On February 7, CFPB General Counsel Seth Frotman gave a talk at the University of Michigan, The Federal General Counsel, Law, and Our Democracy at a Crossroads. The entire speech is worth a read, but I want to quote one part that describes Frotman’s view of what the CFPB should do and provides a test by which the Bureau’s work can be measured. I’ve omitted the footnotes in the quote:
The work of the CFPB is to help ensure everyday people get a shot at a good life – to provide for their own futures, and that of their families. Our mission is to ensure that the market for consumer financial products and services is “fair, transparent, and competitive.”
To the average person, that translates into things like: “When I borrow money to buy a car to get to work, will the loan set me up to fail?” “When I pursue an education and a chance for a better life, will I be scammed into taking out loans for a worthless credential and a lifetime of debt – targeted because I’m a woman, or because I’m Black? “If I lose my job and need to talk to someone at a financial institution, will they answer, or will a ‘chatbot’ give me the run-around?” “When I sell my house, will I be able to get a fair price, or will I need to ‘whitewash’ the photos on the wall so that the appraiser doesn’t know who I am?”
I could go on. These are issues that affect hundreds of millions of people and they especially affect those with the least resources in our society who are often the ones most easily taken advantage of.
I believe that we in the government – including and indeed especially the lawyers – have the awesome responsibility of making sure that what we do actually makes a difference for the American people. That’s the test: whether the pages and pages of laws and regulations – the words and the footnotes and the citations – are improving people’s lives.
I believe the Bureau passed that test with flying colors in the last four years. I hope that four years from now, I can say the same thing.