WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, delivered an opening statement at a hearing entitled “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress.”
Sen. Brown emphasized the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding the CFPB as a victory for various groups including working families in Ohio, military families managing their finances, students repaying loans, and older Americans protecting against financial predators.
“Last month, we defeated the latest in a long line of attacks on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by corporate interests that want the agency off their backs. In the end, the American people won – and Wall Street lost,” stated Sen. Brown.
He highlighted several key actions by the CFPB aimed at consumer protection. One significant action was eliminating medical debt from credit reports. “Medical debt is particularly damaging to consumers,” said Sen. Brown, noting that 15 million Americans still have medical bills on their credit reports.
Sen. Brown pointed out that medical debt often does not reflect an individual's ability to pay but rather correlates with illness. He argued that this type of debt has no place on credit reports: “When this rule is finalized, all Americans will have medical debt removed from their credit reports, for good.”
Additionally, he addressed efforts to reduce costs for consumers by targeting junk fees and discussed a new rule reducing credit card late fees: “In 2022...credit card companies charged consumers $14.5 billion in late fees.” According to him, these charges were often disproportionate to actual costs incurred by companies.
Sen. Brown also touched upon payday lenders' practices: “We’ve pushed for years to crack down on these shady lenders...with high-interest, predatory loans designed to trap them in a cycle of debt.” He praised CFPB’s payday lender rule aimed at curbing such practices.
Moreover, he underscored the importance of CFPB’s work for servicemembers and veterans through its Office of Servicemember Affairs: “The number of servicemembers getting help has increased for each of the last three years.” Since its inception in 2011, CFPB has returned nearly $21 billion to over 205 million consumers.
Concluding his statement, Sen. Brown reiterated his support for CFPB's mission: “I will always fight for its work that gets money back into people’s bank accounts...and stands up for consumers when they may have nowhere else to turn.”
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