To The Reader’s Forum:

Republicans in Congress are planning to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency put in place after the 2008 financial collapse to give the working people some protection from the big Wall Street banks. We remember the billion dollar bailouts to the bankers who caused the crisis and their million dollars bonuses right after. We remember the millions of working people forced out of their homes because of foreclosures. The CFPB is in place, in part, to protect working Americans from such abuse.

The CFPB was also the agency that uncovered Wells Fargo Bank’s scheme to meet sales goals by opening fee charging credit card accounts without notifying customers; one and a half million of them. They also work to uncover unscrupulous predatory lenders. The bureau has recovered and sent back nearly $12 Billion for 27 million consumers harmed by illegal practices of credit card companies, banks, debt collectors, mortgage companies and others. The bureau has special offices to protect students, seniors, servicemembers and persons at risk of unlawful discrimination. In a nutshell, they are on your side not the big Wall Street banks.

The banks spent millions unsuccessfully trying to prevent the forming of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and are now working with republicans in Congress to weaken it. Contact Congressman Reed and ask him if he will stand with the working people of Western New York or with the big Wall Street banks to weaken this agency that works for you.

Tom Meara,

Jamestown