McCaskill Joins Military and Veterans Service Groups in Calling on Administration to Abandon Rollback of Military Lending Oversight

Reports indicate the Administration is considering plans to weaken oversight of military lending, leaving servicemembers and their families open to predatory lending practices

WASHINGTON – Following recent reports that the Administration is considering plans to abandon oversight measures that help protect military servicemembers and their families from predatory lending practices, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill joined with Senate colleagues and military and veteran service organizations in calling on the Administration to abandon the proposal and continue enforcement of the Military Lending Act. 

“Unfortunately, it appears that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to suspend routine supervisory examinations of lenders and instead rely only on reviewing incoming complaints to address violations of the Military Lending Act,” wrote McCaskill and a group of Senators to Secretary of Defense James Mattis. “This proposed change rolls back years of progress in preventing predatory lenders from targeting servicemembers and their families and would place further unnecessary burdens on the very people the [law] is meant to protect.”

“What the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is reported to be contemplating is equivalent to forcing our Armed Forces to stop using radar, sonar, and other early warning technologies and instead react to threats as they occur,” wrote McCaskill and a group of Senators to the Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, who currently serves as the Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “No one would force our armed forces to do so, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should not similarly force any of its examiners to turn a blind eye.”

Leading military and veterans service groups joined the Senators in their concern over rolling back these protections as well, writing to both Secretary Mattis and Acting Director Mulvaney urging, “continued strong enforcement and supervision of the Military Lending Act and to stand against any attempts to undermine or weaken it.”

The daughter of a World War II veteran, McCaskill has a long history of standing up for veterans and protecting them from fraudulent activity. After discovering thousands of veterans’ eBenefits accounts were hacked or otherwise improperly accessed over several years, McCaskill joined a bipartisan group of colleagues in calling on the VA to take steps to secure veterans’ benefits and personal information. McCaskill also recently launched a new resource for veterans targeted by home loan refinancing scams.

Additionally, McCaskill called on the Departments of Labor and Veterans Affairs to address inefficient access to veterans’ benefits online. She is also seeking answers from the Department of Veterans Affairs after a report found that thousands of servicemembers with PTSD or other mental health conditions who received “other than honorable” discharges were potentially barred from receiving mental healthcare and other benefits. 

Full text of letter to Secretary Mattis HERE and to Director Mulvaney HERE. Text for the letters from military and veterans service organizations HERE and HERE.

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