The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has put forth a proposal that would require the financial sector disclose complaints that customers have filed against banks, The Huffington Post reported.
These complaints are filed by bank customers who believe that they have been mistreated, lied to, etc. by any financial institution. Currently, there is an estimated 290,000 complaints on file with these banks, but the banks have refused to fully release the details of these complaints.
The CFPB’s proposal will allow financial institutions to publicly respond to or refute the complaints. Also, complainants will be afforded the option to post their complaints on the CFPB website. Many institutions are putting up resistance to the proposal, naturally.
The banks and institutions think that disclosed complaints and filings will lead to misinformation and cause people to think that the banks are “not good corporate citizens.” Coincidentally, the banks have already done that for themselves with a mountain of lies told and crimes committed.
Complaint transparency “will expose providers of consumer financial services to reputational and financial risk through which there is no effective method of mitigation,” said Financial Services Roundtable, a financial industry advocate group hellbent on fighting the CFPB proposal. Releasing the complaints are “unlikely to help other consumers make better or more informed financial choices.”
The banks are playing the victim here, as if the big bad government is picking on them. Wall Street and American financial players are among the most bloodthirsty and vicious groups in business. For well over a century, big banks have been manipulating the system for their own gain, and people are no longer so easy to fool.
“Financial institutions have proven they cannot be trusted, nor shamed into admitting their mistakes,” said Mike Trieschman, unaffiliated with a bank or consumer group. The HuffPo noted a list of abuses committed by the financial industry; high cost/illegal payday loans, issuing bad mortgages, and refusal to lend to minorities.
Advocates say that successfully passing the proposal would help consumers become better informed about their options and help them make informed choices about which company to bank with, regardless of what the financial establishment says.
“The is what consumers want,” said Susan Grant of the Consumer Federation of America. “It gives them better ability to make decisions about what financial institution to choose.”
Potential consumers should be allowed to know what experiences other people have had with financial institutions. Allowing the proposal would shift the advantage into the hands of the public while removing it from Wall Street.
Josh is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow him on Twitter @dnJdeli.
