CFPB Proposes Rap Sheet for Corporate Offenders
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today proposed requiring certain nonbank financial firms to register with the agency when they become subject to certain local, state, or federal agency or court orders. The CFPB has further proposed to publish the orders and company information via an online registry. Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate for Public Citizen, released the following statement:
“A public rap sheet for corporations is a welcome proposal. This not only would help law enforcers spot repeat offenders; the public would be able to look at a trusted registry to see if a particular company is worth the risk. This would add to the popular CFPB consumer database where individuals can complain publicly about banking services. Ideally, these public records would encourage the financial sector to clean up.
“The CFPB’s proposed registry to detect repeat corporate offenders has the potential to become a powerful tool for consumers and small businesses alike to track corporate offenders, who have embraced fines and litigation as a cost of doing business and rely on forced arbitration to keep consumers from having their day in court.”