[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 29, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H2820-H2821]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FINANCIAL CONSUMER HOTLINE ACT OF 2007
Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules
and pass the bill (H.R. 4332) to amend the Federal Financial
Institutions Examination Council Act to require the Council to
establish a single telephone number that consumers with complaints or
inquiries could call and be routed to the appropriate Federal banking
agency or State bank supervisor, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 4332
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Financial Consumer Hotline
Act of 2007''.
SEC. 2. CENTRALIZED INTAKE OF CONSUMER COMPLAINTS AND
INQUIRIES MADE TO FEDERAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTION
REGULATORY AGENCIES.
The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Act
of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.) is amended by inserting
after section 1009A the following new section:
``SEC. 1009B. CONSUMER COMPLAINTS AND INQUIRIES.
``(a) Single Toll-Free Telephone Number for Consumer
Complaints and Inquiries.--
``(1) Call intake system.--The Federal financial
institution regulatory agencies, coordinating through the
Council, shall establish a single, toll-free telephone number
for consumer complaints and inquiries concerning institutions
regulated by such agencies and a system for routing such
calls to the Federal financial institution regulatory agency
that primarily supervises the financial institution, or that
is otherwise the appropriate agency to address the subject of
the complaint or inquiry.
``(2) Routing calls to states.--To the extent practicable,
State agencies may receive appropriate call transfers from
the system established under paragraph (1) if--
``(A) the State agency's system has the functional capacity
to receive calls routed by the system; and
``(B) the State agency has satisfied any conditions of
participation in the system that the Council, coordinating
with State agencies through the chairperson of the State
Liaison Committee, may establish.
``(b) Report to the Congress.--Not later than 6 months
after the date of the enactment of the Financial Consumer
Hotline Act of 2007, the Federal financial institution
regulatory agencies shall submit a report to the Committee on
Financial Services of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the
Senate describing the agencies' efforts to establish--
``(1) a public interagency Web site for directing and
referring Internet consumer complaints and inquiries
concerning any financial institution to the Federal financial
institution regulatory agency that primarily supervises the
financial institution, or to the Federal financial
institution regulatory agency or State agency that is
otherwise the appropriate agency to address the subject of
the complaint or inquiry; and
``(2) a system to expedite the prompt and effective
rerouting of any misdirected consumer complaint or inquiry
documents between or among the agencies, with prompt referral
of any complaint or inquiry to the appropriate Federal
financial institution regulatory agency, and to participating
State agencies.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
New York (Mrs. Maloney) and the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs.
Biggert) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from New York.
General Leave
Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that
all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend
their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material
thereon.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 4332, the Financial Consumers Hotline Act
of 2008, which has received strong bipartisan support from the
Financial Services Committee.
The bill establishes a single toll-free telephone number that
consumers can call if they have a problem with their bank and want to
speak to someone who can help them.
Given that depository institutions in the United States can be
regulated by any of five Federal regulators or a State regulator,
consumers often don't know what entity to call if they have a problem
with their account.
In a hearing in my subcommittee, the regulators and consumer groups
testified that customers often end up calling their Attorney General.
Since State authority over national banks has been preempted by the
Federal OCC, AGs can't help in this category.
This legislation builds on a suggestion that Comptroller Dugan put
forward to provide consumers with a single number to call to get help
with their banking issues, and we drafted it in close consultation with
all five regulators.
As the OCC, the FDIC, and the OTS all testified, this legislation
will be cost efficient as well as consumer friendly. I should note that
CBO came out with an estimate last week. The bill would have no
significant effect on direct spending or revenues. So this legislation
can help our constituents without spending any money.
Right now, each of the agencies has a Web site and provides a phone
number for consumers to call with questions and has a staff to follow
up on complaints or inquiries, some of which may be unique to their
responsibilities. For example, the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation has systems in place to respond to consumer inquiries about
deposit insurance and bank failures.
This bill would not replace these existing consumer response systems,
but helps consumers find them. It adds a simple one-stop routing method
to minimize confusion for consumers who are unclear about where to call
for help and directs them to the right agency for specialized
assistance. The establishment of a single toll-free number will help
encourage greater use of the agency's resources to help their
consumers.
Establishment of a single toll-free number will also assist the
banking regulators in compiling consumer complaints and inquiries so
that better information would be available about problems or issues
that cut across the institutions that the various agencies supervise.
It would help governments spot developing problems. Congressional
legislation and oversight would
[[Page H2821]]
also be better informed by such centralized statistics.
This legislation directs the Federal Financial Institutions
Examination Council to set up the hotline. The Council is an existing
interagency body established by statute to prescribe uniform principles
and standards for financial institutions and to otherwise coordinate
regulatory activity among the Federal banking regulators. The Federal
Reserve, FDIC, NCUA, OCC, and OTS are all members of the Council.
The legislation also directs the Council to work with State banking
regulators to integrate them into the hotline service. And, the
Conference of State Bank Supervisors testified that they have already
started to implement such a plan. The act also requires the Council to
report to Congress 6 months after enactment on the agency's efforts to
establish a public interagency Web site, likewise directing and
referring consumer complaints and inquiries received on the Internet
concerning any financial institution to the appropriate Federal or
State financial institution regulatory agency.
I should note that not only the OCC but the Council as a whole has
taken some steps in this direction on its own initiative, with an eye
to both cutting costs and improving service to consumers. Last summer,
the Council formed a working group to study ways in which the separate
consumer complaint handling systems of each regulator could be
streamlined and leveraged to better and more efficiently serve
consumers.
With this legislation, we give consumers a statutory mandate and a
timetable to support and guide these efforts, as well as a framework
for congressional oversight.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill. I thank the Chair and the
ranking member and subcommittee Ranking Member Biggert and many others
for their help on this legislation. I urge a ``yea'' vote.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I would like to thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney),
the Chair of the Financial Institution Subcommittee, for her hard work
on this bill, and I am pleased to be a cosponsor of this bill and urge
my colleagues to support it.
Mr. Speaker, if you are a consumer and you have a complaint or a
problem of a financial nature, which regulator are you going to call,
the FDIC, the Federal Reserve, the OCC, the CFTC, FTC, OFHEO, HUD,
Treasury, OTS, NCUA, the SEC? In these challenging times, consumers
should not have to have a Ph.D. in finance to quickly and easily get in
touch with the appropriate State and Federal banking regulators.
Given the complexity of our banking system and the various regulators
that work in this area, consumers may not know where to turn when they
have a dispute with their institutions. This legislation creates a
single hotline that can help steer consumers in the right direction.
Federal regulators currently have had an informal system in place to
redirect misplaced consumer complaints, and regulators are constantly
trying to improve the system. But this bill will ensure that no
consumer complaint falls through the cracks. Consumers should not have
to make 12 phone calls to find the right regulator.
Again, I am pleased that this bill will ensure that consumer
complaints are heard and that regulators are responsive. I urge my
colleagues to support the bill.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mrs. MALONEY of New York. I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4332.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and
nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
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