Meanwhile At The CFPB

by Stuart Shapiro

As the presidential campaign grinds on, federal agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) continue with their work.  There were two significant policy changes issued the past week. First they announced:

Starting today, we can help consumers with individual-level complaint assistance on issues with their credit report. The types of complaints we can work on include:

• Incorrect information on a credit report
• A consumer reporting agency’s investigation
• Improper use of a credit report,
• Being unable to get a copy of a credit score or file, and
• Problems with credit monitoring or identify protection services.

Then CFPB chair Richard Cordray (pictured) announced that the agency would begin supervising debt collection agencies:

In fact a stated purpose for the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is that Congress wanted “to ensure that those debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection practices are not competitively disadvantaged.” At the Consumer Bureau, we deeply believe that reasonable market oversight is critical to fostering competition in consumer financial markets. We will be using both our supervision authority and our enforcement authority to oversee the market and go after bad actors who flout the law.

Just another day of government protecting the public interest.

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.