Regulating financial practices is critical to a healthy economy

Some leaders in the financial services community work hard to weaken consumer protection regulations and the agencies that enforce them.  But it clear from recent history (2008) that the American economy works much better when financial consumer protections are in place and being enforced.

UP is among 80 organizations that co-signed a letter strongly opposing a proposal to seriously weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau‘s effectiveness as a watchdog agency for the public.   Never forget the conditions that led to the creation of the CFPB.  A current proposal would allow the agency to do no investigation into a company’s business practice but still issue a “no action” letter that the company can then use to avoid any accountability or punishment for the practice. This would cause double harm:  The agency is taking no action, but no one else can either – even though the business practice may be illegal. 

UP has long fought to prevent state insurance regulatory agencies from issuing similar letters that suggest they found no misconduct when in fact they didn’t actually do a real investigation.  A letter from a state or federal agency carries weight and is a powerful tool for a consumer or a business.  If the CFPB is permitted to automatically generate “no action” letters when in fact they really haven’t looked into the facts at all – we have no doubt that consumers and the economy will suffer harm.

We must preserve the integrity of our financial services regulatory systems or we will find ourselves right back where we were in 2008…