Consumer Protection is a Civil Rights Issue
During the Great Recession, Latino families lost an entire generation of wealth. The reckless behavior of financial institutions, including banks, credit card companies, and mortgage lenders helped bring about a financial crisis that cost Americans millions of jobs, billions in tax-payer funded bailouts, and trillions of lost retirement savings. The lack of consumer protections allowed unscrupulous lenders to target communities of color with unfair and abusive financial products. The 2008 financial crisis confirmed the need for an agency that was solely focused on protecting consumers and monitoring financial products and services. The creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is one of the most important accomplishments of Wall-Street reform. The CFPB has returned $11.8 billion in relief to more than 29 million consumers in the less than six years since openings its doors. The result of the CFPB’s actions has been a more fair and transparent financial marketplace for Latinos, who have been historically excluded from safe and affordable products.
