GUTIERREZ STATEMENT: “THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU: THE FIRST 100 DAYS”

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND CONSUMER CREDIT SUBCOMMITTEE

Because of Dodd-Frank Transparency, Banks Cannot

Conduct "Electronic Stick-Ups" in Secret, Congressman Says
 

November 2, 2011

Media Contact: Douglas Rivlin (202) 225-8203

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Washington, DC) -- Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), a Member of the House Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit (and the Subcommittee's former Chairman), participated in a hearing today examining the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and its first 100 days of operations.  The CFPB was created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Law passed in the previous Congress and, like other parts of that bill designed to protect consumers, is under attack by Republican lawmakers.  Raj Date, Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury and the man in charge of CFPB, testified at the hearing.  More information on the hearing is available on the Committee website: http://financialservices.house.gov/Calendar/EventSingle.aspx?EventID=266367

Congressman Gutierrez, who serves as the Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity, prepared the following opening statement:

Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez Opening Statement as Prepared for Delivery:

To hear some of my colleagues across the aisle talk about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, you would think we were talking about something truly terrible.  Something horrible that small children hide from on Halloween.  We hear things like, the CFPB isn't accountable to Congress, or the CFPB has unprecedented power.  I would like to suggest, as I have before, that the CFPB is not the boogey man.  I believe that, like many important changes, we will soon be asking ourselves how we went so long without a commonsense regulator like the CFPB.

I was just reading a quote from the President of the American Bankers Association saying it was "unsound, unscientific, and dangerous."  But this isn't a quote about the CFPB; this is a quote from June 16, 1933 about federal deposit insurance.  Banks railed against it in 1933, but today you would be hard pressed to find someone who thinks that insuring our bank deposits is "unsound" or "dangerous." 

The fact is that the CFPB won't be doing anything "dangerous" either.  The CFPB issued draft mortgage disclosure rules and even Fox News here in Washington described the disclosure forms as "clear and easy to compare to one another."  The CFPB will continue to provide simplified forms and valuable guidance so that customers can actually understand what they are buying or promising to repay.  Whether it is a mortgage, a credit card, or a student loan, the CFPB is working to make sure that consumers have all the information they need to comparison shop.  The CFPB is creating a more transparent marketplace and it is already benefiting consumers.

Take a look at what happened with Bank of America, they instituted a $5 fee to use your debit card to access your money and customers were outraged.  The important thing here is that, because of Wall Street Reform and the thinking behind the CFPB, they couldn't do this electronic stick up in secret.  If Bank of America or another big bank tries to institute another unfair fee, we'll know about it because of the transparency that we created.

The CFPB will help us extend these kinds of consumer protections to other institutions that currently have little or no regulation.  The public is crying out for these protections, and the strength and long-term stability of our economy depends on them.  Members of Congress would be better off working with the CFPB to make sure that it works as well as it can for all constituents rather than trying to obstruct it at every turn.  This train is moving and it's time to get on board.

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