Outreach

For the first time, consumer reporting agencies will be subject to a federal supervision program. Earlier today, we held a field hearing today in Detroit for the announcement with remarks from Richard Cordray, CFPB Director, as well as testimony from consumer groups, academics, industry representatives, and members of the public. Director Cordray said:

[The credit reporting] system must merit our trust and confidence for the credit markets to be perceived as fair. We all share in this responsibility. But the credit reporting market is not one where consumers can shop around among different providers, for people have no choice about whether to have any of the credit reporting companies keep track of their credit history. That is why the Consumer Bureau’s new authority is so important, and why it must be exercised carefully and effectively.

Archived footage is available below. You can also read Director Cordray’s full remarks right now.

More on credit reporting

See the rule that establishes our consumer reporting supervision authority.
Read a consumer advisory on checking your credit score.
Find a credit reporting company that specializes in a particular area like medical history, employment history, etc.
Tell us your story about credit reporting.
Tweeting about the event our our announcement? Use #CreditReporting.

Video coverage of today’s event

We invite you to participate in a field hearing in Detroit, Michigan on credit reporting.

The field hearing will take place on Monday, July 16, 2012, at 11:00 am in the Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan.

The field hearing will feature remarks from Richard Cordray, CFPB Director as well as testimony from consumer groups, academics, industry representatives, and members of the public.

This event is open to the public and requires an RSVP. To RSVP, email your full name and your organizational affiliation (if any) to cfpb.events@cfpb.gov.

We invite you to participate in a field hearing in Tampa, Florida on reverse mortgages.

The field hearing will take place on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, at 11:00 am in the Ballroom of the Tampa Convention Center, 333 South Franklin Street, Tampa, Florida.

The field hearing will feature remarks from Richard Cordray, CFPB Director as well as testimony from consumer and civil rights groups, industry representatives, and members of the public.

This event is open to the public and requires an RSVP. To RSVP, email your full name and your organizational affiliation (if any) to cfpb.events@cfpb.gov.

For many students and parents, figuring out how to pay for college can be complicated and confusing. The decision to borrow for college should be the best investment a student will ever make.

But before the financial crisis, some families took on mortgages they didn’t fully understand and are now struggling to make ends meet and save their homes. While less talked about, many student loan borrowers also used products outside of the federal student loan program that they might not have fully understood.

What we’ve heard

Making sure that borrowers have clear information to make the best possible choice is critical. But borrowers have told us they didn’t know that private student loans don’t always have the same repayment options as federal student loans. These options allow borrowers to cap their payments as a portion of their income – a valuable option when times are rough. In addition, private student loan borrowers generally have fewer options in the bankruptcy process, compared to credit cards and other consumer loans.

But like borrowers struggling to stay afloat on their mortgages, private student loan borrowers have told us that they too need assistance. This past winter, we put out a request for information to find out more about their experiences.

Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published nearly 2,000 comments we received in response to that request. The comments include stories from individual borrowers, parents, school officials, and others.

One theme clearly rose to the top. Many private student loan borrowers expressed confusion and frustration when paying back their loans, especially when trying to get on an affordable payment plan.

One woman told us about the $90,000 debt she incurred to get a degree. Like other students who graduated in the middle of the financial crisis, she struggled to find a job to make ends meet. Interest and fees have led her debt to balloon to over $120,000. She said she’s been unable to get a new payment plan, and her loan has been sent to a debt collector. She worries that that the American Dream is out of reach.

This was just one of many stories of borrowers struggling to make ends meet.

Getting help

Fortunately, many of these borrowers are making use of the CFPB’s new student loan complaint system, launched a few months ago. Borrowers across the country have shared stories and submitted complaints about the process of obtaining or paying back a student loan.

These submissions have touched every stage in the lifecycle of a private student loan—from marketing and origination through repayment and servicing to default, bankruptcy and debt collection. Not surprisingly, we heard a lot about the challenges borrowers have faced in periods of unemployment and financial hardship.

Many borrowers submitting complaints to the CFPB have gotten some good news from their lenders, who have corrected billing problems and informed their customers about options for enrolling in an affordable payment plan.

Cracks in the system

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act also requires the Bureau to analyze private student loan borrower complaints and offer recommendations to the Treasury Secretary, Education Secretary, and Congress.

To help us get a more complete picture of the private student loan borrower issues, today we issued a notice in the Federal Register and wrote to state attorneys general, schools, and advocacy groups such as Queens Legal Services – who is here today – seeking information about the complaints they hear. Once we figure out all of the cracks in the system, we’ll work with our government partners, industry, and schools to address them. Already, our new consumer agency has been working with the Department of Education to make sure students know before they owe.

You or someone you know might feel that changes to the system won’t help if you’re struggling today. Based on the comments we published today, you are not alone. Visit our website where you can use our student debt repayment assistant, file a complaint, or just tell your story.

With your first-hand knowledge of how the market impacts consumers, you’ll be able to help us understand how to help the next generation of students make smart student loan choices and make sure that their college education truly is a path to a better life.

Rohit Chopra is the CFPB’s student loan ombudsman. This post is excerpted from prepared remarks for a town hall on student debt in Queens, New York, hosted by Rep. Gregory Meeks.

We’re in Durham, NC, today to hold a field hearing on general purpose reloadable prepaid cards, commonly known as prepaid cards. If you’re looking for our livestream, you’ve come to the right place.

Today’s live events have now ended. You can watch the recording below, or read CFPB Director Richard Cordray’s remarks.

If you missed the event, CFPB Director Richard Cordray announced that the Bureau is asking for comments about general purpose reloadable prepaid cards, referred to here simply as “prepaid cards”, through an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR). Before we act, we want your input. Here are some of the things we’re considering:

What steps could the Bureau take to most effectively regulate these products to provide the consumer with transparent, useful, and timely fee disclosures? Should market participants be required to provide disclosure pre-sale, post-sale, or both?

The Bureau intends to extend federal consumer protections to prepaid cards. Should proposed consumer protections be the same as for checking account debit cards? Should there be any modifications to protections as they are extended to prepaid cards?

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Currently, most prepaid cards do not offer a savings account associated with the card. The Bureau seeks public input on the costs, and benefits, and consumer protection issues related to savings features offered with prepaid cards.

Additional questions are in the ANPR. Do you have questions or comments of your own to share? We’d love to hear them.

Sign up for our email list and we’ll notify you when the comment period opens.

Here’s the recording of today’s panel and field hearing.

Last week, I was back in Florida. Stetson University’s College of Law invited me to speak at its annual Elder Consumer Protection Law Day. It was a beautiful day in Tampa Bay!

I started the day with an early morning “Think Tank” breakfast – a meeting of regional leaders coming together to discuss ideas and share approaches on the issue of elder consumer protection. This meeting brought together area elder advocacy leaders, elder law attorneys, regulators, prosecutors, and local and federal law enforcement. I described our work here at the CFPB and learned from them about the increasing number and frequency of scams and frauds which target older Americans. I learned about the excellent multidisciplinary work by – and cooperation between – many elder fraud teams in Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties, and others, in the Tampa area. Our conversation produced the promise of an annual Think Tank on Elder Consumer Law Day.

I then toured Stetson’s Eleazer Elder Courtroom, a specially designed courtroom for older advocates, judges and witnesses. Some of these design elements featured deadened background noise to make it easier to hear, better screens to make it easier to see exhibits, and a new podium and doors to make it easier for wheelchair-bound advocates and witnesses to move around the courtroom. Most of these accommodations are invisible. They would be a big help in every courtroom for every advocate and witness.

As we all know, raising awareness about the frauds and scams facing older Americans is key to my work. I gave a local TV interview you can see on the Tampa Bay Tribune’s website. (I also have some consumer advice that will be available on the Stetson University Law School website.)

My favorite part of the day was speaking to an audience of over 150 seniors who had come for Consumer Protection Law Day. I described what the CFPB is doing on their behalf, and the work of my office, in particular. Our lively question and answer period continued long after my remarks. I listened to many stories about the epidemic rise in identity theft of seniors’ personal information. This serious concern has many seniors worried about the effect of identity theft on their credit rating, their credit card accounts and their income tax refunds. I brought their concerns back to the Bureau for a further look.

I also visited with over 40 exhibitors at the event, who provided important sources of information for seniors. In addition to handouts, seniors received important services including on-site secure document shredding drop-off, registration with the do-not-call/opt-out registration, and free annual credit report services.

This meeting gave me a wonderful opportunity to learn directly from seniors about how they are faring in this economy. It also gave me a chance to learn what the law school is doing to create courses to for young lawyers to concentrate in the area of elder law. As our senior population continues to grow over the next 20 years, this work will become more and more important.

Thank you, Stetson!