Phony FOIA Scandal: Using Anti-CFPB Group’s Standard, Anti-CFPB Groups are in Cahoots with CFPB
We Can FOIA Too And We’re Calling B.S. on This Phony “Scandal”
SCANDAL! Op-Ed by Taxpayers Protection Alliance: CFPB and Center for Responsible Lending Were in Cahoots Because “In-Person Meetings and Emails Between the Two Organizations Were Common”…
“Scandal may soon rock the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. According to a damning new chain of emails, big banks, credit unions, and several self-serving consumer-advocacy organizations are exploiting their cozy relationships with the Bureau to push for harsh restrictions on their competitors in the payday lending industry… The pending rules stem from a series of proposals the Bureau released last year. They were the product of detailed consultation between the CFPB and the Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer-advocacy group. In-person meetings and emails between the two organizations were common. And federal officials gave the Center’s policy papers careful consideration.” [The Hill Op-Ed, Drew Johnson of Taxpayer Protection Alliance, 5/10/16]
…OR MAYBE NOT SO MUCH: Emails Also Reveal That the CFPB Had Numerous In-Person Meetings, Calls, and Emails with the American Financial Services Association, Who Oppose the CFPB’s Payday Lending Rule; the Head of AFSA Even Boasted of the “Tradition of CFPB Officials Engaging with Our Membership On a Regular Basis”
February 2015: Bill Himpler, Executive Vice President of American Financial Services (AFSA), Had a Call and Meeting With Laura Udis, Payday and Small Dollar Lending Program Manager of the CFPB:
August 2014: AFSA’s Himpler Met With the CFPB’s Corey Stone:
February 2015: CFPB’s Stone Spoke to the AFSA’s Installment Lenders at DC’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel:
July 2013: AFSA Executives Met With the CFPB to Discuss Indirect Auto Financing:
February 2014: AFSA’s Himpler Set Up a Meeting With CFPB Employees to Discuss Installment Lending and Had the Meeting on March 4, 2014:
March 2014: AFSA’s Himpler Cited in an Email the “Tradition of CFPB Officials Engaging With Our Membership on a Regular Basis” and Noted the CFPB Officials Who’d Spoken at Past AFSA Events:
August 2014: Himpler and AFSA Officials Met With CFPB’s Stone:
April 2015: Laura Udis of the CFPB Spoke to an AFSA Industry Conference; The Conference Wasn’t Recorded and AFSA Nixed the Planned Gift to Her at Her Request:
December 2014: CFPB’s Udis Requested to Be Added to AFSA Newsbriefs Subscriptions Lists: