We work to protect the military community from consumer fraud, including protecting the legal rights of servicemembers and military families under the Military Lending Act and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to lower interest rates on loans, and protecting the military community from payday loans.
OUR WORK
Statement from Barmak Nassirian on President Biden’s Executive Order on PSLF and Student Loans
Statement from Barmak Nassirian Vice President for Higher Education Policy, Veterans Education Success on President Biden’s Executive Order Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government December 13, 2021 "We appreciate and applaud today's Executive Order, which we believe will help all student loan borrowers by [...]
Our Public Comment Seeking Changes to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Proposed Rule on Reporting Debts to Credit Reporting Agencies
September 21, 2021 Submitted via electronic portal Jason Hoge Director of Operations Debt Management Center Office of Management, 189 1 Federal Drive Suite 4500 Fort Snelling, MN 55111 Re: RIN 2900-AR20-Threshold for Reporting VA Debts to Consumer Reporting Agencies Dear Mr. Hoge: I write on behalf of Veterans Education Success [...]
Letter From 5 Higher Ed Organizations to The National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements on Student Protection
National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements President/CEO and Board of Directors 3005 Center Green Drive Suite 130 Boulder, Colorado 80301 July 26, 2021 Re: Call for Policy Proposals Dear President Williams and Members of the Board: As organizations with a shared goal of ensuring that higher education students have [...]
MSO/VSO Letter Supporting the Expansion of the MLA to All Americans in the 117th Congress
May 21, 2021 The Honorable Sherrod Brown, Chairman Senate Committee on Banking SD-534 Dirksen Senate Office Committee Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Jack Reed Senate Committee on Banking SD-534 Dirksen Senate Office Committee Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Jeff Merkley Senate Committee on Banking SD-534 Dirksen Senate [...]
Letter of Support from Veterans Groups for Rohit Chopra to Head Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
February 10, 2021 The Honorable Sherrod Brown, Chairman, U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Room SD-534 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Patrick J. Toomey, Ranking Member, U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Room SD-534 Dirksen Senate Office Building [...]
MSO/VSO Letter Supporting the Reinstatement of Supervisory Exams for Military Lending Act Compliance
January 27, 2021 President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear President Biden: The undersigned military and veterans service organizations represent millions of current and former servicemembers, their families, and survivors. Congress passed the Military Lending Act (MLA) with broad bipartisan support, [...]
Representatives from Veterans Education Success, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the American Legion, Military Officer Association of America, and the National Military Family Association announced their support for increasing protections for service members and their loved ones from predatory lenders through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during a joint press conference in May 2019.
MILITARY LENDING ACT UNDER ATTACK
When the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) curtailed enforcement of the Military Lending Act by telling its bank examiners to stop checking for violations of the Act, veterans and military groups responded: (see National Public Radio: White House Takes Aim at Financial Protections for Military and New York Times: Mulvaney Looks to Weaken Oversight of Military Lending). Veterans and military groups responded:
- Nearly 40 veterans and military service organizations call on the CFPB and US Defense Department to stop the rollback of servicemembers’ rights under the Military Lending Act (Aug. 23, 2018) (here) Resubmitted Sept. 5 with additional signatures (here)
- FULL PAGE NEWSPAPER AD nationwide (here)
- Sign the Citizens petition: KeepMilitaryProtections.Org
- Same letter borrowed submitted by a smaller, additional coalition (here)
- US Senators also write to US Defense Department (here)
- US Defense Department response (here)
- American Legion’s Louisiana Commander confronts CFPB’s Mulvaney at a Louisiana Town Hall (here)
- Bipartisan group of 33 state Attorneys General wrote CFPB urging it to enforce the Military Lending Act and protect servicemembers (here)
PROTECTING STUDENTS FROM FORCED ARBITRATION
We defended the rule to protect students from forced arbitration when their rights are violated:
GOVERNMENT REPORTS & ACTIONS
CFPB: What Does the Coast Guard Know About The GI Bill That Other Services Do Not?
More than a hundred thousand servicemembers ship out to basic training each year. While their uniforms might be different shades of camouflage, active duty servicemembers are all given the same choice: "Should I pay $1,200 to sign-up for the Montgomery GI Bill® (MGIB)?" A decade ago, new recruits only had [...]
