In advance of the Consumers First Act markup, the Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) forwarded a series of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reform measures to the House Financial Services Committee.
“Our primary position remains that Congress should depoliticize CFPB operations by replacing the single director with a bipartisan multi-member Senate confirmed commission,” Richard Hunt, CBA president and CEO, wrote. “A commission of individuals with diverse experience and expertise related to consumer financial products and services would elevate CFPB functions and transparency by providing an open debate of differing ideas, viewpoints and solutions, encouraging all sides to contribute to carefully conceived and lasting solutions for consumers.”
The CBA also supports a policy limiting the public dissemination of unsubstantiated information submitted through the CFPB complaint database that could have unintended consequences on bank and consumers.
“The legitimacy or accuracy of the information provided by the consumers to the Bureau through the complaint database is largely unverified,” Hunt concluded. “The CFPB’s only duty is to ensure the consumer is in fact a customer of that company, and the company is a covered financial service provider. With the CFPB’s database exceeding one million complaints, and the unsubstantiated nature of the complaints, the Bureau has effectively created a government sponsored YELP-like database where comments are publicly shared with little proof of validity. Banks and credit unions maintain robust compliant management procedures and work diligently to resolve disputes quickly, in order to maintain a positive customer relationship.”