CFPA

The Obama Administration has proposed, and the House is moving forward on, legislation to create a massive new government agency to regulate consumer financial products.   This new agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) would have unprecedented powers and authority to determine the types of financial products consumers can choose from.  In fact, the bill extends far beyond traditional financial services products to a vast majority of the economy – in short creating a new regulatory overlay over the entire business community.

The Kankakee Chamber supports more effective consumer protection that is centered on ensuring consumers have access to clear and concise disclosures about risks posed by financial products, and on weeding out the fraudulent and predatory actors.

On the contrary, this bill simply grows the government, putting new restrictions on consumer access to products, reducing choices among products catered to the needs of individual consumers, and driving up the costs of these products by making it more expensive to develop and offer them.   It even goes so far as to dictate and require “plain vanilla” products, assuming federal bureaucrats know what is best for consumers.

In addition, rather than adopt a national standard to streamline and bring uniformity to disclosures, the bill simply adds the CFPA to the maze of regulators that require conflicting and confusing disclosures about the risks consumers are exposed to when they buy financial products.

Lastly, the bill is a direct affront on the privacy and security of consumer financial information.  The CFPA would have unchecked authority to request and hold account information from financial institutions – including information regarding the type of account you hold and your balance.

This is not the way to protect consumers.  The Kankakee Chamber will support efforts to insure consumers have the information they need and are protected from predatory and other illegal practices. We will oppose efforts that fail to address the weaknesses of our current regulatory structure by simply adding new layers of government. We look forward to working with Congress on a plan that is clear and will actually help consumers.

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