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Though the CFPB Faces Major Reform, Few Know What it is

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is facing reform from the current administration, even though very few people seem to really know that it does. In February, President trump signed an executive order which could re-evaluation of Dodd-Frank, including the CFPB, as noted in a Consumer Reports post. However, CreditCards.com found in a survey that the average American is barely aware of the CFPB’s role, as 81 percent of respondents to CreditCards.com’s telephone survey stated that they did not know enough about the bureau to have an opinion on it.

Of the 17 percent who did have an opinion, the majority do in fact favor the bureau. Republicans favor the consumer watchdog two to one, and Democrats favor it four to one, reports CreditCards.com. Despite the positive, though spotty, public opinion, the CFPB is still in danger, as the current administration is an expensive and out-of-control entity in the eyes of Congress.

The idea of policing and regulating otherwise private institutions is at odds with the current Republican administration, and its current battle has brought the otherwise lesser-known Bureau into the mainstream. Republicans are calling Obama-appointed Director of the CFPB Richard Cordray to be replaced and to take the control of the Bureau finances away from the reserve and place it in the hands of Congress.

The CFPB was brought further into the public eye when New Jersey-based PHH Corp brought the Bureau to court over claims of abuse of power. The case, as previously reported by DS News, sees New Jersey-based lender PHH Corp. trying to overturn a $109 million penalty issued by the CFPB in June 2015 over alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. The case has challenged the constitutionality of the CFPB for the first time.

The 27 million consumers which the CFPB has collected refunds for would inevitably miss the bureau should it be dissolved. Without naming the Bureau, CreditCards.com asked respondents in its survey if it would support a federal agency which protected consumers from unfair and deceptive conduct, and 80 percent answered yes, the same number Democrats as Republicans.

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