The House Financial Services Committee Financial Institutions Subcommittee convened a hearing today that will do little but air the grievances of the banking lobby over the highly effective work done by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to prevent another financial crisis, and for the past 14 years it has diligently served the public, held financial firms accountable, cracked down on junk fees, and protected people from financial rip-offs. The vehemence of the Wall Street, Big Tech, and predatory financial industry’s attacks on the CFPB are a testament to its effectiveness in successfully standing up for people.
This week, Republicans in Congress introduced a resolution to undo a Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) rule that prevents medical debt from capsizing people’s credit scores. More than 100 million people have medical debt and it shows up on the credit reports of 15 million people.
The Trump administration has joined a group of big banks in an effort to destroy a vital safeguard against credit card junk fees that would have saved consumers $10 billion per year. As documented by AFR’s Wall Street Ripoff Counter, every day this CFPB rule is not in place, credit card users lose $2.7 million. To date, the bank lawsuit and now the Trump administration actions have cost consumers over $8.3 billion.
EPIC and Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) oppose the Trump Administration’s recent attacks on the CFPB and efforts by Congress to overturn finalized CFPB rules that protect users of payment apps. These attacks put Americans’ privacy and financial wellbeing at risk and threaten to destabilize the financial industry.
Christine Chen Zinner at the nonprofit Americans for Financial Reform told Checkbook: “Consumers are voters, too.” She encourages “everyday people” to talk to their members of Congress to “elevate this agency into the public consciousness” so that it becomes “a political liability for any member of Congress who thinks it’s okay to continue dismantling the CFPB.”
Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee, led by Chair French Hill, sided with Wall Street banks and against hardworking families by voting on legislation to roll back a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) cap on sky-high abusive overdraft fees at $5.
Senate Republicans voted to give Elon Musk and Big Tech the ability to operate payment apps without any meaningful oversight or accountability, a step that will leave millions vulnerable to financial predators and scammers.
A new poll shows Americans strongly support the CFPB’s mission as well as its rules lowering overdraft fees, tracking small business lending inequalities, and prohibiting medical debt from appearing on credit reports.
Today, over 100 community, civil rights, privacy, consumer, labor, technology, small business, and other organizations delivered a letter urging the U.S. Senate to oppose a resolution to rescind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) digital payment app oversight rule.