A national watchdog organization is launching an ad campaign, obtained by the Washington Reporter, that urges the Trump administration to fully endorse an open banking rule that it says puts Americans — and not big banks — first.
Save Our States (SOS) is pairing its new ad with a letter to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and to the Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), arguing that Americans will face major risks if a final Rule 1033 includes hidden fees.
“The Section 1033 framework should preserve strong consumer data rights, reject bank-controlled tolls or artificial barriers, and ensure that banks cannot interfere with consumers’ decisions to authorize fintech companies and apps to access their own bank information,” SOS wrote to the Trump administration officials. “At a time when families are highly sensitive to everyday costs, we should stand with consumers and main-street businesses, stand for competition and innovation, and stand against big banks that would raise costs and entrench their own advantages.”
Those are themes that the ad itself echoes. “For years, big banks have padded their pockets by charging consumers fees to access their own money,” it intones. “They use their power to control who gets to participate in the economy. Throttling and closing accounts for political reasons. Targeting one side. This process known as debanking has continued because the big banks have been the gatekeepers of our financial system.”
But, it adds, “open banking is changing all of that. Innovation has unleashed new ways to save, spend and manage our money. Now, big banks are finally being forced to compete, and they don’t like it. They want to stop the Trump administration from putting in place strong open banking policies and giving consumers the power to use tools that put them in control. Big banks want to charge hidden fees on our payments and data, making everything more expensive. Paying rent and utility bills, sending money to friends and family, making automatic contributions to retirement accounts. Even using budgeting apps. The vast majority of Americans agree. Managing our finances should be faster, easier, and cheaper. That’s why Americans support President Trump’s efforts to protect open banking policies that put Americans first. Not the big banks.”
The SOS campaign launched as the Trump administration is reportedly in the final days of deliberating the future of Rule 1033, which has been extensively covered by the Reporter. The campaign is both warning against powerful moves by big banks and advocating on behalf of crypto companies, which have found many friends in the Trump administration.
For years, some of the world’s biggest banks have given Trump extensive fodder to use against them; some even went as far as to debank accounts linked to Trump. “Federal law requires that customers control their data, but leaves the details to federal regulators,” the new campaign explained. “They wrote Rule 1033 to protect Open Banking, but now big banks are trying to gut it.”
These moves are among many that SOS has done in the open banking space. Its executive director, Trent England, explained the importance of the campaign.
“A 1033 rule allowing new hidden fees would let banks put a toll on Americans’ data, making everyday transactions more expensive: paying rent and utility bills, sending money to friends and family, making automatic contributions to retirement accounts, donating to charities, and so much more,” England noted. “At a time when families are highly sensitive to everyday costs, we should stand with consumers and main-street businesses, stand for competition and innovation, and stand against big banks that would raise costs and entrench their own advantages.”
In 2025, SOS launched one of its major open banking pushes, called “Big Banks vs. America.” That campaign focused on how SOS believes that big banks are both consolidating power and making every day transactions more expensive.
SOS’s new ad is targeting policymakers across Washington, D.C., the group told the Reporter.
