Newsroom

March 04, 2015

NAFCU backs bill for independent CFPB commission

NAFCU and other financial trades on Wednesday jointly lodged support for a bill introduced Wednesday by House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Chairman Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, to create an independent financial product safety commission to oversee CFPB.

The bill, H.R. 1266, is similar to legislation passed in 2009 by the House during the financial reform debate that would have created a five-person commission to oversee the CFPB.

"The CFPB has tremendous authority to supervise a multi-trillion dollar industry, which as we have learned, can have incredible ramifications on our economy," the groups said in their letter to Neugebauer. "As such, it is imperative the CFPB remain stable, be deliberative, and remain bipartisan – for the sake of the American consumer and the U.S. economy."

Earlier this week, CFPB Director Richard Cordray testified before the committee on the state of the bureau. He noted that credit unions and community banks did not participate in the problematic lending activity that caused the lending crisis, and discussed recent actions taken by the bureau to ease the regulatory burden on smaller institutions.