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CFPB's data-mining on credit cards challenged in heated House hearing [another agency spying on us]
Washington Examiner ^ | Friday the 13th of September, 2013 | RICHARD POLLOCK

Posted on 09/13/2013 10:59:03 AM PDT by upchuck

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau officials are seeking to monitor four out of every five U.S. consumer credit card transactions this year — up to 42 billion transactions – through a controversial data-mining program, according to documents obtained by the Washington Examiner.

A CFPB strategic planning document for fiscal years 2013-17 describes the “markets monitoring” program through which officials aim to monitor 80 percent of all credit card transactions in 2013.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 1.16 billion consumer credit cards were in use in 2012 for an estimated 52.6 billion transactions. If CFPB officials reach their stated "performance goal," they would collect data on 42 billion transactions made with 933 million credit cards used by American consumers.

In addition, CFPB officials hope to monitor up to 95 percent of all mortgage transactions, according to the planning document.

“This is one step closer to a Big Brother form of government where they know everything about us,” said Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis.

At a Wednesday hearing before the House Financial Services Committee chaired by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, CFPB Director Richard Cordray defended the data-mining practice and said his agency is monitoring credit card usage at 110 banks, including Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Capital One, Discover and American Express.

In a related development, Rep. Spencer Bachus, Hensarling’s predecessor on the House Financial Services Committee, told the Examiner he believes CFPB violated at least two federal laws by using the impartial U.S. Trustee Program to gather bankruptcy data as part of the data-mining campaign.

The Examiner reported Monday that bankruptcy experts are concerned that CFPB is undermining the trustee program's independence and impartiality. The trustee program is the federal government’s main administrative agency for handling bankruptcy cases.

Read the rest here: http://washingtonexaminer.com/cfpbs-data-mining-on-consumer-credit-cards-challenged-in-heated-house-hearing/article/2535726


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: cfpb
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IMHO, the "related matter" discussed in the article is more troublesome that spying on credit card transactions.

This is one more (perhaps the final) reason to move away from credit/debit cards and towards cash.

You can buy $100 Visa gift cards @ Wal*Mart for a $5.14 surcharge. There's nothing to tie the card to you. I've done this and then used the card to buy stuff on-line, ammo, etc.

1 posted on 09/13/2013 10:59:03 AM PDT by upchuck
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To: upchuck

How long will you be able to do that without providing ID to be sent to the federales?


2 posted on 09/13/2013 11:03:01 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Why is our military going to be used as Al Qaeda's air force in Syria?)
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To: upchuck
But why do they want to do this? What's the stated purpose (which is probably way different from the real one...)?

The real question is, should the government have the right and be allowed to gather such intelligence on citizens. How would those at the CFPB proposing this feel if we, the citizens, subjected to this ("subject", heh, such an apt term for Americans these days...) decided to monitor everything the CFPB does and made it public?

3 posted on 09/13/2013 11:06:02 AM PDT by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: upchuck

IMO they are building some populist “you’re getting SCROOOOOOD” case against Chase and Capital One, just in time for next year’s elections.


4 posted on 09/13/2013 11:06:19 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: upchuck
We have arrived......
5 posted on 09/13/2013 11:06:40 AM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: upchuck
IMHO, the "related matter" discussed in the article is more troublesome that spying on credit card transactions.

From the excerpt:

In a related development, Rep. Spencer Bachus, Hensarling’s predecessor on the House Financial Services Committee, told the Examiner he believes CFPB violated at least two federal laws by using the impartial U.S. Trustee Program to gather bankruptcy data as part of the data-mining campaign.

The Examiner reported Monday that bankruptcy experts are concerned that CFPB is undermining the trustee program's independence and impartiality. The trustee program is the federal government’s main administrative agency for handling bankruptcy cases.

Bachus also told the Examiner after Wednesday’s hearing that a key House subcommittee is planning hearings on possible CFPB abuse of the bankruptcy trustee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

See also:

Consumer agency threatens independence of bankruptcy office

6 posted on 09/13/2013 11:09:02 AM PDT by thouworm (A lawless oligarchy has replaced our Constitution-based govt. Their motto: Catch us if you can.)
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To: upchuck
Oh sure monitor legitimate transaction done with personal funds but let food stamp and EBT funds be spent on drugs, porn whatever.
7 posted on 09/13/2013 11:11:39 AM PDT by dblshot (I am John Galt.)
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To: upchuck
Oh sure monitor legitimate transaction done with personal funds but let food stamp and EBT funds be spent on drugs, porn whatever.
8 posted on 09/13/2013 11:12:25 AM PDT by dblshot (I am John Galt.)
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To: jeffc
But why do they want to do this?

To cross link to Obamacare.
You, bought tobacco products?...high fat foods?...big gulps?...fast food?...candy?...alcohol?...donated to FR?......Go to the end of the line for care...front of the line for the death panel.

9 posted on 09/13/2013 11:13:20 AM PDT by Roccus (Dealing with POLITICIANS is the true war on terror)
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To: Roccus
...donated to FR?...

Ahhh..... now I understand. Libs just can't stand it when people don't do what they want them to. I've seen it up close. Their heads almost explode, they so much want to control others.

What can we call this? A Brave New 1984 World?

10 posted on 09/13/2013 11:19:05 AM PDT by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: upchuck
Good afternoon.

Here's an idea, why don't we just defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and retire the officials?

Who wrote the legislation for this bureau, and when was it passed?

The U.S. government is officially out of control.

5.56mm

11 posted on 09/13/2013 11:21:20 AM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: KarlInOhio
How long will you be able to do that without providing ID to be sent to the federales?

Donno. These are gift cards. The Feds would have to figure out a way the prevent the giftee from using the card until ID was supplied.

That could be done but it would be cumbersome and really piss off a bunch of people. "What do you mean I can't use this gift card from my daughter until I give you my Soc Sec number?"

One reason that the gvt is getting away with as much as they are right now is that they don't have to involve us. They just take/scan/use our info without our permission. If it were not for Edward Snowden and others, we wouldn't know we were being used this way.

12 posted on 09/13/2013 11:23:08 AM PDT by upchuck (The nobama regime: a string of omnishambles that stretches, seemingly, to infinity.)
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To: jeffc; All

Why do they want to do this?

They are planning to track every dollar we spend, every dollar we make.

Then they’ll file our taxes for us.

And arrest us if we break the law and reeducate us if we spend money on things not govt approved.


13 posted on 09/13/2013 11:25:21 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: Roccus
But why do they want to do this?

To make the case that Big EEEEEEEVIL credit card lenders with their revolving compound interest games are driving more and more people into bankruptcy. To justify their own existence and to make the case for more funding and more power. And to give Democrats something to sell to low-info voters next year.


14 posted on 09/13/2013 11:31:07 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Why not post to the FReeper that asked that question?


15 posted on 09/13/2013 11:39:18 AM PDT by Roccus (Dealing with POLITICIANS is the true war on terror)
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To: upchuck
The CFPB itself is a secretive agency with no accountability to Congress! This is a dangerous, unconstitutional agency flying under the radar of public scrutiny.

Repost---#9 from this thread:

Mark Levin went ballistic over this -— in great detail (second hour)

mp3

Source articles below are from Levin’s website, but Levin explains it best.

“The entire purpose of the CFPB is to limit the choices of consumers in financial markets, making it harder and more expensive to obtain credit. This unaccountable agency will operate autonomously within the Federal Reserve and will not be subjected to congressional appropriations or oversight. Now Republicans will have no leverage to preclude this time bomb from taking root. Worse, they gave away their bargaining chip to strike down all the illegal rules that were issued by the agency while Cordray was illegitimately serving at its helm.”
http://www.redstate.com/2013/07/16/compromise-senate-gop-style/

“Sen. Mike Enzi (Wyo.), a senior Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, spoke out against agency before the vote.

“The reason this is of utmost concern to me and has been for the past three years is the lack of congressional oversight and [the] blatant privacy intrusions of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” he said.

Enzi objected to the bureau’s revenue stream, which is through the federal reserve instead of the Congress.

“The bureau, as allowed by the Dodd-Frank Act, could collect up to $600 million every year but is not subject to the congressional appropriations process,” he said. “
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/311315-senate-votes-71-29-to-advance-cordray-as-nuclear-threat-recedes#ixzz2ZEL40PQC
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Answerable to No One (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by George Will

The CFPB’s director, Richard Cordray, was installed by one of Barack Obama’s spurious recess appointmentswhen the Senate was not in recess. Vitiating the Senate’s power to advise and consent to presidential appointments is congruent with the CFPB’s general lawlessness.

The CFPB nullifies Congress’s power to use the power of the purse to control bureaucracies because its funding — “determined by the director” — comes not from congressional appropriations but from the Federal Reserve. Untethered from all three branches of government, unlike anything created since 1789, the CFPB is uniquely sovereign: The president appoints the director for a five-year term — he can stay indefinitely, if no successor is confirmed — and the director can be removed, but not for policy reasons.

One CFPB request for $94 million in Federal Reserve funds was made on a single sheet of paper. Its 2012 budget estimated $130 million for — this is the full explanation — “other services.” So it has been hiring promiscuously and paying its hires lavishly: As of three months ago, approximately 60 percent of its then 958 employees were making more than $100,000 a year. Five percent were making $200,000 or more. (A Cabinet secretary makes $199,700.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Obama administration paid contractors millions to snoop through Americans’ financial data

A secretive data collection program run by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau allows private contractors access to millions of Americans’ personal financial information, according to a government accountability group.

The information may also be shared with other federal agencies.

Documents obtained by Washington-based Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act illustrate the cost and scope of the program, which business groups and some Republican lawmakers have assailed as invasive and potentially illegal.

The Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported how the CFPB compelled banks to comply with the program by making successful passage of routine inspections conditional on supplying massive amounts of their customers’ financial information. The new documents shed light on what happens to that data once banks have turned it over.
~~~~~~~~~~

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: NSA of the Financial World
~~~~~~~~~~

See Also: FR keyword CFPB

16 posted on 09/13/2013 11:42:32 AM PDT by thouworm (A lawless oligarchy has replaced our Constitution-based govt. Their motto: Catch us if you can.)
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To: LucyT; Liz; boxlunch

Ping to thread and post 16


17 posted on 09/13/2013 11:49:18 AM PDT by thouworm (A lawless oligarchy has replaced our Constitution-based govt. Their motto: Catch us if you can.)
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To: upchuck

The end goal is to take more money from the producers and give it to the indolent slobs who vote democrat.


18 posted on 09/13/2013 12:04:53 PM PDT by I want the USA back
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To: thouworm; null and void; Velveeta; Oorang; Rushmore Rocks; MamaDearest; DAVEY CROCKETT; Myrddin; ...
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CFPB's data-mining on credit cards challenged in heated House hearing [another agency spying on us]

The CFPB itself is a secretive agency with no accountability to Congress! This is a dangerous, unconstitutional agency flying under the radar of public scrutiny.

Now Republicans will have no leverage to preclude this time bomb from taking root.

Worse, they gave away their bargaining chip to strike down all the illegal rules that were issued by the agency while Cordray was illegitimately serving at its helm.

Article, then # 16... important.

Thanks, thouworm.

19 posted on 09/13/2013 12:48:50 PM PDT by LucyT
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To: upchuck
There's nothing to tie the card to you. I've done this and then used the card to buy stuff on-line, ammo, etc.

Nothing but your computer IP addy, your house address and when the mail service scans the package.

20 posted on 09/13/2013 1:06:21 PM PDT by bgill (This reply was mined before it was posted.)
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