WASHINGTON–The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a report in which it said it has found that hundreds of counties around the country have developed coordinated community-based efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to elder financial exploitation.
The report also found that a strong collaboration among community stakeholders – like financial institutions, adult protective services, and law enforcement – can be very effective in protecting their older residents from financial exploitation, the CFPB said.
To help other communities across the country create their own protection partnerships to fight elder financial abuse, the CFPB has also released a resource guide and best practices.
“Hundreds of counties have developed a community-based approach to protect their seniors and retirees from financial exploitation,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “We’ve learned that an ‘all hands on deck’ strategy can be very effective to fight elder financial fraud. Our new guide and recommendations can help more community stakeholders build these very helpful networks to pool information, expertise, and resources in addressing this growing crisis.”
According to the CFPB, elder financial exploitation destroys the financial security of millions of older Americans annually – estimates of losses to elder Americans range from $2.9 billion to as high as $36.5 billion. To tackle this rapidly growing problem, communities across the country are working to bring together local stakeholders and resources to build protection partnerships. Protection partnerships, sometimes called “networks,” can make it easier for different community stakeholders to detect and respond to elder financial abuse through a variety of activities, including case review and consultation, community education, and professional training and advocacy.
The CFPB’s report takes a closer look at how protection partnerships to combat elder financial abuse operate in several communities and their effectiveness in responding to elder financial abuse.
For a copy of the report: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/082016_cfpb_Networks_Study_Report.pdf
For a copy of the resource guide: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/082016_cfpb_Network_Resource_Guide.pdf