NLIHC, Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico, the National Consumer Law Center, and over 40 other civil rights organizations sent a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra urging the agency to provide a Spanish-language version of its online consumer complaint system, which is currently only available in English. The system, which allows individuals to report instances of misconduct by mortgage and loan providers, is used by the CFPB to pursue unscrupulous lenders, including those that violate civil rights law. Without full access to the complaint system, instances of misconduct or abuse against low English proficiency (LEP) individuals will continue to be underreported. Although the CFPB operates a phone line that offers translated assistance, LEP individuals and their communities face difficulties in accessing the system.
LEP individuals have historically experienced discrimination in accessing the funds needed to purchase homes. This has prevented generations of Latinos and other immigrant communities from accessing the positive benefits of generational wealth that homeownership brings. For Puerto Ricans, accessing the online complaint system is even more important given a lack of enforcement by local agencies against unscrupulous lenders, leaving the CFPB as the only body willing to act on the subject.
“By quickly implementing these measures, we hope that the CFPB can continue to be a model of effective and equitable consumer interaction and serve as an example for lenders as they seek to increase the accessibility of their products and services,” the letter states. “By ensuring that Latinx and other LEP communities can fully access the same complaint reporting options as their counterparts who are proficient in English, the Bureau can provide these households with a better chance to avail themselves of our nation’s consumer protection and fair lending laws and to address some of the significant abuses they face.”
Read the letter at: https://bit.ly/3pJ3N6U