John Gear Law Office & Salem Consumer Law    503-569-7777
  • Welcome
  • Services Offered
  • Finding My Office
  • Law for Real People blog
  • Useful links

Why every American should insist that Congress not neuter the CFPB  

1/6/2017

0 Comments

 
The very first proposal of the new Congress was to shut down the only independent ethics body -- that idea was stopped for now because of public outrage.

There's an even worse idea building up steam, one that should be killed dead forever; that idea is that we should neuter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) so that big banks and businesses don't have to worry about any consequences for mistreating Americans in the marketplace . . . you know, the way it was in the runup to the big crash that launched the Great Recession, when America realized that toxic financial products and predatory contractual arrangements could hurt you far worse than a defective toaster.

Regardless of party, there's not many Americans who want to see more wrongful foreclosures, more exploding mortgage loans, more hidden elder abuse and neglect hidden behind arbitration clauses, more scam banking charges on phony accounts that the consumer didn't even really open. But we will get all of those and more if Americans don't realize just how much they already have benefitted from the CFPB.

Remember, the whole reason the CFPB is hated is because it works for YOU, and for YOUR BENEFIT, instead of the benefit of the businesses that want to cheat you. They have poured money into Congressional campaigns to elect folks who will, if they are not stopped, repay their backers by killing CFPB and returning the US to the "Golden Rule" -- that the companies who use enough Gold to buy enough Congressional seats get to Rule, and to hell with the rest of us.

Our only chance is to make sure that every Senator and House member knows that you CARE about having a real watchdog on your side and that you are not about to let America be dragged backwards on consumer financial protection. 

Take the time to let your representatives and your social media network friends and your newspaper reading friends know why you support a STRONG, INDEPENDENT CFPB that isn't always looking over its shoulder to keep from getting clubbed by a Congress full of bought and sold politicians repaying their contributors.

What is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?

  • The CFPB is a federal agency created in 2010 with the goal of ensuring consumers are not ripped off by Big Banks and other financial institutions.
  • The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was created in the wake of the financial crisis to stand up for consumers and make sure they are treated fairly in the consumer financial marketplace.
What has the CFPB done for consumers and the financial marketplace?

  • The CFPB has implemented new, common-sense mortgage rules to protect consumers against the problems that led to the housing crisis.

  • The CFPB has handled over one million complaints from consumers about their problems with financial products and services.

  • The CFPB has addressed discriminatory financing in auto lending. 

  • The CFPB’s enforcement work and the consumer complaints it has handled have resulted in millions of dollars in monetary relief to consumers as well as other remedies, such as cleaning up credit reports or correcting the terms of a loan. 

  • The CFPB is developing proposed rules to protect consumers from harmful debt collection practices and the worst payday loan debt traps.

  • The CFPB has taken legal actions against:

    • Credit card companies for engaging in unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices related to marketing, billing, and enrollment for credit add-on products and services;

    • Banks for charging overdraft fees to consumers who had not agreed to overdraft services;

    • Payday lenders for pressuring borrowers into debt traps;

    • For-profit colleges for exploiting students and pushing them into unaffordable loans;

    • Debt collectors for using illegal tactics to intimidate consumers into paying debts they may not owe;

    • Mortgage companies for wrongly foreclosing on consumers’ homes.
What are the main attacks on the CFPB?

They are plans by Wall Street lobbyists and their allies in Congress to cripple the CFPB’s ability to function as an effective and politically independent watchdog. Specifically, they hope to:


  • Put the CFPB under a five-member commission chosen by party leaders, instead of a single director, and

  • Take away its independent funding, forcing the agency to depend on annual congressional appropriations.
Here’s the problem with these proposals:

Big banks would be able to use the politically charged appropriations process to deny funding for rulewriting or enforcement actions. They could take away the basic funds it needs to do its job, or threaten to do so in order to intimidate the agency out of taking actions to curb abuses by powerful companies. Multi-member boards often fall into a pattern of gridlock, inactivity, and a chronic unwillingness to challenge the industries they are charged with overseeing.

American consumers support the CFPB:

  • Poll: More than nine in 10 voters agree that it is important to regulate financial services and products in order to make sure they are fair for consumers.
  • Poll: Majorities of Americans across party lines (70 percent of Democrats, 52 percent of Republicans, and 69 percent of Independents) approve of the CFPB’s efforts to restore the ability of financial consumers to band together in lawsuits against banks and lenders that engage in wrongdoing.

What is forced arbitration and the CFPB forced arbitration rulemaking?

  • The Dodd-Frank-Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act granted the CFPB authority to prohibit forced arbitration clauses in consumer financial contracts.

  • The CFPB has issued a proposed rule that would eliminate arbitration clauses in financial services contracts that ban class actions.

  • Arbitration clauses are inserted into the fine print of many consumer contracts, including for financial products and services such as credit cards, checking accounts, prepaid cards and student loans.

  • Forced arbitration means that when a dispute arises between a consumer and a company, the consumer is denied access to courts, and must settle disputes with powerful corporations, including banks and lenders, in a private arbitration system.

  • Arbitration clauses include other restrictive terms such as prohibiting consumers from banding together in class actions.

  • Companies determine the location of arbitration proceedings, set the rules of the game, and name the firm that must be used in arbitration.

  • Corporate wrongdoers are able to avoid accountability by using forced arbitration because it can be expensive, it’s biased, and it lacks court oversight.
Enter your Email:
Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Author

    John Gear Law Office -
    Since 2010, a values-based Oregon law practice serving Oregon consumers, elders, employees, and nonprofits.

    Categories

    All
    Advertising
    All
    Arbitration
    Autofraud
    Bankruptcy
    Borrowing
    Class Actions
    Consumer Law
    Consumer Protection
    Consumer Protection Class Actions
    Credit
    Credit Reports
    Debt
    Debt Collection
    Elder Abuse
    Elders
    Employment
    End Of Life
    Fairness
    Fdcpa
    Foreclosures
    Fundraising
    Funeral
    Games Car Dealers Play
    Garnishments
    Great Stuff
    Health Care/Insurance
    Identity Theft
    I (heart) Liz Warren
    Insurance
    Lawyer Referral Service
    Legal Resources
    Lemon Law
    Life Planning
    Long-term Care Facilities
    Media
    Military
    Military Assistance Panel
    Modifications
    Mortgages
    N.A.O.
    Nonprofits
    Oregonadminrules
    OregonLaws.org
    Plain English
    Preparing For Departure
    Privacy
    Pro Bono
    Regulation
    Resources
    Right To Repair
    Safety
    Scam
    Scams
    Strategic Planning
    Student Loans
    Tort Reform
    Training
    Used Cars
    Veterans
    Wage Garnishment
    Wage Theft
    Warnings
    Warranties
    Watchdogs
    Workplace

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    RSS Feed

Picture

LAWYERLY FINE PRINT:

John Gear Law Office LLC and Salem Consumer Law.  John Gear Law Office is in Suite 208B of the Security Building in downtown Salem at 161 High St. SE, across from the Elsinore Theater, a half-block south of Marion County Courthouse, just south of State Street. There is abundant, free 3-hour on-street parking throughout downtown Salem, and three multi-story parking ramps that offer free customer parking in downtown Salem too.

Our attorneys are only licensed to practice law in Oregon. This site may be considered advertising under Oregon State Bar rules. There is no legal advice on this site so you should not interpret anything you read here as intended for your particular situation. Besides, we are not representing you and we are not your attorneys unless you have hired us by entering into a representation agreement with me. While we do want you to consider us when you seek an attorney, you should not hire any attorney based on brochures, websites, advertising, or other promotional materials.  All original content on this site is Copyright John Gear, 2010-2022.

Photos used under Creative Commons from Tony Webster, brand0con, eirikso, Fibonacci Blue, Jirka Matousek, Rd. Vortex, rcbrazier - Brazier Creative, cogdogblog, marfis75, marcoverch, GWP Photography, byzantiumbooks, Mic V., notacrime, emrank, Family Art Studio, dotpolka, respres, Mark Cummins, a little tune, Insulinde, Bill Wards Brickpile, Roger Chang, AnthonyMendezVO, jonrawlinson, Andres Rueda, Franco Folini, inman news, Pictures by Ann, ph-stop, crabchick, Jilligan86, Elvert Barnes, p.Gordon, CarbonNYC, Digital Sextant, darkpatator, Neil T, rictic, Mr. Mystery, SeanC90, richardmasoner, www.metaphoricalplatypus.com, lindsayloveshermac, Santacreu, =Nahemoth=, ReinventedWheel, LadyDragonflyCC - On Vacation, See you all soon!, Mr. T in DC, Nisha A, markcbrennan, Celestine Chua, Furryscaly, smkybear, CarbonNYC, radioedit, Don Hankins, Henrik Hovhannisyan, CoreBurn, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, David Masters, SeeMidTN.com (aka Brent), SoulRider.222, amboo who?, robwest, Rob Ellis', floeschie, Key Foster, TechCocktail, That Other Paper, marcoverch, oskay, Muffet, rodaniel, Alan Cleaver, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, Horia Varlan, xJasonRogersx, billaday, BasicGov, One Way Stock, mikebaird, Nevado, shalf