Okay. We are back. Next, we are going to go to the gentleman from tennessee, mr. Rose, for five minutes. Thank you to director chopra for being here today. Director chopra, last month, the New York Times ran an article with the headline calling you, quote, wall streets most hated regulator. And that bankers believe that you are a regulator gone rogue. Do you agree with the characterization that you are wall streets most hated regulator and a regulator gone rogue . Certainly not, but you know, you will have to ask them. We try to make sure that all of our work is with the Public Interest in mind, including with Financial Institutions. I want to say this to you. I feel this strongly about all of our federal regulators. In my view, your first responsibility is to help those who you regulate comply with the regulations. That your entire approach to that regulated community that you deal with should be to empower, enable, inform, educate, facilitate their compliance with the regulations that are intended to protect the consumers of this country. Do you agree with that observation . Yes. And in fact, we spent much more of our energy on supervision. Most of the issues are not dealt with in litigation or enforcement action. In many cases, they are, one serious or repeat offenses happen. We look at issues and how it can be fixed. I worry then, a little bit, i know earlier, in your remarks, you highlighted the amount of fines that you have recovered from that regulated community. I would caution you that i dont think that is the objective. I dont think that is what we ought to be measuring your success by. I think, actually, compliance with a regulated community that understands what they are supposed to be doing, to protect consumers, that is the goal. That is what i would like to hear. Measures that affirm the agencies understanding. And just to comment on that, you know, we have really focused on repeat offenders and others. We are not trying to target with gotcha actions. I saw that at the federal trade commission, or that agency had a history of targeting Small Businesses, strongarming them into settlements. We are taking a different approach. Well, thank you. Director chopra has already come up today. Im sure you are aware of the fdic Inspector General starting an investigation into the extremely serious place misconduct allegations first raised by the wall street journal. As a board member of the fdic, will you commit to fully cooperating with any request made by the fdic Inspector General regarding their investigation . Of course. And of course, i would cooperate with all sorts of inquiries on this. Will you commit to fully cooperating with congressional investigations at the fdic including promptly turning over any requested information and document . As always, we will work with you to accommodate your requests. We have the cfpb. Im a board member. We will do our best to accommodate that. Thank you. And director chopra, have you ever been investigated for workplace misconduct . I have never been the target of an investigation, but theres a lot of other investigations where we cooperate, but ive never been a target. Do you believe that consumers should have the Financial Freedom to make their own financial choices as long as loan terms are clearly disclosed . Yeah. I think thats right. I think we want consumers to have lots of choice and to be able to compare one with the other. I think in the digital economy, there are new issues about how they can present certain information, socalled dark patterns. We want consumers to have that informed choice. Thank you. As our time once down here, would you help to explain how you and the bureau are ensuring that the cost of regulation and other cfpb actions do not outweigh any potential benefit , especially since those costs, of course, will likely be passed on ultimately to the consumer. We never want to do something that makes the public worse off. I think your colleague asked me a question about when there are benefits, Congress Passed the debt bondage repair act, which the cfpb implemented. That is about a Human Trafficking survivor getting their life back. It is hard to put a dollar figure on it, but we do our best in the required analyses for those rules. Thank you. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. We go not to the gentleman from carolina, mr. Nichols, for five minutes. Thank you very much for your work on these issues. It is great to see you, director chopra. My colleague from tennessee said that you are the most hated regulator on wall street. I was on wall street yesterday. I think definitely, you are not the most hated. I can feel pretty confident about that. I dont know if that is much of a consolation prize, but it is not a popularity contest, but yes. 25 of these. I know when you get down to the final row of democrats, it has been a while. Thank you for your testimony and being here. I want to thank you for the work you and your colleagues at the bureau do daily to protect consumers, democrat, republican. All of our constituents rely on the cfpb to protect them from harm. Most americans want the bureau to continue doing their job. That is a good record of success. Earlier, i heard from some of my republican colleagues. I was glad to hear their words of encouragement for banking. I want to talk about open banking. I am glad that cfpb proposed the personal Financial Data rates rule last month to accelerate the shift towards open banking. Open banking would give consumers the right to control their Financial Data, which is long overdue. For example, what if my constituents has a Checking Account in a bank, but is receiving bad service, high fees, and under the current system, they would have to jump through a significant amount of hoops to break up with that bank and move their data to another Fragile Services company. They would likely lose some of their data along the way. They would spend countless hours trying to piece it together as they do. Open banking will change this and make it easier for consumers, drive down costs, and promote financial inclusion. Can you share thoughts on how open banking is transforming the landscape for consumers in the u. S. . Yeah. I think the more we can give people the ability to not solely be judged by a three digit score, but also, their financial history, being able to get that data and get a better term, to avoid illegal conduct, to really have more of a drivers seat i think this is a way to make banking a way that puts consumers a wider range of options for them. I think smaller entities will be able to compete more easily with the big players this way, rather than being locked in with one provider, local institutions and startups will have more of a chance to win on their merits. Under this proposed rule, the cfpb would work on a separate organization to establish the technical standards and certifications for consumer permission sharing. Given that this organization is a separate entity from the cfpb and not subject to its oversight, how would you ensure that all parties have a seat at eight the table and this doesnt result in anticompetitive behavior also meeting its standardsetting obligations in a timely manner. It is a huge concern that there are not a small set of actors that dictate in a anticompetitive way. The cfpb would have to recognize the standardsetting body , and pursuant to long standing guidance, that body would need to be inclusive of all perspectives. They can just be the incumbents. It really has to have everybody. We are collecting comment on that now. That is going to be a big piece to determine how open banking accelerates. Thank you so much. I wanted to touch on credit repair scams. I have been working on legislation to finally stop credit repair scams. I know we talked about this in my office. I appreciate your work and leadership here. These Companies Market themselves to distressed consumers, promising to decrease fees and Monthly Subscription services that can cost thousands of dollars and yield few positive results. One bureau took action against one of the largest credit repair organizations this year. Are you concerned that these scams will continue, especially as Household Debt increases . Yes. Im also worried about how they might be targeted using Sensitive Information about people. Particularly on social media, but not exclusively. We are trying to look at how people can actually navigate ways to address their debt issues without ending up worse off in the process. Thanks so much. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. We now go to the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. Stout, for five minutes. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Thank you for being here, director chopra. I think we are discussing really important topics. Let me go back to your opening statement, if i can, for just a minute. In your opening statement, you noted that Credit Card Debt is increasing, north of 1 trillion. Mortgages have increased dramatically. The median mortgage over the course of three years went from 102,000 to 200,000 dollars. That is significant. It is a major concern. The driver of that should be noted is largely the inflationary policies put in place by the Biden Administration, in particular, reckless spending, were on energy, including paying people not to work after the pandemic. As we look at this, i would encourage my colleagues on the left side of the aisle to join us to work to bring down inflation. That is outside your house, but i wanted to put that out there because i think it is an important point to your points in your opening remarks. This gives individuals access to which is that they have earned, improving the connection between pay and work in a more timely manner. I think a great opportunity that is out there you commented to the press that cfpb is reexamining the 2020 guidance that maintained that awa was not a credit product. Can you give me an update as to when you expect the review to be completed . Im hoping we can answer more of the questions that we have been getting in the next few months. Specifically, you expect in the next few months that that rulemaking process will be concluded . We will try to provide more guidance. The original guardians covered a pretty narrow set of circumstances. Earned wage advance, earned wage access. Some of it is with the employer. There is a significant development. Youre expecting it in the next few months. As you are going through that process, i would like you to make sure that we are not reducing consumer excess in that space. Let me follow up on my colleagues earlier comment as it related to nonsufficient funds and your review of that. I would echo his comment that i think it is important that these rules are enforced prospectively and not retroactively in light of the previous guidance from cfpb. I can jump one more topic here. It relates to digital apps and wallets. To dive into that, you noted in your remarks that consumer complaints has one justification of the proposed rule. If you can give color to how the complaints rose and over what period of time . I cant recall. As part of that rule we are supposed to look at risk using a multi factor analysis. I understand. If you could get back to me on the complaints, you know, is there a portal that someone would issue a complaint . How would they receive those complains from individuals . Yes. We receive them through our website, through phone, and through others. We received thousands each week. Are they looking at how many points are resolved or no . Well, certainly, we look at all of those factors, but with respect to the proposed rule, that is one issue. There are many other reasons for the rationale for that proposal. It focuses on the Consumer Payment acts. I understand. It is noted that one of the justifications for this is a rise in consumer complaints. If there are consumer complaints, i would like to know. I think that is a valid thing that we should be thinking about on the committee. I am looking for some clarity and color as to what the rise in consumer complaints is. I understand you dont have that off the top of your head. Thats fine. If you can come back to me on the written record as to what that is in a numerical analysis. We will answer questions for the record and provide numbers. Perfect. Let me do one final piece here. Last year when you testified in front of the committee, i asked you if your speeches and blog posts were reviewed by attorneys. You responded that it is sometimes the case. You are open to the feedback we had because i think your words have serious implications for consumers and markets. I remain concerned that some statements that you have made are more in light of shaming businesses into doing what the agency wants rather than going through a traditional rulemaking process. I would just continue to encourage you to engage, leave a review of your post on blogs and other locations, because i believe that they have market moving influence. Im concerned that that is outside of the functional rulemaking process. I appreciate you being here, mr. Chairman. I yield back. He yields back. We recognize the gentleman from texas. Thank you for being with us today. Lets talk about medical debt. The state of texas has the highest rate of uninsured working age adults in the country. In part due to the State Government and the governor that refuses to comply with federal law, expand medicaid. Most of my constituents see they dont have the upfront capital to pay for healthcare costs. The dingo on their Credit Report for medical debt which is not an accurate measure of credit risk also means it is harder for them to access traditional sources for credit like bank loans and credit cards. I was excited to learn of the proposal announced in september of this year by the cfpb that would address this issue head on. If this goes into effect, can you outline the steps for cfpb, the steps they would take to ensure that their credit worthy consumers are not prevented from attaining credits or even a job simply because of debts they owe or the debt they owe for my loved one who has gotten sick. Ask for the question. I think, really, our load star on this has been the real challenges of accuracy. And i mentioned it to your colleagues. It is not like a normal loan. It is often a bill that is put on your Credit Report. You mentioned uninsured. A lot of the issues are people with insurance. There is provider, facility, insurance company, patient, debt collector, reporting agency. Over many years, theres been consensus that there is limited Predictive Value of this. Given the inaccuracies, you worry a lot that people, when they are applying for a job or credit or paying something that they dont oh, so the big Credit Reporting conglomerates, they have taken some steps, but we are looking at whether we might propose a rule to address it more correctly. We are currently collecting feedback from small entity representatives on that. That will inform any proposed rule. I cant agree with you more. Thank you for these steps you are taking. Also, as you know, in 2012, the cfpb implement it its ribbons rule, requiring companies that offer remittances to provide disclosure regarding the price of a transfer before consumers make a payment. It created productions for millions of immigrants, but servicemembers, students, and others that send money to other countries, providers have found ways to get around it. According to in summer and immigration groups, he was consumers lose approximately a. 7 billion a year due to hidden fees. They sometimes change it on their Exchange Rates and recovered with the other countries. In june of 2023, you testified before this committee and recognized this issue, like my colleague mr. Vargas as stated in the past. He calls them junk fees, which i agree. They have impacted our constituents who sent remittances to the family abroad. The money earned by these hard working people should not be lost to hidden fees or extra fees that go to their families. I ask, what is cfpb doing to protect consumers and ensure hidden fees are not being folded into Exchange Market rates . Is there a plan in ways to prevent remittance providers from continuing this process . Yes. We have taken a number of actions. Providers that have egregiously violated the law on this front but i think there is this question of, how will the consumer be able to get a competitively priced remittance . They are paying for it. When youre looking at multiple levers the Exchange Rate sometimes, there is an advertisement, where it says free. But its not really free. That is what we are focused on making sure we are seeing if that is working or not. You know, theres a lot of other places where people may have options of sending remittances that they may not be aware of. We are looking at all of that. Certainly, things have improved since the 90s, but the concern is, whoever their partners are in other countries i note for mexico, for sure, they get shortchanged on the Exchange Rate. I think that is happening around the world. Thank you for the work you are doing. We hope that you can continue looking into this issue that impacts millions of people here and around the world. I appreciate you. I yield back. His book the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from south carolina, mr. Timmons, is now recognized. Thank you, chairman. The fc ra has set guidelines. These guidelines enable our credit economy to function. Thus, changes to this foundation should not be made lightly, nor should they be rushed. Accordingly, have concerns with the fcras proposal for specific data breaches. Numerous federal and state laws already edit Data Security measures and breach notifications to the consumers. They are introducing a liability standard inserting data from third parties. Before i move on, the cfpb had a data breach impacting millions of americans. Would it be appropriate for cfpbs own data breach . Well, just to be clear, we have not proposed a rule. We have been looking at multiple options on data brokers as well as how there may be access to data. Of course, the situation at the cfpb was very serious. We did the consumer