Coalition Calls on House Committee to Preserve Powers of Consumer Bureau

House GOP seeks to weaken Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

A broad coalition of consumer advocacy groups is calling on members of the U.S. House of Representatives to reject efforts to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

The House Financial Services Committee is considering legislation designed to take away much of the authority granted to the CFPB under the Dodd-Frank Act.

“We need the CFPB to continue as an effective consumer watchdog with independent funding, so that financial industry lobbyists cannot use their influence over the annual congressional appropriations process to incapacitate regulators and evade oversight – as they did in the leadup to the Great Recession,” said Mitria Spotser, vice president and federal policy director at the Center for Responsible Lending. “This bill would result in a CFPB that is mired in gridlock and unable to protect consumers from predatory financial practices. This bill should be swiftly rejected.”

Advocates noted that consumers depend on the CFPB to be an arbiter of fairness in the financial marketplace. Efforts to weaken it, they say, will empower bad corporate actors to take advantage of consumers.

“Since its creation the CFPB has effectively executed its mandate of protecting consumers and holding financial companies accountable,” said Rachel Gittleman, financial services outreach manager at the Consumer Federation of America. “We urge all members to promptly reject this legislation and any other effort to weaken the CFPB’s ability to protect consumers, as well as its oversight and regulation of our broader financial system.”

More than 70 consumer groups signed a letter to the House committee asking them to reject the legislation.

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