The Financial CHOICE ACT of 2017 is the wrong choice for consumers – National Consumers League
April 26, 2017
Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832
Washington, DC—Today, House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) is convening a hearing to discuss the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017. This anti-consumer legislation aims to revoke all of the protections Dodd-Frank provided consumers after Wall Street’s reckless behavior created the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The National Consumers League (NCL) urges all members of Congress to oppose this legislation which would make consumers vulnerable to another market collapse, and irrevocably weaken the nation’s strongest financial cop on the beat.
The following statement can be attributed to NCL’s Executive Director Sally Greenberg:
“The Financial CHOICE Act of 2017 is the wrong choice for consumers. Supporters of the bill claim that it will provide consumers with more choices and hold Wall Street accountable. This is simply not true. This legislation will in fact do just the opposite by allowing Wall Street to once again participate in the very practices that caused the collapse of 2008. The Financial Choice Act would also rob the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) of its independent funding structure, and make it dependent on the highly politicized appropriations process where the very entities it is supposed to watch over, can buy influence over members of Congress.”
“If robbing the CFPB of its independence was not enough, this legislation will also prevent the CFPB from protecting consumers against unfair mandatory arbitration, end its jurisdiction over big banks, prevent the Bureau from stopping deceptive or abusive practices, and enable unscrupulous actors to hide from their bad behavior by eradicating the CFPB’s public consumer complaint database.”
“This legislation is not meant to provide more choices for consumers, it is meant to allow unethical banks to partake in practices that hurt consumers. Since the creation of the CFPB, the Bureau has done its job and done it well. The CFPB has returned $11.8 billion to 29 million cheated consumers. It has enacted numerous common sense protections and disclosures to make borrowing money safer for consumers, and it has ensured that the 1 million consumers who filed complaints with the Bureau reached the resolution they deserve. I urge all members of Congress to oppose this anti-consumer legislation and stand with the CFPB.”
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About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
