Opinion: Don’t dismantle consumer protection that works

To the editor: Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) says “President-elect Trump has the authority to remove Mr. Cordray and that’s exactly what the American people deserve.”

(“Ouster of agency chief urged,” Business, Jan. 11)

My mother always cautioned me to watch what I do because I’d always get what I deserved (her version of “what goes around comes around”).

Thanks to the CFPB-mandated statements that now show the total cost if you make only minimum payments, our sons don’t have credit card debt. Thanks to the CFPB, thousands of citizens didn’t get financing they couldn’t have afforded (or did we forget the mortgage melt down?)

Republicans, on the other hand, only see access to credit reduced, regardless of the ability to afford it.

Yes, the American people voted for Trump and they’ll certainly get what they (meaning “we”) deserve.

Barry Davis, Agoura Hills

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To the editor: It appears that some Republicans want president-elect Trump to fire Richard Cordray, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and make the bureau less regulatory, claiming that it restricts customers’ access to credit.

They also want to change its name to the Consumer Financial Opportunity Commission, which probably means that businesses will again have the opportunity to financially screw consumers.

Why do they think the bureau was originally created ?

Dean Blau, Van Nuys

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To the editor: Has a federal agency ever accomplished more to protect American consumers than the recently established CFPB? Or has an agency director such as Cordray so successfully unmasked widespread deceptive business tactics defrauding millions of consumers?

The director and his staff achieved billions in refunds to consumers defrauded by Wells Fargo & Co.; ordered American Express subsidiaries to pay millions to customers for manipulating their credit card offerings and obtained millions in refunds for military service members overcharged and misled.

Now, two Republican senators want to oust Cordray as a first step by the GOP toward emasculating the one federal agency designed to aid consumers — rather than abet big business and finance.

Howard Hurlbut, Redlands

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