Every company suggests to buy
whatever you want on the internet now but who is watching out for us that
internet companies are legitimate and won’t rip us off? We do have the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau but what are they doing? Richard Cordray is the
Director of the Bureau and he calls all the shots. He is the best friend we
could have but they hate him in Washington. He is trying to be an independent consumer
watchdog but the company lobbyists are barking down his throat.
Cordray is a brilliant man who is
a former Attorney General from Ohio and more importantly, he won Jeopardy, the
TV show five times. LOL. He was appointed by Obama and the Bureau was created
in 2010 in an effort to reign in Wall Street. The Bureau was actually the idea
from Elizabeth Warren who was a Harvard professor at the time. She hoped that a
federal agency could help protect consumers against unfair and fraudulent
companies. Before the financial crisis of 2008 no one was focusing on the Banks
giving out bad mortgages resulting in millions of foreclosures, auto lenders
giving out costly car loans and fake internet companies selling non-existent
products.
In less than 6 years Cordray has
led the Bureau into a regulatory powerhouse. The CFPB, Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau has fined the credit bureau Experian $3 million dollars over
misleading credit scores, CFPB fined Regions Bank $7.5 million dollars for
unlawful overdraft practices, CFPB fined JP Morgan Bank $4.6 million dollars
for checking account denials and the CFPB has doubled caseloads in 2015. It is
good to know that there really is an agency in Washington that has the consumer’s
back.
He took on some of the largest
banks in America recently fining Wells Fargo Bank $185 million dollars for
opening accounts without customers’ knowledge, CFPB ordered Citibank to pay
$700 million dollars in consumer relief for illegal credit card practices and a
$772 million dollar penalty for Bank of America credit card practices. He knows that no you really can’t trust your
bank any longer. Some members of Congress say that Cordray has way too much
power. Remember Congressmen get large campaign contributions from many
companies. They like the comfy beds large companies provide them. They criticize the fact that he has been
appointed and not elected yet he has a big say in what mortgages we have and
what bank loans we get.
Jeb Hensarling a Republican from
Texas who is the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee hates Cordray. He feels that no one person should have that
much power. Outside Washington most people love the work that Cordray is doing.
The complaint center will uncover and put out of businesses those that seek to
fraud Americans. There was a website that was luring veterans offering them car
loans seemingly just for them. There was a company called MILES. Military
Installment Loans and Educational Services that was ripping off our returning
soldiers. They would set up car payments to be directly deducted from their
military paychecks. Soldiers mistakenly thought that the site was part of a
government program. The site had photos of men in uniform shaking hands with
auto dealers. It was discovered that service people were paying 3 times the
book value of the cars over the lifetime of the loan. Total Ripoff!
The CFPB got after the company
and ordered auto lenders to refund approximately $6.5 million dollars back to
service members of our Military. The CFPB is our American hero too!
Since the bureau was formed it
has collected $11.9 billion dollars in fines. 29million Americans will receive
relief due to the work of the CFPB. Thank God Trump didn’t throw Cordray out of
our government too. But the guy from Texas is trying to pass a thing called The
Financial Choice Act to give companies more power to do whatever the hell they
want. He wants to strip the CFPB of much of its enforcement powers. Is that what
you Trump supporters want when you say he is for businesses? Elizabeth Warren
haters just want to take her legacy away too. The arrogance of the Texas
congressman said that a petition signed by 158 professors from all the major
universities was wrong. This administration has a habit of NOT taking advice
from the professionals in any field. Our Republican run government has already
passed this new bill that would give the CFPB less power through the House.
UGH!!!
This Administration believes in freedom only
for big banks and financial institutions and not for the American people. They
have no problem with consumers being caught up in debt traps. We all lived
through too much credit card debt and failed mortgages. Everyone knows that the
failure of the Federal regulators to protect the consumers will have us all
drowning in debt again. Lets hope that the Senate fails to approve this new
bill and that Cordray doesn’t resign because he is doing the American people a
great service in our government. He has a thankless job being surrounded by
wealthy bought and sold lawmakers who are owned by rich corporations.
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