Data Should be Held Back from Consumers, Says Treasury Report

As the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) remains in the crosshairs of the Trump administration and members of Congress, data privacy has been top of mind — namely, who should have access to that data.

According to news from Fortune Magazine, the Financial CHOICE Act, which was approved along party lines recently, has a stipulation that the CFPB cannot publish consumer data about the complaints that are filed by consumers against various entities, from banks to debt collectors, among others.

As has been widely noted, the Act as approved by the House has little chance to pass the Senate.

The Treasury Department said in a report Monday that that very data should be kept from consumers, and should, in fact, be accessible only to government agencies. The key to the Treasury’s report is that such consumer complaints bring risks to the reputations of those being singled out for complaints.

Consumer advocates, of course, favor more data being released than less. As has been reported, the CFPB has logged 800,000 complaints, cumulatively, with $11.8 billion dollars returned to 29 million consumers.

The regulation debate over the CFPB continues, with an October 2016 decision from a court stating that the very structure of the CFPB was unconstitutional, and that the single director structure was one that put too much power in the hands of one individual.

The Treasury Department report, stated Fortune, shows futher solidarity with the Trump administration’s contention that the CFPB has reach and scope that should be scaled back.