On April 24, 2026, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued an interim final rule and a companion order expressly preempting the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act under the National Bank Act, 12 U.S.C. § 24. The rule classifies interchange fees as protected “non-interest charges,” a category the OCC says states can’t touch regardless of whether the bank sets the fee directly or receives it through a network.
The timing is pointed. In February 2026, Judge Virginia Kendall of the Northern District of Illinois issued a split ruling in Illinois Bankers Association v. Raoul: she upheld the IFPA’s fee cap as not significantly interfering with national bank powers, while enjoining its data-usage restrictions as impermissibly burdening bank operations. The OCC’s new rule rejects that reasoning wholesale, asserting that fee restrictions, however structured, necessarily interfere with federally authorized banking activities.
The Seventh Circuit is now weighing the appeal on an expedited schedule. The OCC already filed an amicus brief, but its rulemaking goes further: it’s an attempt to reframe the legal standard the court applies, not just argue within it. Since Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024) ended Chevron deference, courts can reject the OCC’s interpretation outright. The agency may get Skidmore respect, but that’s persuasive, not binding.
The what-if is larger than Illinois. If the Seventh Circuit adopts the OCC’s framing, states lose the ability to regulate payment networks as a workaround to NBA preemption. If it doesn’t, every state considering an interchange fee cap gets a roadmap.
Comments are due May 29, 2026. Both the rule and order take effect June 30, 2026 — one day before the IFPA’s own effective date.
James Okafor