Support Rep. Maxine Waters' Consumer First Act to restore the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Rep. Maxine Waters explains the Consumers First Act.

Petition to Congress: "Support Rep. Maxine Waters' Consumer First Act to restore the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and undo the damage of Donald Trump's Wall Street first administration." Add your name:

The CFPB – the brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren – was one the shining star of Wall Street oversight. In just a few short years, it "returned $12 billion to nearly 30 million consumers who have been harmed by financial institutions, handled over 1.3 million consumer complaints about financial institutions, and made the financial marketplace stronger and fairer for all Americans."1 First, Trump hijacked the independent watchdog by installing his then-OMB Director Mick Mulvaney – a man who once publicly told a room full of bank lobbyists that donors to his political campaigns got first access to his congressional office.2 Then, Mulvaney set out to destroy the CFPB from within. He put partisan hacks in charge, dismissed an independent expert consultant board, suppressed a report on exploitative student loans, dropped charges against predatory payday lenders and quit cooperating with other agencies. Now, Mulvaney's handpicked successor, Kathy Kraninger – a woman with no relevant experience who helped implement Trump's family separation policy – is continuing the crusade, starting with a handout to payday lenders.3 Rep. Maxine Waters has had enough, and now she's out to reclaim the CFPB as the new chair of the House Committee on Financial Services. Her Consumers First Act restores the CFPB's staffing and powers, protects its work to rein in predatory lenders, and blocks further administration sabotage.4 We must help Rep. Waters pass this bill to undo the damage and expose Trump's Wall Street first agenda. Stand with Rep. Waters: Don't let Trump help Wall Street prey on working people. Click here to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/waters-cfpb?t=9&akid=31935%2E3130208%2Ew4YO5_ - Josh Nelson, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Timothy Jenkins, "Chairwoman Waters introduces bill to reverse Mulvaney actions," Consumer Finance Monitor, March 7, 2019. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. More Information: Donald Trump Is Targeting an Agency That Has Recovered $11.8 Billion for Consumers - Fortune, Jan. 2017

Stop Pres. Trump from rewarding predatory lenders

Submit a public comment to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: "Preserve and protect strong rules on payday lenders, including standards for ensuring recipients can repay loans. Anything less is a giveaway to an exploitative industry that preys on hard-working Americans." Add your name:

One of the textbook examples is Trump University, his sham educational center that a judge forced to pay students $25 million in damages for making fraudulent promises.2 In Washington, just look at the Trump Tax Scam – Trump claimed to drain the swamp, but he then drained working people's pocket books and gave massive handouts to the rich.Donald Trump spent most of last month's State of the Union address lying about his record. That's no surprise. He's been lying about his plans for years. In fact, that's how he stayed in business: making grandiose promises to get people to believe in him before they realize it's a scam or outright fraud.1 Nowhere in the State of the Union did this fraud populist admit to the American people that he just handed a massive giveaway to predatory lenders that trap people in debt.3 Now, it is up to us to resist his gift to payday lenders and expose Trump's false populism. Stop scam artist Donald Trump from rewarding predatory lenders. Click here to submit a public comment. The dirty secret of the payday lending industry is that there is no money in people repaying their loans on time. The key to the whole profit-making engine, the one that makes lenders’ Wall Street backers rich, is tricking people into taking out a loan and then locking them into months or years of debt. Charging hidden fees and demanding sky-high interest rates, payday lenders are little more than legal loan sharks. Now Trump wants to make it easier for payday lenders to exploit people. His handpicked leaders of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – first now-acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and then Kathy Kraninger – have set out to destroy the watchdog Sen. Elizabeth Warren initially proposed.4 Kraninger just announced the CFPB would rescind the most important part of an Obama-era rule on payday lenders: the part that would force lenders to confirm if someone has the ability to repay a loan, instead of deliberately trapping them deeper in debt to make money off the interest.5 Once again, Trump is siding with powerful Wall Street financial interests and pushing a change that will disproportionately hurt low-income Americans and people of color. We have fewer than 90 days to flood the CFPB with comments opposing the giveaway to predatory lenders and exposing the latest Trump scam, so we need your help. Stop scam artist Donald Trump from rewarding predatory lenders. Click below to submit a public comment: https://act.credoaction.com/letter/trump-payday-lending-rule?t=9&akid=31743%2E3130208%2EP4KX52 - Josh Nelson, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Bess Levin, "Trump wants to give loan sharks easier access to the poor," Vanity Fair, Feb. 6, 2019. Josh Hafner, "Judge finalizes $25 million Trump University settlement for students of 'sham university,'" USA Today, April 10, 2018. David Dayen, "This Is What Trump Quietly Screwing the Poor Looks Like," VICE, Feb. 7, 2019. Ibid. Ibid.

Tell Secretary of Defense James Mattis and CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney: Don't let Wall Street exploit service members

Petition to Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Acting Director Mick Mulvaney: Cease your plans to roll back enforcement of the bipartisan Military Lending Act and end rules against auto gap insurance markups." Add your name:

Earlier this week, Trump was forced to back down from his plans for a wasteful, exploitative military parade this November. Now his regime is plotting to let Wall Street exploit service members.1,2  In recent reports indicate that the Department of Defense and Mick Mulvaney, Trump's handpicked agent of destruction at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, are actively working on detailed plans to sabotage financial protections for members of military.3 Trump can't claim he cares about military service while feeding service members to predatory lenders.  Tell Secretary of Defense James Mattis and CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney: Don't let Wall Street exploit service members. Click here to sign the petition. Though he cancelled his proposed Veterans' Day 2018 parade after reports that it could cost as much as $92 million, Trump is taking two different steps to let Wall Street prey on service members. The Department of Defense is considering ending rules that keep car dealerships from scamming service members through outrageous markups on a type of car insurance called GAP insurance that service members could acquire cheaply elsewhere.4 Payday lenders often set up shop right outside military bases, directly targeting troops with false promises and deceptive terms and have sucked in a higher percentage of military families than the general public.5 The bipartisan Military Lending Act protects against these and other scams, but Mulvaney has plans to rollback MLA enforcement.6 One retired Army colonel called Trump's plans to stop enforcement "removing the sentries from the guard posts."7  Tell Mattis and Mulvaney: Don't let Wall Street exploit service members. Click here to sign the petition. Trump's deportation task force at ICE consistently rounds up and deports veterans who have served in the military.8 His administration was recently forced, under intense pressure, to suspend its cruel discharging of undocumented immigrant recruits who had joined the military with a promise that their service would help them gain a path to citizenship.9 He spent his campaign attacking prisoners of wars and Gold Star parents.  Tell Mattis and Mulvaney: Don't let Wall Street exploit service members. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/trump_mla?t=8&akid=29701%2E3130208%2EmbdRbH -Heidi Hess, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Eileen Sullivana et al., "Trump Cancels Military Parade, Blaming Washington Officials for Inflating Costs," The New York Times, Aug. 17, 2018. Chris Arnold, "White House Takes Aim At Financial Protections For Military," NPR, Aug. 13, 2018. Ibid. Sullivan et al., "Trump Cancels Military Parade, Blaming Washington Officials for Inflating Costs." Arnold, "White House Takes Aim At Financial Protections For Military." Ibid. Ibid. Kristine Phillips, “The story behind this powerful photo of deported military veterans saluting the U.S. flag,” The Washington Post, Nov. 16, 2017. CBS News, "Army temporarily suspends discharges of immigrant recruits seeking path to citizenship," Aug. 9, 2018.

Tell Senate: Kathy Kraninger is unfit to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Petition to the U.S. Senate: "Block and resist Kathy Kraninger's nomination to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Kraninger lacks relevant experience, oversees the agencies responsible for the unconscionable separation of thousands of children from their parents and has no record of protecting consumers. She would continue Acting Director Mulvaney's crusade to help predatory financial companies by destroying the CFPB from within." Add your name: Kathy Kraninger has no record of protecting consumers, possesses no experience in financial regulation, and is "completely unqualified," in the words of one expert – yet Trump has picked her to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.1 But don't worry: The American Banking Association and the representatives of payday lenders currently suing the CFPB have already announced they just love her nomination.2,3 Worse, in her current job at the Office of Management and Budget, Kraninger oversees the agencies responsible for the unconscionable separation of thousands of children from their parents, leading Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown to demand she turn over all records of her involvement.4 Tell the U.S. Senate: Block and resist Trump's Wall Street-friendly consumer protection pick. Click here to sign the petition. Kraninger's nomination took everyone by surprise. Currently a White House budget official, Kraninger has no record of sticking up for consumers. In fact, she has no relevant experience at all in finance, regulation, banking, or even leading an important institution like the CFPB.5 Her lack of qualifications may be the exact reason Trump nominated her. Predatory financial interests clearly see something about Kraninger they like, and Trump has launched a crusade to destroy the consumer watchdog from within. In fact, Kraninger's current boss at the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, is also the acting director of the CFPB and has single-mindedly sought to sabotage the institution since taking over. Mulvaney has requested a budget of $0 for the entire agency, joined forces with payday lenders, fired every member of the watchdog's consumer advocate advisory panel, hid complaints about predatory companies from the public, asked Congress to rob the agency of its power and independence, and called the institution "a sick, sad joke." He also famously told a room full of bank lobbyists that, as a congressman, he only held meetings with lobbyists who donated to his campaigns.6,7 With Mulvaney's lackey Kraninger in charge of the CFPB, he would effectively remain acting director as long as she's around. Even if Kraninger leads independently of Mulvaney, there is nothing in her record to suggest that she would take the side of consumers or the victims of predatory lenders. We have to make it clear to every senator – especially wavering Republicans and corporate Democrats – that her nomination is utterly unacceptable. Tell the U.S. Senate: Block and resist Trump's consumer protection pick. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/kraninger_cfpb?t=7&akid=29096%2E3130208%2Euiu-VC - Josh Nelson, CREDO Action Add your name: References: David Lazarus, "Trump's pick for consumer agency chief has never stood up for consumers," Los Angeles Times, June 18, 2018. Ibid. Americans for Financial Reform, "Well, if @MickMulvaneyOMB pick for @CFPB wins the love of payday lenders…" Twitter, June 18, 2018. Jim Puzzanghera, "CFPB nominee Kathy Kraninger faces questions on her role in 'zero tolerance' immigration policy," Los Angeles Times, June 19, 2018. Lazarus, "Trump's pick for consumer agency chief has never stood up for consumers." Sylvan Lane, "Five ways Mulvaney is cracking down on his own agency," The Hill, June 10, 2018. Shannon Young, "Elizabeth Warren questions whether lobbyist contributions have influenced Mick Mulvaney's work at CFPB," MassLive, April 27, 2018.

Stand with Sen. Warren: Stop Trump official from trading lobbyist contributions for access

Petition to CFPB Deputy General Counsel for General Law and Ethics Sonya White: "Investigate interim director Mick Mulvaney's potential conflicts of interest and publicly detail what steps you have taken to ensure his stated practice of trading access for lobbyist contributions does not undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's core mission." Add your name: Trump's interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mick Mulvaney, has requested a budget of $0 for the entire agency, joined forces with payday lenders and fired every member of the watchdog's consumer advocate advisory panel.1 Mulvaney is the same person who received hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from the banking and predatory lending industries and then told a room full of bank lobbyists that as a congressman, he only held meetings with lobbyists who donated money to his campaigns.2 Coincidence? Sen. Elizabeth Warren thinks not, and she's asked the agency's top ethics official for a response. Stand with Sen. Warren: Stop Trump official from trading lobbyist contributions for access. Click here to sign the petition. In dual letters to Mulvaney and Sonya White, the designated agency ethics official, Sen. Warren put the spotlight on Trump's efforts to undermine the consumer watchdog from the inside out. Her letter to Mulvaney demanded that he explain whether he still maintains a policy of preferential treatment for those who donated to his campaign. Sen. Warren asked White to detail what advice she had given to Mulvaney and what steps she had taken to ensure Mulvaney recused himself from any conflicts of interest.3 We need to help her keep the focus on the way Trump and his lapdogs like Mulvaney are helping Wall Street destroy the consumer watchdog agency. Step by step, Mulvaney has systematically tried to destroy the consumer watchdog: recommending changes to its structure, hiring bank-friendly staffers for key positions, joining payday lenders in a lawsuit against the agency, slashing its budget, hiding complaints about abusive companies from the public and soliciting complaints against the industry itself. He has even attempted to change the agency's name to obscure its mission.4 Deregulation is code for letting the worst of Wall Street do whatever they want. Either Mulvaney is serving his old campaign benefactors, or the Trump administration has sided with the rich and powerful against everyday Americans. Either way, it will take sustained pressure to keep the spotlight on Trump and Mulvaney's egregious abuses. Stand with Sen. Warren: Stop Trump official from trading lobbyist contributions for access. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/mulvaney_warren_ethics?t=7&akid=28934%2E3130208%2E9w1rWP - Josh Nelson, CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: Sylvan Lane, "Five ways Mulvaney is cracking down on his own agency," The Hill, June 10, 2018. Shannon Young, "Elizabeth Warren questions whether lobbyist contributions have influenced Mick Mulvaney's work at CFPB," MassLive, April 27, 2018. Ibid. Lane, "Five ways Mulvaney is cracking down on his own agency."

Public comment: Don't let Mulvaney destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Mick Mulvaney, Trump's interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, just admitted to a room full of bank lobbyists that as a congressman he only held meetings with lobbyists who donated money to his campaigns.1 He went on to tell the nearly 1,000 bankers gathered in Washington that "their input on the extensive powers of the CFPB could help rein in the agency long loathed by the financial sector."2Mick Mulvaney, Trump's interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, just admitted to a room full of bank lobbyists that as a congressman he only held meetings with lobbyists who donated money to his campaigns.1 Mulvaney's remarks were no coincidence: He recently asked for comments on the role and structure of the CFPB. But he did it quietly, hoping that only bank lobbyists would respond and give him legitimacy to tear the agency apart.

Submit a public comment to Mick Mulvaney, interim director of the CFPB: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau protects Americans from abuse and predatory scams by the financial industry. Any changes to its mission, processes and structure, like ending the public complaint database, are nothing more than a bank bailout in disguise. Add your name:

We can't let that happen. We need to flood the CFPB with comments to make it clear to Mick Mulvaney and Trump that we won't sit idly by while they destroy the one watchdog completely devoted to protecting Americans from Wall Street. Submit a public comment: Don't let Mulvaney and Trump destroy the CFPB. Click here to submit your comment. Mulvaney has called the CFPB “a sick, sad joke” and requested a budget of $0 for the entire agency.3 Already, Mulvaney has curtailed the CFPB’s desperately needed payday lending rule, giving a massive handout to predatory and exploitative payday lenders who intentionally trap people in cycles of debt with interest rates in excess of 300 percent.4 He just recently announced plans to kill a public database of consumer complaints in a blatant attempt to hide financial industry abuses from the American people.5 On top of it all, Mulvaney is trying to sabotage the CFPB from within by making changes to its structure. In a recent report to Congress, he asked for Trump to have more power over who leads the agency and to force the agency to beg right-wing Republicans for funding instead of having an independent funding base from the Federal Reserve. Also on Mulvaney’s wish list is giving Republicans in Congress veto power over any new rule the CFPB puts out.6 His overall goal is to remove the political independence that the agency’s creators, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, thought so essential to it being able to fight Wall Street. Now, he's making an underhanded attempt to claim the public supports his radical agenda – which is why we need to overwhelm bank lobbyist messages with comments of our own. Submit a public comment: Don't let Mulvaney and Trump destroy the CFPB. Click here to submit your comment. If you want to know why Donald Trump and Republicans are so desperate to destroy the CFPB, just take a glance at its record: In less than six years the CFPB extracted $12 billion from corporations and returned it to a total of 29 million defrauded Americans. Most of that money was paid in large sums, as in 2015 when the agency forced two debt-buying companies — Encore Capital Group and Portfolio Recovery Associates — to pay $79 million in refunds and penalties to tens of thousands of people the companies had fleeced. The CFPB has also engaged in policymaking, issuing new rules for home-mortgage lenders in 2013 that took aim at banks’ pattern of intentionally lending money they know borrowers can’t repay, at high interest rates. In 2016, the agency also instituted new guidelines for payday lenders in an attempt to stop loan sharks from targeting desperate people boxed out of traditional financial services due to debt and bad credit.7 CREDO members and progressive allies have successfully defended the CFPB in the past, but now we are needed once again. We cannot let Trump give Wall Street a massive victory. Submit a public comment: Don't let Mulvaney and Trump destroy the CFPB. Click below to submit your comment: https://act.credoaction.com/letter/mulvaney_cfpb_comment?t=8&akid=28365%2E3130208%2ELwMkAb -Josh Nelson, CREDO Action from  Add your name: References: Sylvan Lane, "Mulvaney to bankers: Your input will help limit consumer bureau's power," The Hill, April 24, 2018. Ibid. Meagan Day, “The Bankers’ Coup,” Jacobin, April 2018. Bess Levin, “Trump official lays out point-by-point plan to screw over consumers,” Vanity Fair, April 3, 2018. Yuka Hayashi, "CFPB Considers Ending Public Access to Complaints About Banks," The Wall Street Journal, April 24, 2018. Day, “The Bankers’ Coup.” Ibid.

Tell Congress: Don’t let Trump destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Petition to Congress: "Block and resist any attempt by Mick Mulvaney and Donald Trump to destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by changing its structure or funding." Add your name: Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Consumer Finance Protection Bureau is the one Wall Street watchdog completely devoted to protecting Americans from the predatory and abusive financial industry. So of course Donald Trump wants to destroy it. Trump’s agent of destruction is Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the CFPB, who previously tried to eliminate the agency he now heads. And Mulvaney just asked Congress to radically restructure the CFPB to put it under Trump’s thumb, setting up a massive fight.1 CREDO members stood with Sen. Warren to fight for the creation of the CFPB and to defend it, and now our voices are needed once again. Tell Congress: Don’t let Trump destroy the CFPB. Click here to sign the petition. Mulvaney has called the CFPB “a sick, sad joke” and requested a budget of $0 for the entire agency.2 Mulvaney has already curtailed the CFPB’s desperately needed payday lending rule, giving a massive handout to predatory and exploitative payday lenders who intentionally trap people in cycles of debt with interest rates in excess of 300 percent.3 Now, his official report to Congress asks legislators to make major changes to the watchdog’s structure. Mulvaney wants Trump to have more power over who leads the agency and to force the agency to beg right-wing Republicans for funding instead of having an independent funding base from the Federal Reserve. Also on Mulvaney’s wish list is giving Republicans in Congress veto power over any new rule that watchdog puts out.4 His overall goal is to remove the political independence that the agency’s creators, like Sen. Warren, thought so essential to it being able to fight Wall Street. We can’t let that happen. Tell Congress: Don’t let Trump destroy the CFPB. Click here to sign the petition. If you want to know why Donald Trump and Republicans are so desperate to destroy the CFPB, just take a glance at its record: In less than six years the CFPB extracted $12 billion from corporations and returned it to a total of 29 million defrauded Americans. Most of that money was paid in large sums, as in 2015 when the agency forced two debt-buying companies — Encore Capital Group and Portfolio Recovery Associates — to pay $79 million in refunds and penalties to tens of thousands of people the companies had fleeced. The CFPB has also engaged in policymaking, issuing new rules for home-mortgage lenders in 2013 that took aim at banks’ pattern of intentionally lending money they know borrowers can’t repay, at high interest rates. In 2016, the agency also instituted new guidelines for payday lenders in an attempt to stop loan sharks from targeting desperate people boxed out of traditional financial services due to debt and bad credit.5 CREDO members and progressive allies have successfully defended the CFPB in the past, but now we are needed once again. We cannot let Trump give Wall Street a massive victory. Tell Congress: Don’t let Trump destroy the CFPB. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/mulvaney_cfpb?t=8&akid=28270%2E3130208%2EuZPAWD - Josh Nelson, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Bess Levin, “Trump official lays out point-by-point plan to screw over consumers,” Vanity Fair, April 3, 2018. Meagan Day, “The Bankers’ Coup,” Jacobin, April 2018. Levin, “Trump official lays out point-by-point plan to screw over consumers.” Day, “The Bankers’ Coup.” Ibid.

Stand with Sen. Warren: Crack down on credit reporting companies like Equifax

Petition to Congress: "Crack down on the out-of-control credit reporting agencies like Equifax that put Americans’ personal data at risk. Support the Data Breach Prevention and Compensation Act, which would install new safeguards and mandatory penalties, and the Freedom from Equifax Exploitation (FREE) Act, which would protect people and give them more power over their information." Add your name:

The Equifax breach was even worse than we thought. The company recently announced that hackers accessed more of Americans’ personal information than previously revealed.1 Equifax’s disclosure comes on the heels of a scathing new report from Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The report reveals the credit reporting company’s failures before, during and after the breach – including attempting to profit off the disaster. The damning indictment arrives even as Trump’s hand-picked head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mick Mulvaney, is sabotaging his own agency’s effort to punish Equifax.2 “We’re unveiling this report while Mick Mulvaney is killing the consumer agency’s probe into the Equifax breach,” Sen. Warren said. She warned that if we do not act, Equifax is “going to wiggle off the hook.”3 Sen. Warren has introduced legislation to crack down on credit reporting companies like Equifax, impose mandatory penalties and protect Americans’ personal data. Now, she needs our help. Stand with Sen. Warren: Crack down on credit reporting companies like Equifax. Click here to sign the petition. Under Sen. Warren’s new bill, Equifax would have paid at least $1.5 billion in penalties for putting 145 million Americans’ personal information at risk. Instead, the company may end up making money off the breach. Equifax waited more than a month to tell the public after discovering the data breach, during which time a number of executives sold their company stock.4 When Equifax finally did come clean, they did so with a website that security experts described as “sketchy” and reportedly provided “inconsistent and unhelpful information to many.”5 In recent weeks, we learned that the stolen private data in some cases included phone numbers, email addresses and driver’s license information. Sen. Warren’s new bill would install important protections and mandatory penalties. It would establish an office of cybersecurity at the Federal Trade Commission, mandate financial compensation for victims and impose mandatory penalties for allowing hackers to access private information.6 Along with Sen. Warren’s previous bill, the Freedom from Equifax Exploitation (FREE) Act, which would give people more control over their private data, it would be a massive step to reining in the out-of-control credit reporting agencies. Stand with Sen. Warren: Crack down on credit reporting companies like Equifax. Click here to sign the petition. Credit companies make billions of dollars by collecting and selling our private information – like Social Security numbers, birth dates, credit card numbers and driver’s license information – with minimal oversight and zero consent. Then, they charge people to freeze or access their credit reports.7 It was not that long ago that credit bureaus would investigate your political leanings, sexuality, medical conditions, drinking habits and more to determine your “creditworthiness.” Being a person of color, a single woman or gay could hurt your credit score. During World War II, credit companies ran loyalty checks on behalf of the military. With technological advancements, computerized systems now vacuum up as much data on you as possible. From the beginning, credit bureaus have been an under-regulated, invasive corporate force helping to keep access to credit – and thus financial well-being – in the hands of the few.8 It is long past time to crack down on the credit reporting agencies like Equifax. Sen. Warren is leading the charge, and she needs our help. Stand with Sen. Warren: Crack down on credit reporting companies like Equifax. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/equifax_warren_2018?t=8&akid=27294%2E3130208%2EKK2lqJ - Murshed Zaheed, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Sarah Skidmore Sell, “Equifax hack put more info at risk than consumers knew,” AP News, Feb. 10, 2018. Emily Stewart, “Elizabeth Warren warns Equifax could 'wiggle off the hook' for users’ credit data getting hacked,” Vox, Feb. 7, 2018. Ibid. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, “Working to Hold Equifax Accountable,” Jan. 10, 2018. Sell, “Equifax hack put more info at risk than consumers knew.” Sen. Warren, “Working to Hold Equifax Accountable.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, “Freedom from Equifax Exploitation Act Factsheet (PDF),” Sept. 15, 2017. Matt Stoller, “Equifax Isn’t A Data Problem. It’s A Political Problem.” HuffPost, Sept. 13, 2017.

Democrats siding with Trump to deregulate banks? Welcome back to the financial crisis

With all of the insane news coming out of Washington—one bill flying under the radar is a bill that would endanger our financial well-being and send us back to an era of deregulation that lead to the financial collapse.

The Senate Banking Committee is preparing to vote today (Dec. 5th) on a bill that would undo major portions of the landmark Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. This is bad enough. Worse, however, is that nine Democrats and one Independent are siding with Republicans to undo these critical protections.

If the Senate strips away protections that prevent risky trading practices by big banks, it could lead to another financial crisis just like in 2008.

Sign the petition and tell Senate Democrats: Don’t help Donald Trump deregulate the banks!

It’s no surprise that this bill comes at a time when Donald Trump has placed his Tea Party Budget Director, Mick Mulvaney, at the helm of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Their goal is to eliminate the CFPB’s ability to hold the banks accountable and to undo the sensible protections Congress enacted against risky financial speculation in the wake of the financial crisis in 2008.

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren―a founding member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau―said this about the banking deal:

“This bill shows once again how Washington values short-term profits for big banks ahead of the interests of consumers or the safety of the financial system.”

Senate Democrats held firm against the terrible tax bill that was crammed through this weekend. They need to hold firm on this crucially important legislation as well. We must convince these nine Democrats and one Independent that siding with Donald Trump in deregulating the banks is as unacceptable as siding with him on taxes: Senators Joe Donnelly (IN), Heidi Heitkamp (ND), Tim Kaine (VA), Joe Manchin (WV), Claire McCaskill (MO), Gary Peters (MI), Jon Tester (MT), Mark Warner (VA), Angus King (ME), and Michael Bennet (CO).

Sign the petition today and tell Senate Democrats to not side with Donald Trump and the big banks!

Today―under Dodd-Frank―banks are already making record profits. Rolling back these protections would lead to risky trading practices and put Americans back in dire times, damaging the economy and potentially causing another recession driven by financial excess.

Together, we’re demanding an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.

-Josh Biven, EPI Policy Center

Now, could you take one minute to call your senators and tell them to stop this bank lobbyist giveaway? It’s the single most effective action you can take from where you’re sitting to make your voice heard.

Here’s the number you can call: (202) 224-3121. (It's the U.S. Capitol Switchboard, where you'll be connected with the office of one your senators.)

Here’s what you can say:
Hi, I’m [YOUR NAME] from [YOUR TOWN, YOUR ZIP CODE].
Sen. Mike Crapo’s (CRAY-poe’s) bill attacking Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform is an unacceptable giveaway to bank lobbyists.

With bank profits at record highs, this is no time to deliver dozens of deregulatory gifts to banks – or exempt banks that took tens of billions in bailout money from too-big-to-fail oversight.

Hold Wall Street Accountable: Oppose Congress’ Attempt to Allow Secret Courts Controlled by Banks

Let your member of Congress know you oppose H.J.R. 111, the “Arbitration CRA” >>
CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AT 202-224-3121
When it was discovered that Wells Fargo employees created more than 3 million fake accounts under existing customer names without their permission, the resulting scandal broke the American people’s trust. The company’s actions, motivated by internal sales quotas, hurt consumers’ credit scores and charged fees for services they didn’t request.

Wells Fargo was able to avoid class-action lawsuits using the arbitration clause it had with its customers. To prevent that practice in the future and make sure we all have our day in court, the Consumer Bureau issued a rule that cracks down on these rip-off clauses and allows consumers to take their grievances before a court without being forced into a secret arbitration court run by the big banks. But now, just a couple weeks after this new rule was finalized, Wall Street-backed members of Congress are moving quickly to pass a Congressional Review Act (CRA) bill that would overturn this important rule and stack the deck in favor of big banks and against consumers. The House is rushing to vote on the legislation … TODAY!

Will you call your Representative right now and tell them to protect consumers and vote NO on H.J.R. 111, the Arbitration CRA?

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AT 202-224-3121
Just months after strongly condemning Wells Fargo for its “theft” from American consumers, Congressman Keith Rothfus (R-PA) joined Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) in proposing this legislation, which would return power to the banks and could allow another Wells Fargo-type scandal to go unpunished.

Why? It could be because, together, Rothfus and Crapo have received more than $3 million in campaign contributions from big banks and other financial interests over the course of their careers. When will it stop? When will the politicians in Washington stand with consumers rather than the banks and Wall Street special interests that fund their campaigns? When we stand together and tell our Representatives to stop legislation like this!

Don’t let the Republican Congress take us back to the days when banks had free rein to rip off consumers. Call your Representative in Congress today at 202-224-3121 and tell them to oppose the H.J.R. 111, the Arbitration CRA!

- Karl Frisch. ALLIED PROGRESS ACTION