A report from the Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee criticizes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for betraying Americans by not holding the companies it regulates accountable and for giving a “free pass to some of the most abusive collection practices.”
The report, released on the same day that CFPB Director Kathleen Kraninger testified before the Senate Banking Committee, also criticizes the CFPB for not banning the collection of time-barred debts and for failing to protect consumers “struggling to make ends meet from being bombarded by harassing phone calls, text messages, or emails.”
A copy of the report can be accessed by clicking here.
“Not only has Director Kraninger neglected her own duty to ensure that ‘federal consumer financial laws are enforced consistently,’ she has undermined career public servants who have attempted to fulfill the agency’s purpose—protecting consumers from corporate abuse,” according to the report. “She has repeatedly placed the agency on the side of large corporate interests, at the cost of hardworking families’ paychecks.”
Discussing the CFPB’s proposed debt collection rule, the report says it “does more to provide safe harbors for debt collectors than protect consumers.” It specifically calls out how the proposed rule would allow collectors to “inundate” consumers with calls, send “unlimited, harassing” texts and emails to consumers, “invade” consumers’ privacy by allowing collectors to contact their friends and family, and creating a “loophole” for collection attorneys.
The report calls on Kraninger and the CFPB to “revamp” the proposed rule “so that it protects consumers struggling to make ends meet from being bombarded by harassing phone calls, text messages, or emails.”
