What does SoFi say careful consumers want from their bank?

Max Spivakovsky of SoFi Tech says banks should prioritise three things for financially cautious consumers: visibility, flexibility and control. He made the case in an interview with PYMNTS.

Why do false declines matter for fraud teams?

A control that blocks a legitimate purchase is itself a loss. In the desk's analysis, issuers are judged on decline rates as well as fraud losses, and cautious customers feel a wrongful decline most.

Does a US rule require banks to give customers this data access?

Not at present. Orrick reported that on 30 March 2026 the Sixth Circuit paused appeals over the CFPB's Section 1033 rule while the agency pursues a substantially revised rule. Check the docket for later developments.

Cautious Debit Users Want Control; No US Rule Requires It

SoFi's risk lead says debit shows careful spenders, not retreating ones. With the US data-rights rule paused, visibility is a bank choice.

Banks that give cautious debit customers live balances, alerts and controls are responding to demand, according to SoFi's Max Spivakovsky, who cites SoFi Tech's Q2 2026 Debit Spend Index. He says about 20% of consumers would switch cards for benefits. No US rule currently requires this visibility, so it remains a competitive choice.

The Ledger Desk October 7, 2026 Updated October 7, 2026 · 3 min read

Per SoFi Tech's Q2 2026 Debit Spend Index, as relayed by Max Spivakovsky, grocery trips rose 13% from Q1 while spend per trip fell 3%.
Spivakovsky said card-on-file payments were nearly 25% of debit purchases and over 30% of debit spending in the same index.
He says careful consumers want visibility, flexibility and control, and that about 20% would switch cards for benefits. That is his claim, not independent data.
A false decline is a cost of fraud controls, and it falls hardest on customers watching their budgets. That is the desk's analysis.
Orrick reported on 30 March 2026 that the Sixth Circuit paused appeals over the CFPB's Section 1033 rule while the agency rewrites it, so visibility depends on bank choice.

A careful consumer has not stopped spending. That is the argument from Max Spivakovsky, senior director of global payments risk management at SoFi Tech Solutions, in an interview with PYMNTS. He says debit data shows households rebalancing, and that banks offering more visibility and control will keep those relationships. The figures below are SoFi's, as relayed in that interview, not an independent dataset.

Debit shows rebalancing, not retreat

According to SoFi Tech's Q2 2026 Debit Spend Index, as described by Spivakovsky to PYMNTS, grocery trips rose 13% from Q1 to Q2 while average spend per trip fell 3%. Fuel spending rose 28%, travel 21% and experiences 23%. These are SoFi figures relayed in an interview, and the article does not detail the methodology. His reading is cash-flow management: consumers shift where money goes rather than stop spending.

Card-on-file is now a major debit channel

Spivakovsky said card-on-file payments made up nearly 25% of debit purchases and over 30% of debit spending in the same index, with an average card-on-file purchase of about $60 against $37 for debit overall. These are his figures, not independent data. The structural point for fraud teams is that credentials stored across many merchants raise the value of device and behavioural signals at authorisation.

Fraud controls carry a cost of their own

This is the desk's analysis rather than a claim from the interview. A control that declines a legitimate purchase is itself a loss, and the cost lands hardest on a customer managing a tight budget, who may have no second card to fall back on. The incentive for issuers is to measure false-decline rates next to fraud losses, because a customer who is wrongly blocked repeatedly has a reason to move.

The federal data-access rule is paused

The CFPB finalised its Section 1033 data-rights rule in October 2024, according to the Congressional Research Service. Orrick reported that on 30 March 2026 the Sixth Circuit paused banking groups' appeals after the CFPB conceded the rule was unlawful and said it expects to issue a substantially revised version; the agency opened that process with an advance notice in August 2025. Visibility features are therefore a bank decision, not a compliance deadline.

What this means for issuers and compliance teams

With no enforceable federal mandate in the near term, live balances, alerts and card controls are a product choice. Spivakovsky said about 20% of consumers would switch cards for better benefits; that is his claim and should be tested against an issuer's own churn data. Compliance teams should track false-decline rates, review how stored credentials are authenticated, and watch the 60-day status reports in the Sixth Circuit matter for the revised rule.

What does SoFi say careful consumers want from their bank?: Max Spivakovsky of SoFi Tech says banks should prioritise three things for financially cautious consumers: visibility, flexibility and control. He made the case in an interview with PYMNTS.
Why do false declines matter for fraud teams?: A control that blocks a legitimate purchase is itself a loss. In the desk's analysis, issuers are judged on decline rates as well as fraud losses, and cautious customers feel a wrongful decline most.
Does a US rule require banks to give customers this data access?: Not at present. Orrick reported that on 30 March 2026 the Sixth Circuit paused appeals over the CFPB's Section 1033 rule while the agency pursues a substantially revised rule. Check the docket for later developments.

Careful Consumers Want Control. SoFi Says Banks Should Hand It Over. — PYMNTS
Sixth Circuit Pauses Appeals Challenging CFPB's Open Banking Rule Pending Rulemaking — Orrick
Access to Consumer Financial Data: Open Banking and the CFPB's Section 1033 Rule — Congressional Research Service