Good news -- the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced that it will begin supervising debt collection agencies starting on January 2, 2013.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a rule today that will allow the agency to federally supervise the larger consumer debt collectors for the first time. The CFPB also released the field guide that examiners will use to ensure that companies and banks engaging in debt collection are following the law.
“Millions of consumers are affected by debt collection, and we want to make sure they are treated fairly,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Today we are announcing that we will be supervising the larger debt collectors in the market for the first time at the federal level. We want all companies to realize that the better business choice is to follow the law — not break it.”
I consider the creation of the CFPB to be one of the greatest achievements of the past four years, no thanks to the Republicans who fought tooth and nail to kill it.
The agency went without a director for over a year while Republicans blocked confirmation of Elizabeth Warren. The Republicans demanded that the agency be rendered toothless, ineffectual, and stripped of funding before they would confirm anyone as its director. President Obama later broke their blockade with a recess appointment of Richard Cordray, the former Attorney General of Ohio.
Perhaps it's poetic justice that blocking Elizabeth Warren as the director of the bureau may end up costing Republican Senator Scott Brown his seat.