Dear John,

When the housing bubble collapsed in 2008, millions of Americans lost their jobs, and millions more either lost their homes, or went “underwater,” owing more on their homes than they were worth. Predatory lending strategies by the big banks without full disclosure of the costs and risks to consumers were one of the leading causes of this international crisis, which required billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out banks that were deemed “too big to fail.”

In response, the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to hold financial companies accountable, requiring transparency about the costs and risks associated with their products, and ensuring the fair operation of markets, returning to consumers billions of dollars gained through fraud and abuse.

Like other regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Reserve and the FDIC, the CFPB is not funded annually in recursive congressional funding cycles; it has a more stable funding source based on fees paid by the banks themselves. The banking industry has focused on this essential component to the CFPB’s effectiveness, hoping to have found an Achilles’ heel that will enable them to eventually zero out the entire agency.

In short, the Big Banks are pushing for the CFPB Transparency and Accountability Reform Act, recently passed by the House Financial Services Committee, in order to weaken or ultimately destroy the CFPB by attacking the stability of its funding and its rulemaking capacities.

We cannot allow the GOP and the big banks to wreck the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Send a direct message to your congressperson today telling them to reject the CFPB Transparency and Accountability Reform Act, as well as any other legislation that would weaken or break up the CFPB.

This isn’t the first time opponents of the CFPB have attacked its funding structure. Payday lending agencies, used to charging usurious fees at loan shark rates, sued the CFPB, claiming the funding structure was unconstitutional -- despite its resemblance to that of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve. The case is currently under review by the Supreme Court.

What is indisputable is the effectiveness of the CFPB at delivering results. Since its inception in 2011, the CFPB has enforced rulings resulting in nearly $16 billion returned to over 192 million Americans harmed by illegal and deceptive corporate practices.

The CFPB is also able to provide clear ground rules for honest businesses to engage fairly with consumers. Without these rules, lenders as well as consumers would lack protections. The current bill, however, would add procedural hurdles to the CFPB’s rulemaking capacities, including making cost-benefit analyses, without which the agency cannot monitor the markets. As a result, deceitful lenders would be at an advantage over honest ones.

Please join me today and send a message urging Congress to reject the CFPB Transparency and Accountability Reform Act. This legislation would only harm consumers and weaken the oversight of our financial system.

Thank you for helping protect Americans from financial fraud and abuse.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action