In the United States, numerous laws exist which grant rights to consumers and generally protect their well-being. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission are two government agencies that enforce such laws. The former is responsible for ensuring that lenders, banks, and other types of organizations offering financial services do not violate the existing regulations. The latter is a bipartisan agency that aims to protect consumers and promote competition by preventing fraudulent and deceptive practices in the marketplace. The two organizations are essential for the economy of the United States and ensuring that merchants observe the rights of consumers.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has several functions and subsequently provides a variety of legal protections to consumers in the sphere of finance. Namely, the CFPB is tasked with protecting consumers from unfair acts and practices by creating rules and enforcing laws, and outlawing consumer discrimination. The CFPB applies several rules, regulations, and laws in order to deliver on its responsibilities. The main ones include Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Home Mortgage Disclosure, Fair Credit Reporting, and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“Code,” n.d.). The CFPB’s activity goes according to the following steps: consumers file a complaint, the bureau reviews it and forwards it to the company, which then responds, and the bureau takes appropriate actions.
It is clear that the CFPB performs work that is extremely significant for the protection of customer rights in the United States. The agency directly assists citizens in events involving fraud, as well as generates invaluable regulations which help prevent such cases in the future. For instance, recently, the CFPB ordered California Auto Finance to pay a civil penalty and refund its customers their funds for illegally charging their clients interest for late payment (“United States of America Consumer Financial,” 2021). Another recent case concerned the CFPB issuing a request to the federal district court to order DMB Financial, LLC to pay consumers at least $5.4 million for charging unlawful fees (“United States district court for the district of Massachusetts,” 2021). Thus, based on these two cases, I can be concluded that the CFPB tends to impose financial penalties.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is another important agency that ensures the protection of consumers’ rights. The FTC has investigative, law enforcement, and rulemaking authority which means that it can protect consumers by issuing cease and desist orders to merchants, prosecute them for violations, and order civil penalties (“A Brief Overview,” 2021). Since the FTC possesses considerable authority, it enforces a large variety of regulations and laws. For instance, it applies the Federal Trade Commission Act, Clayton Act, Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention, and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (“Statutes,” n.d.). The FTC works according to the following steps: it receives a complaint, reviews it, and makes a decision on whether to charge the merchant, as well as imposes civil penalties. For example, recently, it ordered Age of Learning, a children’s education company, to pay $10 million and change its billing practices for failing to reveal important information to consumers (“United States district court central district of California,” 2021). Such examples show that the FTC is necessary for the country’s commerce since it ensures that the marketplace is free from different types of fraud.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission are two government agencies that are responsible for protecting consumers’ rights. These government bodies can review citizens’ complaints and act on them, ordering organizations that violate laws and regulations to pay penalties. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission significantly benefit the country’s commerce and finance since they prevent companies from offering fraudulent services.
References
A brief overview of the federal trade commission’s investigative, law enforcement, and rulemaking authority. (2021). The Federal Trade Commission.
Code of federal regulations. (n.d.). The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Statutes enforced or administered by the commission.(n.d.). The Federal Trade Commission.
United States district court central district of California. (2021).Stipulated order for permanent injunction and monetary judgment.
United States district court for the district of Massachusetts. (2021). Stipulated final judgment and order.
United States of America consumer financial protection bureau. (2021). Consent order.