The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published its latest Request For Information, this time seeking input on its financial education activities. This is the 11th of 12 such RFIs that the CFPB has issued since it announced a comprehensive overview of all of its practices back in January.
The other requests were on its civil investigative demand letter process, its administrative adjudication process, its enforcement process, its supervision program, how it conducts external engagements, how it manages its consumer complaint database, its rulemaking process, its adopted rules and rulemaking authority, its inherited rules, and its guidance materials.
The last RFI that the CFPB plans to issue will be focused on consumer inquiries.
Among the areas that the CFPB is seeking comment on are:
- The Bureau’s focus on specific financial education topics and delivery channels, and use of technology and contractors.
- Are the Bureau’s financial education programs focusing on the right topics and areas to educate and empower consumers to make better informed financial decisions?
- What financial education topics should the Bureau address?
- What delivery channels should the Bureau use to conduct financial education programs?
- What technologies should the Bureau use to provide financial education?
- How should the Bureau use contractors in its financial education work?
- Should the Bureau’s financial education work focus on other populations or audiences, in addition to the general population and those specific populations referenced in the statute?
- Measuring the effectiveness of the Bureau’s financial education programs.
- How should the Bureau measure the success of its financial education programs?
- How should the Bureau measure return on investment of financial education programs?
- How should the Bureau measure the benefit of its financial education work? Should the measures vary depending on the type of education, the topic, or the delivery channel?
- Is there one set of metrics for program effectiveness that the Bureau could use across its financial education programs, or should it use different metrics depending on the type of program and delivery method (e.g., online versus through a community channel)?
- How can the Bureau’s financial well-being scale be used to measure the effectiveness of financial education programs?
- Should the Bureau consider adopting any measures of success for financial education that are used by others? What are those measures?
- Avoiding duplication in financial education between the Bureau and other federal agencies or other entities.
- Are there programs at other federal agencies that are similar to the Bureau’s programs? Are these programs or aspects of these programs more or less effective than the Bureau’s? If so, how and why?
- Are there ways to improve coordination in financial education activities between the Bureau and other agencies?
- Are there other perspectives or information that will assist the Bureau in its financial education work?