On the Financial Choice Act and our Servicemembers

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the first line of defense against financial scams for our servicemembers and veterans. Disappointingly, Representative Chris Smith voted for the Wrong Choice Act (H.R. 10), which dismantles the watchdog. It is up to Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker to stop these attacks.

H.R. 10 is the latest attempt by Wall Street to cash in after spending over $2 billion in influence peddling during the last election. The bill stops the CFPB from taking legal action against large banks and other companies like payday lenders.

The CFPB has taken over 100 legal actions, returning $12 billion to over 29 million customers. 12 of those actions were targeted at abuses of servicemembers and veterans.

The agency would also lose its ability to investigate banks for compliance with the Military Lending Act, which provides special protections for our servicemembers.

And the public would lose access to the Consumer Complaint Database, which has handled over 72,000 complaints from the military community.

The Pentagon found that financial abuses can cause servicemembers to lose security clearances, resulting in lower unit preparedness. Fortunately, we have the CFPB.

The fact that Representative Smith didn’t oppose the bill for its harm to our military shows how bad it is for all consumers.

If enough New Jerseyans contact Congress, we can make sure the CFPB continues to rein in Wall Street for our military members and the rest of us too.

— Benjamin Trotto, NJPIRG, Trenton