Understanding the CFPB is Good Business

In just a few short years the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has asserted its role in overseeing the wide ranging aspects of the consumer financial industry.  Since the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 established the CFPB it has worked to create an institution that ensures fairness, consistency, and transparency for consumers working with financial institutions.

As we know, the CFPB has had a tremendous impact on how we do business when, this past October, the Know Before You Owe initiative for consumers spawned the infamous TRID Regulations that are still impacting many aspects of the closing process.

While many working on the industry side of Know Before You Owe have voiced frustration in its implementation, the CFPB continues to pledge its dedication to create and enforce standards and regulations throughout the industry.  Their mission, as stated on their website:

The CFPB is a 21^st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over  their economic lives…..

…..If we achieve our mission, then we will have encouraged the development of a consume finance marketplace

• where customers can see prices and risks up front and where they can easily make product comparisons;

• in which no one can build a business model around unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices;

• that works for American consumers, responsible providers, and the economy as a whole.”

Over the past year, it has become clear the CFPB is a vehicle for consumer protection and the TRID was just the beginning of what promises to be a continuous implementation of policies and procedures to meet their goals. If you have not already done so, becoming familiar with the CFPB, its objectives and its plans, is not only relevant to business, it is critical.  Following are two recent articles I highly recommend:

CFPB to Financial Industry: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee  HousingWire | February 24, 2016 Despite how it may be perceived, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau doesn’t view itself as an “enemy” of the financial industry, nor does it want the industry to view it in that way. Rather, the CFPB wants the financial industry to think of it as “an important new friend and ally” in helping to serve the financial needs of the public, CFPB Director Richard Cordray said this week.

CFPB Lays Out 9-point Plan to Reshape Financial Industry HousingWire | February 26, 2016 In a speech last week at a meeting of the Consumer Advisory Board, a group of “external experts, industry representatives, consumers, community leaders and advocates” that the CFPB meets with to discuss financial issues facing consumers, CFPB Director Richard Cordray laid out a series of goals for how the CFPB wants the financial industry to operate.