one November 2021 case, employees reviewed an event organizer’s social media posts, determined that the posts amounted to an incitement of hate and terminated payment services. The bank later reversed that decision, according to the OCC.
Earlier Keyword Controversy Gets New Context
The Dallas Express covered a related financial-surveillance controversy in January 2024 after House investigators disclosed that federal officials had encouraged financial institutions to search certain transactions for terms including “MAGA” and “TRUMP.” The House Judiciary Committee later said federal agencies also circulated indicators involving purchases of religious texts, firearms-related goods and transactions at retailers such as Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops.
That earlier controversy involved federal law enforcement asking financial institutions to search transaction data. The new OCC report addresses a separate but overlapping issue: banks’ own reputation-risk systems and internal decisions about whether to serve customers. Together, the records show that political and religious terms entered financial screening and review processes through more than one channel.
DX also examined allegations of anti-Christian debanking involving Bank of America in April 2024. At that time, the bank denied that religious beliefs or political viewpoints played a role in account-closing decisions.
Banks Face Investigations And Possible Rule Changes
The OCC did not calculate how many customers suffered improper account closures across the nine banks or the total financial cost. It also did not announce penalties in connection with the debanking report. The agency said incomplete records, differences in bank tracking systems and other limitations prevented a comprehensive count.
The OCC nevertheless found that reputation-risk policies produced real financial consequences, particularly for smaller businesses. In one example, a bank declined a small-business loan to a company that manufactured components for sporting rifles while later approving a multimillion-dollar letter of credit involving a large multinational firearms company.
The banking industry has defended the need for objective risk management while backing clearer standards. The Bank Policy Institute said October 14 that the industry supports fair access and favors “clear and consistent standards” that protect access while preserving sound risk management.
The OCC has already removed reputation risk from its supervisory framework. The agency said it may pursue additional regulatory and supervisory changes, greater transparency around account closures and further work on whether anti-money-laundering rules contribute to debanking.
The CFPB’s newly announced investigation raises the stakes because that agency has supervisory and enforcement authority over banks with more than $10 billion in assets. The next phase could determine whether the conduct identified by the OCC violated specific federal consumer laws and whether affected customers receive remedies.
Provided by Dallas Express
