Hi there,

However chaotic and unpredictable his policymaking is in other areas, President Donald Trump has sent a consistent message to the financial industry throughout his second term: ‘Do whatever you want.’

The administration has stopped fair lending examinations by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). It has reversed clear-cut Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) enforcement actions over discrimination and deceptive practices, and sought to take CFPB cops off the beat permanently. It has engineered an abrupt 37% drop in overall financial services industry enforcement actions, including a near-cessation of competition enforcement. It has slashed staffing and interfered with professional practices at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).

The White House is abandoning consumers, communities and honest businesses who follow the rules. 

But that does not mean those rules don’t exist. Federal abdication of oversight does not mean nobody is watching.  

As our government steps back, the rest of us are stepping up. Advocacy organizations have a key role to play in filling the gaps this administration is creating. Industry actors need to understand that while public servants are being prevented from fulfilling their duty to the public, there are plenty of researchers and civil rights champions keeping close tabs. 

At the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), where my colleagues have long helped financial industry leaders harness the positive potential of regulatory compliance through strict non-governmental oversight based in data-driven analysis, we are ramping up our efforts. 

We have just launched a tip line for anyone to flag possible fair lending violations. We have the expertise to investigate your concerns and the resources to follow through on them where the evidence merits action.

If you can’t get the government’s enforcers to talk to you, you can rest assured we will listen instead. Share your stories, tips and concerns here.

This is a particularly dangerous time to stand down financial industry oversight. Grim indications of a possible recession are popping up all over the place, not just in jobs and inflation data but in a leaping foreclosure rate and a spike in car loan defaults – even before the effects of the ongoing government shutdown have fully registered. 

If the whole American economy is in a precarious place, imagine how particularly vulnerable a moment this is for the tens of millions of people living paycheck to paycheck. 

When desperation rises in the populace, predatory bad actors perk up. Abusively structured financial products that might have merely simmered away in prosperous times come to a rolling boil in downturns. And even diligent good-faith businesses can be pulled into the frenzies that follow – or pulled under by the unhealthy tide.

Firm, nimble and shrewd regulatory oversight to protect consumers is a key part of our economy’s immune system. It helps us detect bubbles that could drag the complexly interlocked global financial system into crisis. It helps us maximize opportunity at the local and neighborhood level, which is key to sustainable economic growth for society as a whole. 

The Trump administration is determined to hamper those protections, whether by shuttering key agencies like the CFPB or by ramping down enforcement and monitoring activity at the OCC, FDIC and NCUA. 

But responsible, honest and forward-thinking people in the financial industry know that underenforcement is bad for business. And that crowd strongly outnumbers the cynics. In my 20 years with NCRC, I’ve seen that there are many, many more of those sane and sincere types in the business than there are exploitative opportunists. 

Nefarious practices are likely to proliferate in response to President Trump’s invitation to behave badly. That makes it even more important for those who believe in fairness, competition and honesty to speak up. 

If dutiful and honest individuals in banking can’t get government enforcers to pick up the phone, they should call someone who still cares. There are a lot of us. And we are ready, willing and eager to investigate what’s suspicious, root out what’s illegal and help maintain what’s right.

In solidarity,

Jesse Van Tol

President and CEO