A bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Suzanne Bonamici [D-Ore.] that seeks to restore the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office for Students and Young Consumers.
Background: The office was closed under former Acting Director Mick Mulvaney in 2018 and folded into the Bureau’s financial education efforts. The move was seen at the time as an indication of a shift in the Bureau’s prerogatives to information sharing from from investigation.
What it Does: The Students and Young Consumers Empowerment Act, H.R. 6692, would:
- Establish the position of the Assistant Director and Student Loan Borrower Advocate as head of a statutorily mandated Office for Students and Young Consumers (Office) charged with:
- empowering students, young consumers, and their families to make better informed decisions regarding consumer financial products and services;
- identifying new risks to consumers and referring cases for enforcement; and
- making recommendations to Congress about how to protect young consumers;
- Empower the Office to work with private and Federal student loan borrowers to resolve complaints against lenders, servicers, and debt collectors;
- Require information sharing between the head of the Office and senior officials across the federal government to allow the Office to carry out its duties and effectively protect student loan borrowers;
- Give the Office new tools to demand data from industry about risky practices, and requires annual reports about the student loan marketplace, campus banking, and risks to young consumers; and
- Provide Congress with new tools to hold CFPB accountable for the requirements in this Act.
What She Said: “Students and young consumers who are seeking to invest in their education should not be cheated by unscrupulous companies or for-profit colleges,” said Rep. Bonamici, the senior member of the Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development. “The Biden administration has taken many important steps to improve the student loan system and compensate borrowers and students who have been duped or defrauded. But we can do more. Restoring the Office for Students and Young Consumers will provide a needed resource at the CFPB and help create a better, fairer, and more transparent system.”
