May 18, 2010
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Re: OPPOSE ENZI 4018 AND ENZI-SHELBY 4073: THEY DON’T PROTECT PRIVACY, AND WOULD SERIOUSLY WEAKEN THE CONSUMER BUREAU
Dear Senator:
We write on behalf of Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of over 250 national, state and local groups who have come together to reform the financial industry. Members of our coalition include consumer, civil rights, investor, retiree, community, labor, religious and business groups as well as Nobel Prize-winning economists. We support a strong Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and oppose weakening amendments to the Restoring American Financial Stability Act, S. 3217.
We urge you to oppose amendment #4018 from Senator Enzi (and #4073 from Senators Enzi and Shelby, which appears to be identical) because they would gut the investigative and enforcement authority of the CFPB. Under the guise of protecting consumer privacy, these amendments would saddle the CFPB with a requirement imposed on no other banking regulator, namely the prohibition of beginning an investigation without first obtaining the consent of the millions of consumers whose transactions are impacted by the bank practice under investigation. These amendments would preclude meaningful investigation by the CFPB.
There is no real privacy interest at stake here. Our coalition includes consumer groups who are committed to protecting the privacy of consumer financial information. We would not support the bill if we were not satisfied that consumer privacy concerns are appropriately addressed in the bill, which contains numerous provisions empowering and requiring the CFPB to safeguard the privacy of consumer information.
The amendments’ failure to similarly burden the other banking regulators reflects the absence of any real privacy concern. Indeed, these other regulators will have primary enforcement authority over 98% of the nation’s banks and credit unions. The amendments are unnecessary from a privacy point of view, and harmful to the effectiveness of the CFPB.
The amendments would severely weaken the CFPB, and we urge you to oppose them. We hope you will support a strong and effective Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and will oppose weakening amendments, such as Senator Enzi’s Amendment # 4018 and Senators Enzi and Shelby’s Amendment #4073.
For information, feel free to contact Ellen Harnick at 919-313-8553 or ellen.harnick@responsiblelending.org
Sincerely,
Americans for Financial Reform