U.S. agency assists service members in finance fixes

Do you have financial questions?  Are you getting ready to deploy and need assistance with debt collectors or institutions?  Or do you have a complaint about a debt collector? 

Reservists can get answers to these questions from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This agency also has a specialized department, the Office of Service Member Affairs, which is dedicated to ensuring that service members, veterans and their families are not taken advantage of or become a victim of unfair financial practices.

According to their website, “The CFPB  is an agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. They work to educate consumers, enforce financial laws, and study data gathered to keep up-to-date on consumers, providers and the markets.”

Angela Martin, Senior Enforcement Attorney Military Affairs Liaison for the Office of Enforcement of the CFPB, said that some of their responsibilities are to assist with loans, debt collection, consumer finance, mortgage assistance, fair lending practices and many more.

“This is what we do,” said Martin. “All of our core work affects the military.”

This federal agency can help service members with problems in any of these areas.

“The problem may not be your own, such as identity theft which can lead to debt collection,” she said. “Maybe you fell on hard times and cannot pay your bills. Or you get ready to buy a car, sign a valid contract only to be called back later and told your financing fell through.

“What are you going to do,” asked Martin. “What is going to happen?”

The CFPB has an online complaint system. Service members can enter their complaint, where it will be reviewed and routed to the correct company, and then the response received from the company will be routed to the individual. 

“We exist for you,” said Martin.  “The Office of Enforcement is taking cases just against those (companies) who take on the military for whatever reason.”

“And we don’t need a bunch of complaints. A single complaint is enough for us to go out there and look at it to see whether we need should bring action in a public forum. You … are your best protection against abuses in the marketplace, and we are your best defense. So, we can work together to clear up the problems,” said Martin.