WASHINGTON–The head of the CFPB make clear during congressional testimony his agency is not dialing back its supervisory efforts, despite strong Republican opposition.
In his prepared remarks, Rohit Chopra, who appeared before committees of both the Senate and the House this week, urged Congress to provide stronger protections against the collection and use of consumers’ data, including from buy now, pay later providers and payments services.
Chopra’s appearance before Congress were his first since the Supreme Court ruled in May that the CFPB’s funding is constitutional.
Questions Over Chase Bank’s Plans
When it comes to consumers’ data, Chopra used his prepared remarks to point to plans by some of the nation’s biggest banks and PayPal to allow the use of customer payments data to target ad messages, saying it’s "critical that Congress must act too."
CUToday.info has details on Chase Bank’s plans here.
"These plans to monetize sensitive financial transaction data are a reminder that the United States is slowly lurching toward more financial surveillance and even financial censorship," Chopra said in his statement.
Chopra also told Congress he is concerned that companies offering BNPL services could leave consumers with little choice but to allow similar uses of their data.
‘Little Choice’
As CUToday.info also reported , in May the CFPB issued an interpretive rule treating BNPL providers are essentially credit card providers and must play by the same sets of rules, including requiring them to investigate disputed charges and issue refunds.
Lawmakers Have Questions
Following Chopra’s prepared remarks, committee members pressed him about the Bureau’s actions on financial services fees, medical debt, mortgage closing costs, and more.
During the Senate Banking Committee hearing, Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-SC) criticized the Bureau’s efforts on “junk fees” in his opening remarks, stating the credit card late fee rule will impact consumer access to credit.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) argued that consumers can access many free services due to overdraft and interchange fees covering the cost.
Ahead of the hearing, America’s Credit Unions urged that the CFPB’s authority should be used in a manner that is consistent with the spirit of the Dodd-Frank Act, ACU noted.
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