SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
By now you have probably heard about the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The consumer watchdog was established in 2011 in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The initial goal was to better regulate banks and other institutions that provide financial services. But in recent weeks, as President Trump has taken charge, about 150 employees have been fired, and the rest have been told to stop working. Susan Tompor is a personal finance columnist for the Detroit Free Press. She has spent years writing about the CFPB and the role it plays in helping consumers and joins me now. Welcome.
SUSAN TOMPOR: Thank you, Scott.
DETROW: What was your first response to these moves, the firings and then the stop work order?
TOMPOR: Well, I think the first concern is, of course, President Trump had a first administration, and the CFPB was a much-diluted organization or agency. Wasn't as active, but it still existed. So it was a little disturbing, I think, to think that you'd turn on the consumerfinance.gov and see a 404 error sign. It's a little bit disturbing. I did since find out, though, you can still file complaints if you go through some of those pages. And today, just to test it out, I actually called their hotline and a person did answer. So (laughter) I don't know how that is. But what she told me was that she could still take complaints, but they have stopped action.
DETROW: And you've framed in writing, you've called the CFPB at times a consumer cop on the beat, right? This is an organization that could address violations, shoddy practices, fraud, hidden fees. That's how you wrote about it. And yet, there has been constant criticism. A lot Republicans in Congress, a lot of business groups have had a big problem with the CFPB. What's the best way to frame the objections that have come in over the years?
TOMPOR: Well, they didn't want it to start with. They said the other - the Republicans and the bankers said we didn't need this to start. So go back, you know, 15 years, they did not want this agency. They said other agencies could handle these things. So nothing's changed since then. But the CFPB has expanded its reach. Bankers are saying they're involved into overreach or overextension of their powers, and I think that's the argument right now. A big case that the CFPB was involved with was trying to get lower fees on credit cards and checking accounts - overdrafts, late fees. They were trying to lower the fees on these late fees for credit cards and checking accounts. You can imagine the banks don't want to do that. Nobody, no business, wants to have government come in and tell them what their fees should be.
But consumers, on the other hand, if you don't have this agency, you're stuck going to all sorts of different agencies. You might go to the attorney general's office in your state. You might go to the Better Business Bureau. You might go to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. This is kind of a one-stop shop, and what's good about a one-stop shop is they can spot trends. They can spot when they're seeing a lot of reports against one company doing XYZ. And if they're going against the law, I think it could be easier to find and to, you know, bring action against that company. That would be my argument. That would be why I think this does have value.
DETROW: Look, a lot of people will come across the CFPB, or in the past at least, during important life purchases or moments where they feel like they're really in a rut - buying a house, buying a car, suddenly being out of a lot of money. You've been writing about these topics for a long time. What advice would you give to Americans kind of navigating these tricky purchases if they can no longer turn to a place like the CFPB?
TOMPOR: Well, I think it's going to become increasingly important to do more research, talk to people who have had success with certain companies. Don't deal with companies that are not responding to their consumers. You know, that's kind of hard to do, but it is going to be on the consumer to do even more research. You know, you don't want to be in a situation where you didn't read the fine print. You might want to have somebody else read your fine print on some of these cases. Too often, you know, we trust people, unfortunately, and sometimes that trust isn't well-placed. And in a case like this, you know, nobody's going to be watching. Or maybe someone will watch. I don't know who might watch. But you're not going to have this big agency watching any longer if this change continues.
DETROW: That's Susan Tompor, personal finance columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Thanks so much for talking to us.
TOMPOR: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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