The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created to bring basic standards of fairness and transparency to the world of credit cards, checking accounts, mortgages, student loans, payday and car-title loans, auto loans, checking accounts, debt collection, credit reporting, and other financial products and services.The brainchild of Senator Elizabeth Warren, the CFPB was established after the 2008 financial crisis to prevent the kinds of tricks and traps that had cost families billions of dollars and triggered an economic disaster. It’s the only financial oversight agency with a mandate to put the interests of consumers first. Its job, in the Bureau’s own words, is to “make consumer financial markets work for consumers, responsible providers, and the economy as a whole,” “take action against companies that break the law,” and “arm people with the information, steps, and tools that they need to make smart financial decisions.”Since it got up and running in 2011, the CFPB has gone to bat consumers in these ways (among others):

Laying down rules of the road for crucial financial products and services – rules that require mortgage lenders, for example, to seriously examine borrowers’ finances up front, so that the housing market and the economy are protected against another wave of deceptive and unsustainable lending.
Leading the investigation that forced Wells Fargo to pay more than $100 million in penalties and refunds for opening millions of accounts in the names of people who hadn’t authorized them.
Taking enforcement actions that have so far gotten the likes of Bank of America and Chase Bank to end their rip-off practices and delivered nearly $12 billion in restitution to more than 29 million cheated consumers.
Proposing rules to sharply limit payday lending abuses and forced arbitration clauses with class-action bans that operate as “Get out of jail free” cards for big banks and lenders that break the law.
Creating a searchable public complaint system and database to help consumers get answers from companies and usable information to protect themselves, and doing research to help the public and policy makers understand what is happening in financial markets.

Across party lines, Americans overwhelmingly support the mission and work of the CFPB. Voters who have formed an impression of the agency rated it positively by a 4-1 margin in a national survey conducted last summer: 81% of Democrats, 74% of Independents, and 59% of Republicans expressed a favorable view of the agency after hearing a description of its purpose.

Nevertheless, the Consumer Bureau and its mission are under steady attack by the financial industry and its friends in Washington. Get involved/join our action list to stand up for the CFPB, so that it can keep standing up for consumers.