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The White House
For Immediate Release

MESSAGE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE: Cecilia Muñoz, Director of the Domestic Policy Council Discusses the Work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

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EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, SATURDAY, July 20, 2013 

MESSAGE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE: Cecilia Muñoz, Director of the Domestic Policy Council Discusses the Work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

In this week’s message, Cecilia Muñoz, Director of the Domestic Policy Council, discussed the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the first-ever independent consumer watchdog whose sole job is to help protect families from  irresponsible behavior of the financial sector. Over the past two years, mortgage lenders, student lenders, payday lenders, and credit reporting and debt collection agencies all face greater scrutiny.  With the CFPB now operating, if they don’t play by the rules, now the American people have somewhere to go to get some measure of justice and have more information they need to make informed decisions about loans.

The audio of the address and video of the message is available online HERE

Remarks by Cecilia Munoz

Message from the White House

July 20, 2013


Hi, everybody.  Three years ago this weekend, the Administration put in place tough new rules of the road for the financial sector so that irresponsible behavior on the part of the few could never again cause a crisis that harms millions of middle-class families.

As part of that reform, the President set up the Consumer Financial  Protection Bureau, the first-ever independent consumer watchdog with one job: to protect families from that sort of behavior.

Because of the work that’s been done at the CFPB over the past two years, today, mortgage lenders, student lenders, payday lenders, and credit reporting and debt collection agencies all face greater scrutiny.  And if they don’t play by the rules, you now have somewhere to go to get some measure of justice.

Today, as part of the CFPB’s “Know Before You Owe” efforts, students and their parents can get a simple report with the information they need to make informed decisions before taking out student loans – and more than 700 colleges have stepped up to make this information clear and transparent.   And if you’ve noticed that some credit card forms are easier to understand than they used to be, that’s because of the work that the CFPB and the Administration have done.

Today, veterans have the tools they need to defend against dishonest lenders and mortgage brokers who try to prey on them when they come home.

Seniors are better protected from someone who sees their homes or retirement savings as an easy target.  And thanks to the hard work of folks at the CFPB, so far six million Americans have gotten more than $400 million in refunds from companies that engaged in unscrupulous practices.

That’s money we didn’t have the power to recover before.

Our country has come a long way over the past four and a half years. Our economy’s growing.  Our businesses have created 7.2 million new jobs in the past 40 months. We’ve still got a long way to go but if we keep moving forward with our eyes fixed on that North Star of a growing middle class, then I’m confident we’ll get to where we need to go.

To find out more information about the CFPB, visit the Spanish language website at consumerfinance.gov/es.

Thank you, and have a great weekend.

 

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