CFA, alongside a group of consumer, fair lending, community and privacy organizations, has expressed to the House Financial Services Committee our strong opposition to provisions included in the Financial CHOICE Act (H.R. 5983) that would severely undermine the effectiveness of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) consumer complaint database. We also oppose two similar standalone bills, H.R. 5491 and H.R. 5413 (the CFPB Data Accountability Act).

The CFPB’s public complaint database is a stellar example of a system that holds institutions accountable and should be replicated throughout the federal government. The Financial CHOICE Act, H.R. 5491, and H.R. 5413 would prohibit the CFPB from making “any information about a consumer complaint in such database available to the public without first verifying the accuracy of all facts alleged in the complaint.” Such a requirement would make it impossible for the database to achieve its purpose: to foster accountability and transparency, and to fairly resolve consumers’ complaints.