ICYMI: Recent developments involving servicemembers

Greetings Compliance Friends!

When it comes to our beloved servicemembers, we often think about the years of physical and technical training, the physical dangers of deployment, and the courage of our volunteer troops. One often overlooked aspect of military life is the vulnerability that servicemembers and veterans face by predatory lending and other financial scams that specifically target them.

Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (apparently back to the CFPB for now) released an annual report from the Office of Servicemember Affairs highlighting complaints submitted between April 1, 2017 and August 31, 2018, as well as CFPB enforcement actions related to the military community. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act established the Office of Servicemember Affairs to help military families by addressing specific consumer protection concerns. Among several initiatives, the office is charged with monitoring servicemember complaints that are sent to the Bureau. Here is a chart from the report which breaks down more than 48,000 complaints received by the Bureau during the reporting period:

 

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