35th Annual Financial Services Conference
December 7, 2022

8:00am ET
Breakfast Dialogue: State Advocacy Efforts in Wake of CFPB’s Interpretative Rule on FCRA Preemption

Earlier this year, the CFPB issued an interpretative rule on the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s (FCRA) limited preemption of state laws. Prior to this interpretive rule, it was unclear just how preemptive the FCRA was, so state advocates stayed clear of legislative campaigns to curb the expansive use of credit reports, limit the information included in tenant screening and credit reports, and protect consumers from errors in credit reports. In their announcement, the CFPB encouraged state oversight, saying that “states play an important role in the regulation of consumer reporting.” This year’s state advocate breakfast will focus on the successful and future legislative campaigns to regulate consumer reporting and protect consumers from the widespread damage caused by errors, negative information, and improper use of credit reports.

Moderator

Michael Best
Staff Attorney
National Consumer Law Center

Panelists

Holly Beck
Supervising Attorney
Community Legal Services of Philadelphia

Linda Coe
Staff Attorney
Tzedek DC

Natasha Duarte
Project Director
Upturn

9:00am ET
Welcome

Susan Weinstock
CEO
Consumer Federation of America

9:05am ET
How Credit Reporting Errors and Problems Cost Consumers More than Just Money

It is well documented that inaccuracies, errors, and problems are rampant on consumer credit reports housed by the big three credit reporting agencies. A third of consumers have errors on their credit reports, and when a consumer finds an error, the dispute process is convoluted, difficult, and often doesn’t lead to a resolution. Plus, if the consumer is able to submit a complaint to the CFPB about the issue, that may not even address the problem. In 2020, the CFPB found that the big three credit reporting agencies responded to more than half of complaints submitted to them with form letters. Credit reporting errors and problems can impact a consumer’s ability to access credit and the price of that credit, as well as secure housing, employment, insurance and public benefits. But credit reporting errors and problems can have an outsized impact on certain segments of consumers. For example, trans and nonbinary consumers whose name changes are not properly reflected on their reports can be outed to prospective employers that require a credit report. Consumers who have coerced debt on their credit reports often have to navigate through extra hurdles to get help which may prevent them from leaving abusive situations. Further, consumers whose credit reports get mistaken for other consumers can get denied jobs and public benefits. This panel will delve into the harm imposed on consumers by credit reporting errors, inaccuracies, and other problems and what Congress and regulators can do to fix it.

Moderator

Rachel Gittleman
Financial Services Outreach Manager
Consumer Federation of America

Panelists

Sara Sternberg Greene
Professor of Law
Duke Law School

Erika A. Sussman
Founder & Executive Director
Center for Survivor Agency and Justice

Spencer Watson
Founder & Executive Director
CLEAR (Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research)

10:15 am ET
Consumer Protection from the Ground Up: A Keynote Conversation with the CFPB and State Consumer Chiefs

Attorneys General are the first line of defense for consumers, fighting to protect consumers across every industry, stop predatory actors, and ensure that our marketplaces are fair, equitable and competitive. Within each AG office, Consumer Chiefs or Directors of Consumer Protection lead this critically important work. Consumer Chiefs work with each other and our federal regulations to accomplish this critical work. This panel will explore the work that Consumer Chiefs have done independently and jointly with federal regulators, including the CFPB, to protect consumers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the ensuing financial uncertainty, and times of record inflation, including their work to stop fraud, price gouging, foreclosures and evictions, and their continued enforcement work.

Introduction

Ed Mierzwinski
Senior Director, Federal, Consumer Program
U.S. PIRG

Moderator

Seth Frotman
General Counsel, Legal Division
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Panelists

Eleanor Blume
Special Assistant Attorney General
California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General

Steven Kaufmann
Deputy Attorney General for Consumer Protection
State of Colorado

Nicholas Smyth
Senior Deputy Attorney General and The Assistant Director for Consumer Financial Protection
Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General

11:15am ET
Keynote Fireside Chat: The Student Debt Crisis, Racial Equity, and the Economy
Speakers

Charlie Eaton
Associate Professor of Sociology
Higher Education, Race, and the Economy Lab Cofounder

Katherine Welbeck
Director of Advocacy & Civil Rights Counsel
Student Borrower Protection Center

12:00pm ET
Luncheon

 

1:00pm ET
A Keynote Conversation with ORCAA’s Cathy O’Neil and Marketplace’s Nancy Marshall-Genzer
Introduction

Susan Weinstock
CEO
Consumer Federation of America

Speakers

Cathy O’Neil
CEO
O’Neil Risk Consulting & Algorithmic Auditing

Nancy Marshall-Genzer
Correspondent
Marketplace

1:30pm ET
Payment Fraud and Theft

Americans lose tens of billions of dollars to fraud and scams each year, which can have a devastating impact on financial well-being and security. Although federal law provides important protections against unauthorized charges and errors on credit cards, bank accounts, and other forms of deposits, unfortunate gaps leave people exposed to theft of funds and fraud. In recent years, fraud and theft has exploded in older types of payments, like bank wire transfers and Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, as well as new payment types like person-to-person payments (Zelle, Paypal, Venmo, etc.). This panel will dive into the explosion of payment scams and frauds, the consumers most negatively impacted, and what can be done to protect consumers.

Moderator

Caresse Jackman
National Consumer Investigative Reporter
Gray Television & Investigate TV</>

Panelists

Nessa Feddis
SVP and Counsel, Consumer Regulations and Compliance Solutions
American Bankers Association

Carla Sanchez-Adams
Staff Attorney
National Consumer Law Center

Stephanie Tatar
NACA Board Member, Attorney
Tatar Law Firm, APC

2:30pm ET
Complex Investment Products

Retail investors now have unfettered access to a variety of complex products and strategies that were largely unavailable to the retail market just a few years ago. While providing access to new and innovative products can be beneficial to investors who fully understand those products’ essential characteristics and risks, doing so also increases the likelihood that investors who don’t fully understand those products’ essential characteristics and risks will misuse them and suffer harm as a result. This issue has taken on increased importance as the number of accounts trading in complex products has increased significantly in recent years. While there is no standard definition of what constitutes a complex product, examples include: options and futures contracts; products with leveraged and inverse features; products linked to market volatility; structured products; and other products that can perform in unintuitive ways. This panel would discuss whether the existing approval mechanisms for complex products are sufficient to protect investors. The panel would also discuss whether retail investors should continue to have unfettered access to such products at all, particularly where they do not understand the essential characteristics and risks associated with these complex products.

Moderator

Micah Hauptman
Director of Investor Protection
Consumer Federation of America

Panelists

Kevin Carroll
Managing Director and Associate General Counsel
SIFMA

Michael Garawski
Associate General Counsel, Regulatory Practice & Policy
FINRA

Edwin Hu
Furman Scholar, NYU School of Law
Research Fellow, The Institute for Corporate Governance & Finance

Andrew Park
Senior Policy Analyst
Americans for Financial Reform

3:30pm ET
Keynote Address: Regulating Fintech: Consumer Protection, Competition, and Innovation
Introduction

Rachel Weintraub
Legislative Director and General Counsel
Consumer Federation of America

Speaker

Sheila Bair
Author, Corporate Director & Former Chair, FDIC

4:00pm ET
Adjourn

Program

Speaker Biographies