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Last month, we released a report to Congress with the Department of Education on the private student market. This report helped shed light on how the private student loan market works and where there are opportunities for improvement.

When we design a form or develop a regulation, we work to gather continuous feedback. The same goes for our reports. Since releasing the private student loan report, we’ve been talking to researchers, consumer groups, and industry players to share our results and get feedback. Based on this feedback, we developed ways to make better estimates on certain market statistics, particularly in areas where our data set was incomplete.

While there aren’t any changes to the key findings and recommendations, we released an update today to reflect new methodologies our research team used to calculate some statistics in the report: first, the proportion of private student loan borrowers who exhausted their Federal Stafford Loan options; and second, the extent to which schools certified a borrower’s need for a private student loan.

Compared to the original estimates, the update shows that the number of borrowers who exhausted their federal options is lower than our original estimate, and the level of school certification is higher.

Check out the updates.

Do you have more suggestions about future topics for research on student loans? Share your ideas and tag your story with “student loans.”

We took an important step today towards looking out for older American consumers. Director Richard Cordray announced a public inquiry to learn more about the many ways in which older Americans are financially exploited and about the best practices for elder financial management.

Congress gave my Office for Older Americans a broad mandate to look out for the consumer financial interests of older Americans. As part of that work, we are keenly focused on the important issue of financial abuse and exploitation of the elderly. According to a recent study, seniors lost at least $2.9 billion to financial exploitation in 2010. Unfortunately, it is a growing trend. From 2008 to 2010, there was a 12 percent increase in the amount of money scammed from seniors.

The CFPB wants to hear from the public – especially people working directly with seniors – about these issues. In particular, we want input on how seniors can best determine the legitimacy of the credentials of financial planners and advisors. We’re also seeking information on what financial education, counseling or management programs are tailored to the unique needs of older Americans, their families, and their caregivers. We want to know what programs exist and and how effective they are.

We are looking out for our senior veterans, too. The Bureau wants feedback on what specific types of fraudulent, unfair, abusive, or deceptive practices target older veterans or military retirees. We know that Veterans Affairs “Aid and Attendance” benefits exploitation and military pension buyout schemes are being used in ways that can put veterans’ assets and pensions at risk. We want to learn more so we can better help older veterans and military retirees protect themselves.

The information we gather will benefit senior consumers in many ways. As my Office conducts its research on certifications and designations of senior financial advisors, the information we hope to gather here will give us a better picture of what is happening in the marketplace. With that information we can let seniors know where to look for fair and sound advice from reliable resources. Then they can make their own informed choices.

We want our inquiry to be as complete as possible and we need your input. The information gathered from this Request for Information will help guide future work for the Bureau and my office. We want to help seniors avoid fraud and make good, responsible decisions when they make financial choices. So please let us know about your experiences, good and bad.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Last week the Federal Reserve released a video on the Independent Foreclosure Review. The video aims to help borrowers who believe they were financially harmed during foreclosure processes between 2009 and 2010. Because we hear from consumers each day who have questions and concerns regarding their mortgages and foreclosures, we want to pass on good information they may find useful.

Many borrowers across the country have gone through foreclosure in recent years. Sometimes consumers went through the process with unanswered questions and concerns about how their foreclosure was handled. And in some cases, there were major errors made by servicers that led to foreclosures that could have been avoided. Because of these practices, the Independent Foreclosure Review has been established to assist borrowers in getting answers and possibly compensation. The Federal Reserve has set up a website for you to learn more about the Independent Foreclosure Review. The Federal Reserve offers an English language video and a Spanish language video that provide greater details, but here are the basics:

1. Your mortgage must have been serviced by a participating servicer.
2. Your foreclosure must have been initiated, processed, and/or completed between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010.
3. The foreclosure had to be for your primary residence.

Please note that there are absolutely no fees attached to this process. Beware of anyone who asks you to give them money.

To submit complaints, inquiries, feedback, or to tell the CFPB about an experience you’ve had with your mortgage, you can call our toll-free phone number at 1-855-411-CFPB (2372) or submit a complaint online. Consumers who are experiencing problems because they are unable to pay their mortgage can also call us at 1-855-411-CFPB and we will connect them with local housing experts who can provide free and professional advice.

Yesterday, Director Cordray kicked off our field hearing on payday lending in Birmingham, Ala., by explaining why he was there and what the Bureau wants to learn from consumers about payday loans. (more…)