Do You Feel Great Yet?
I am not ready to go back to our regularly scheduled programming…
The hardest part of writing this particular blog is staying on topic. I am enraged about EVERYTHING these days. (Except the Philadelphia Eagles. Go Birds!) However, in the interest of being constructive, let’s home in on just one specific outrage today…the threat to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The CFPB was established in 2008 in the wake of the financial crisis. In retrospect, it seems ridiculous that it did not exist before. We have long had agencies to protect us from harmful drugs, badly made vehicles and faulty consumer products. But unsafe financial products? It was the Wild West before CFPB.
The CFPB tells its story best (until their website gets shut down):
$21 billion+: Amount of monetary compensation, principal reductions, canceled debts, and other consumer relief resulting from CFPB enforcement and supervisory work.
205 million+: Estimated number of consumers or consumer accounts eligible to receive relief from the CFPB’s enforcement and supervisory work.
$5 billion+: Civil money penalties imposed by the CFPB on companies and individuals that violate the law.
$6.1 billion: Estimated amount consumers will save every year due to recent changes in banks’ overdraft and non-sufficient funds (NSF) fee policies.
$363 million: Monetary relief resulting from 39 public enforcement actions that involved harm to servicemembers and veterans, including six enforcement actions for violations of the Military Lending Act.
But it’s more than that. The CFPB has earned the ardor of legions of financial coaches and non-profits who have used their tremendous educational resources to serve their clients:
What to do when debt collectors call
How to understand your mortgage closing documents
How to read your credit report
What you need to know if you are a financial caregiver
The list is practically endless. (I know. I have been furiously downloading resources just in case they disappear.) My particular favorite is the Financial Well-being Scale, which I have incorporated into my practice.
All of this is under threat. CFPB staff were directed February 9 to “stand down” and stop performing their work. To stop protecting you from unfair and unsafe financial products and services. To stop educating consumers about their rights. To stop providing resources for financial coaches to better serve their clientele, many of whom are low and moderate income.
You can do more than wring your hands. Here’s how to help:
Reach out to your elected officials. (Too tired to compose a letter entirely from scratch? Click here.)
Write letters to your local paper
Spread the word through your social networks. A lot of people are tuning out the news right now and I 100% get why. But we need to pay attention!
I wish it were not so, but here we are. If we want nice things, like an agency that protects us from malfeasance in the consumer finance industry, we are going to have to fight for it.
(Hey, I’d love to be in touch regularly. My free newsletter contains this blog, as well as other articles written by myself and others. Please consider subscribing by visiting the MoneyByLisa home page.)