Consumer Agency Will Fight to Defend Service Members' Pocketbooks

Los Angeles Times
November 1, 2011
Puzzanghera, Jim

The federal government has introduced an initiative to prevent financiers from taking advantage of young, financially naive members of the military. To spearhead the effort, it enlisted Holly Petraeus, a longtime champion for military families who said that as an Army wife she was once preyed upon by a deceptive landlord. "I think a lot of people are surprised to think of the military as a target for unethical business practices or abuses," said Petraeus, head of the military affairs office at the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "But the fact is that they have an absolutely guaranteed paycheck; it comes in twice a month, and they're not going to quit or be laid off." Those factors help make service members attractive targets for unscrupulous salespeople. So does their tendency to relocate often. "Military members move all the time, so they're constantly walking into new communities where they don't know the players," Petraeus points out. "They may go for the biggest billboard outside the front gate of the base, which may not be the one that will treat them the most fairly." Since being appointed this year, Petraeus has been visiting bases to learn how the military educates its enlisted persons and where it needs help. In September, her office began soliciting public input on financial products designed for service members and their families so her aides can craft better financial education and outreach initiatives. And although auto dealers managed to escape the purview of the CFPB, Petraeus says her office can at least educate them so that they do not agree to an unfavorable deal in the first place.
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