top of page

Consumer Protection

see 1787's solutions here

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) provides “a single point of accountability for enforcing federal consumer financial laws and protecting consumers in the financial marketplace.”

The CFPB plays an extremely important role in protecting American citizens. Over the past 14 years, the agency has established clear rules to add fairness and transparency to the financial marketplace, and continually develops ways to safeguard consumers from emerging threats.

In its first 12 years alone, the CFPB helped return $17.5 billion to consumers through consumer relief efforts, including monetary compensation, principal reductions and canceled debts. The agency also imposed $4 billion in penalties on companies and individuals found to have violated the law.

Out of the 6,400,000 consumer complaints the agency has received to date, over 95 percent have received timely responses from the companies involved. Plus, the agency has helped millions of consumers settle complaints with financial firms, fighting for – and receiving – billions of dollars for consumers who have been victimized.

The CFPB should remain an independent watchdog and retain its autonomy from both the White House and Congress. However, the CFPB should not be independent of congressional appropriations. When the CFPB was created in 2010, it was given the power to fund itself and set its own budget – a number that can legally reach up to 12 percent of the Federal Reserve’s yearly operating expenses.

 

Unfortunately, this arrangement violates the Appropriations Clause set forth in Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 of the U.S. Constitution (“no money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law”) as well as the Non-Delegation Doctrine, a principle of constitutional and administration law (“Congress is not permitted to abdicate or to transfer to others the essential legislative functions with which it is thus vested”).

bottom of page