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July 8, 2011 – A joint statement of principles to provide stronger consumer financial services protections to service members and their families was signed Wednesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the judge advocate generals of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.

The CFPB and JAGs will work together to identify potential violations of federal consumer financial laws and establish a single point of contact within the CFPB's enforcement division to receive information on consumer complaints from service members and military families. They will also create a formal working group on a coordinated response to unlawful conduct targeted at service members and their families.

"Through this partnership and our other efforts, we will work to make sure that the days of military families being easy targets for predatory practices and unscrupulous lenders are a thing of the past," said Holly Petraeus, assistant director of the Office of Servicemember Affairs.

The goals in the joint statement also include working with other Department of Defense offices to support improved financial literacy training for service members and their families.

Petraeus, during the NAFCU Defense Credit Union Summit last week in San Francisco, said her CFPB office would focus strongly on financial literacy education.