NCL statement on Senate vote on nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – National Consumers League
December 6, 2011
Contact: NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, media@nclnet.org
The following statement is attributable to Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League:
“The National Consumers League urges the U.S. Senate to vote in favor of confirmation of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The Senate is expected to vote on the Cordray nomination as early as this Thursday, December 8.
The effort to confirm Cordray has been held up in Congress by a group of Senators who have pledged to oppose any nominee to head the new consumer watchdog. The Senators opposing the Cordray nomination are seeking changes to the CFPB that NCL believes would weaken its ability to protect consumers.
The lack of consensus to confirm Richard Cordray to head the CFPB is leaving seniors, students, members of the armed forces, veterans, and other consumers at risk of tricks and traps in the fine print of contracts. Families in the United States need an empowered CFPB to protect their interests and save them from the kind of past abuses that led to the worst recession since the Great Depression.
As Attorney General of Ohio, Cordray recovered over $2 billion for consumers and communities who lost money and their financial security from shady Wall Street investments, deceptive financial products, and wrongful foreclosures. Recently, 37 state Attorneys General on a bi-partisan basis sent a letter to the Senate urging his confirmation.
The CFPB was created by the Dodd Frank reform law passed by Congress last year and is working to make sure financial companies play it straight with consumers. It has been charged with identifying and stopping unfair, deceptive, and abusive financial practices and keeping the rules governing financial service products up-to-date.
The CFPB needs a director. Without a leader at the helm, the agency is not able to exercise its full authority to oversee non-bank financial institutions like payday lenders, debt collectors, check cashers and certain mortgage lenders who target vulnerable consumers. NCL asks the U.S. Senate to do right by consumers and approve this nominee to head 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.
