The top complaint received by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Creating the Consumer Bureau

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

Beginning in 2007, the United States faced the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans saw their home values drop, their savings shrink, their jobs eliminated, and their small businesses lose financing. Credit dried up, and countless consumer loans—many improperly made to begin with—went into default. Today, we’re still in the process of recovering.

In July 2010, Congress passed and President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Act created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB consolidates most Federal consumer financial protection authority in one place. The consumer bureau is focused on one goal: watching out for American consumers in the market for consumer financial products and services.

http://www.consumerfinance.gov/the-bureau/creatingthebureau/

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Consumer Advisory: 7 ways to keep medical debt in check

By Gail Hillebrand
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, December 11, 2014

Debt collection is the top complaint we’ve received since September 2013. Out of all debt types, medical collections make up 52 percent of collection accounts on credit reports, far outpacing all other types of debt.

Medical collections are so widespread, that an estimated 43 million consumers with an account in collection have medical debt. We analyzed medical collections in our latest report, to explain why medical debt is affecting so many more credit reports than any other type of debt.

http://www.consumerfinance.gov/blog/consumer-advisory-7-ways-to-keep-medical-debt-in-check/

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Comment:

By Don McCanne, MD

In the financial crisis of the recent Great Recession, people lost their jobs, lost their homes, lost their savings, and their consumer loans went into default. The role of Wall Street compounded and sometimes even created these problems, and that led to greater increases in income and wealth inequality that have adversely impacted America’s working families. In response, Elizabeth Warren, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and others were instrumental in establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. So what is the number one complaint that the bureau is now receiving? Medical debt!!

Specifically, debt collection is the top complaint, and medical collections, at 52 percent of collection accounts on credit reports, far outpace all other types of debt.

With first dollar coverage under a single payer system, this problem would disappear. Let’s do it.