Servicemembers deserve better

Servicemembers and Veterans Need Strong Financial Protection

Servicemembers and veterans are particularly vulnerable to deceptive and dishonest practices from credit card companies, debt collectors, mortgage companies and more.

Our new report shows the extent of the problem: Servicemembers across the country are targets for financial abuse. That’s why our consumer watchdog, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is so important.

Servicemembers rely on the Consumer Bureau to protect them from financial abuse. But Congress could gut the Consumer Bureau this week, as the disastrous Financial Choice Act — or the Wrong Choice Act as we prefer to call it — hits the floor of the U.S. House.

In under six years, the CFPB has taken at least a dozen enforcement actions to protect servicemembers, like ordering the Navy Federal Credit Union, which used illegal debt collection tactics, to pay $23 million in redress to customers who were wronged. The agency has also successfully advocated to close loopholes in the Military Lending Act, which caps interest rates on loans to servicemembers.

Just as our armed services are devoted to protecting America’s interests, so too do servicemembers — and all American consumers — deserve an agency devoted to protecting their interests in the often dangerous financial marketplace.

“This is yet another reminder that servicemembers and Veterans are often targeted by unscrupulous financial services providers, leaving our heroes with mountains of debt and harming military readiness,” said U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL). “The CFPB’s Office of Servicemember Affairs has helped protect those who protect us for years, and now is not the time to rip away vital consumer protections from our servicemembers and Veterans.”

If You Are, or Know, a Servicemember or Veteran

To file a complaint with the CFPB: visit consumerfinance.gov/complaint or call (855) 411-CFPB. The CFPB sends submitted complaints to companies for a response, and allows consumers to receive status updates both through the CFPB website and a toll-free number.

To learn more about CFPB resources for servicemembers: visit the Office of Servicemember Affairs at consumerfinance. gov/servicemembers. This site offers resources for servicemembers and veterans, including advice on financial decisions, and financial coaching for transitioning veterans.