Press Release  AG Campbell Sues To Block Trump Administration’s Unlawful Handout To Big Banks

Boston — Today, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell and a coalition of 10 attorneys general filed a lawsuit to block the Trump Administration’s latest attempt to put big business over working families. The case challenges a rule issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) that purports to invalidate state laws that require mortgage lenders to pay interest on the money they require borrowers to deposit into escrow accounts to cover taxes and insurance.  

The result of the OCC’s decision is to take money away from homeowners and put it right into the pockets of big banks.  

“Instead of helping Americans who are navigating an unaffordable housing market and severe housing shortage, the Trump Administration is making mortgage payments more expensive by letting big banks avoid paying interest on borrowers’ escrow accounts,” said AG Campbell. “I will continue to push back against a federal administration that is seeking to violate our state laws and take our residents’ hard-earned money.”   

In May 2026, responding to a request from banking lobbyists, the OCC issued a rule that claims to invalidate state laws – including in Massachusetts – requiring lenders to share the money they earn on borrowers’ escrowed funds with the borrowers themselves. In addition to harming borrowers, smaller, state-chartered banks would be left at a competitive disadvantage because the OCC’s rule only exempts national banks from Massachusetts’ interest-on-escrow law.  

According to the lawsuit, the OCC’s rule ignores federal court rulings upholding state interest-on-escrow laws and skips the safeguards Congress put in place to prevent exactly this kind of bureaucratic overreach. AG Campbell and the coalition are asking the court to block the OCC’s rule to level the playing field between lenders and borrowers in Massachusetts.  

Joining AG Campbell in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont. 

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