Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I thank President Obama; I thank Mr. Cordray, who is the head of the CFPB; and I thank the ranking member for taking the position of protecting consumers.

Mr. Chairman, we live in a world where it is not enough for things to be right. They must also look right. And here is what doesn't look right and, in fact, is not right.

It doesn't look right and is not right for a person to go into an auto dealership, agree on a price, and then be sent to a finance department where this indirect lending takes place. It doesn't look right for that person to then be quoted an interest rate and agree to that interest rate, not knowing that the interest rate that the person has agreed to is higher than the one the person qualified for.

This is what we are dealing with, consumers not knowing that they are paying more for their interest rates than they have qualified for. We dealt with this with the yield spread premium, same thing, slightly different, in that it dealt with home mortgages, but we outlawed that in Dodd-Frank. The CFPB is now trying its very best to make sure all people are treated fairly and equally when they apply for auto loans.

It doesn't look right for this to happen, and studies consistently show that minorities, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, are charged more for these loans than others are charged. The empirical evidence is there for those who wish to see it.

It is not enough for things to be right; they must also look right. This bill just doesn't look right, and it doesn't smell right, and it is not right, and we ought not continue this kind of behavior in this country.

In a righteous world, we would be debating the type of fraud that is being perpetrated on consumers.

Mr. Chairman, I ask that people vote their conscience. But I will tell you that I am not going to support this kind of procedure that makes it entirely possible for invidious discrimination to continue. I came here to fight invidious discrimination. This is a part of that fight.

We must not allow this kind of behavior to continue when we have got a CFPB that is willing to stand up for minorities, we have got a President who has appointed this man, and we have got a ranking member who is fighting hard to make sure minorities are treated fairly.

To this end, I would say, consumers have no greater friend in the Congress of the United States of America than the Honorable Maxine Waters, who goes to bat every day to make sure that consumers, regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, or sexuality, are treated fairly.

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