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
Our Press Release: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Rescission of Ability to Repay Puts Servicemembers and Veterans at Greater Risk of Being Preyed on by Lenders
For Immediate Release Contact: Mike Saunders | Director of Military & Consumer Policy (202) 838-5050 July 9, 2020 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Rescission of Ability to Repay Puts Servicemembers and Veterans at Greater Risk of Being Preyed on by Lenders Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rescinded the “ability [...]
Military.com: What Veterans Need to Know About Federal Debts During the Coronavirus Pandemic
This article was originally published by Military.com on May 14, 2020. What Veterans Need to Know About Federal Debts During the Coronavirus Pandemic Mike Saunders is a U.S. Army veteran and director of military and consumer policy at Veterans Education Success. Economic stress is affecting everyone right now, including military-connected [...]
Press Release: Advocates and Veterans Groups Urge Financial Institutions to Follow Military Consumer Protection Law During Covid-19 Mobilizations
Advocates and Veterans Groups Urge Financial Institutions to Follow Military Consumer Protection Law During Covid-19 Mobilizations Financial Companies’ Track Record of Servicemember Violations Warrants Enhanced Protections Amid Pandemic May 1, 2020 | WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the Student Borrower Protection Center, Student Veterans of America, Veterans Education Success, and over [...]
What Military-Connected Students Need to Know During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Mike Saunders is a U.S. Army Veteran and Director of Military & Consumer Policy at Veterans Education Success. Tanya Ang is Vice President of Veterans Education Success and has worked in higher education supporting military-connected students for almost 20 years. From student loans to the GI Bill, the coronavirus (COVID-19) [...]
Our Oral Testimony on VA’s Debt Collection & GI Bill Overpayments
On Sept. 19, 2019, Veterans Education Success' Director of Military & Consumer Policy, Mike Saunders, testified before the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, regarding GI Bill "overpayments" and VA's aggressive debt collection practices.
21 Military & Veteran Organizations’ Letter to CFPB on Debt Collection
Veterans Education Success organized and led a letter from 21 national military and veteran service organizations to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding its proposed changes to debt collection rules.
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:
