WASHINGTON–Almost 30 military associations and veterans groups have sent a joint letter to Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, urging that he not weaken the 2006 Military Lending Act, arguing such a move would leave military members vulnerable to predatory lenders.
The letter also was addressed to Defense Secretary James Mattis because his department wrote the loan protection regulations to implement the lending law.
As CUToday.info reported here, supervisory examinations of lenders for compliance with the MLA, which was devised to protect military service members and their families from financial fraud, predatory loans and credit card gouging, will be scrapped under at Trump Administration plan.
“We urge you to stand with the troops and against any attempt to weaken the Military Lending Act, including the Bureau’s supervisory and enforcement authority and the Department’s rules against predatory lending by all businesses, including by car dealerships,” the letter reads.
Among the groups signing the letter were the National Military Family Association along with the Consumer Federation of America.
The groups’ letter follows by a week a similar letter sent by Senate Democrats calling on the BCFP to maintain enforcement and not “make it easier for unscrupulous lenders” to target military members and their families.