The Financial CHOICE Act attacks the CFPB's structure and authority and would frustrate the CFPB's ability to fulfill its mission. Title III of the bill is aimed at obstructing the CFPB's ability to protect consumers from predatory financial products and practices. This title severely weakens the CFPB’s structure and authority in the following ways:
- Changes the structure of the CFPB from its current, effective single-director structure to a less effective five-member commission;
- Eliminates independent funding of the CFPB, putting it at the mercy of an annual appropriations process and disregarding the long-standing practice of independent funding for banking regulators;
- Eliminates the CFPB’s examination authority for more than half of the banks it currently supervises;
- Repeals the CFPB’s authority to stop abusive acts and practices in consumer finance;
- Weakens the CFPB’s administrative enforcement process by giving industry defendants the option to move proceedings to federal court; and
- Separates market monitoring and supervisory functions, muddying the CFPB’s mandate and creating unnecessary bureaucracy.