Draft Letter, Allegedly Written By Democratic Senators, May Have Been Written By Consumer Advocate

A draft of a letter that was to be sent to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and was written by a pair of Senators, and asked the agency to continue fighting against discriminatory and unfair lending practices, especially in the auto finance industry, may have been written by a consumer advocate who is also a member of the CFPB’s Consumer Advisory Board.

The letter was submitted last week by Sen. Sherrod Brown [D-Ohio] and Sen. Cory Booker [D-N.J.], but the document’s metadata appears to point to Chris Kukla, from the Center for Responsible Lending, as the letter’s author.

A staff member for a Republican office provided a copy of the letter, which names Kukla as it’s author.

A staff member for Sen. Booker said the letter was still in a draft form.

“We write to urge the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), in the face of opposition, to continue its work to combat discriminatory and unfair lending practices, particularly in auto finance,” the letter states. “Discrimination has no place in our financial system. We believe it is appropriate and necessary for the bureau to continue this work, and urge the bureau to do so.”

The CFPB has become a partisan ping pong ball, with Republicans trying to dramatically reduce the power and importance of the bureau, while Democrats want to use the agency to continue strengthening consumer protections.