NC advocates call on Tillis to defend consumer watchdog

NC Newsline

Among the most important public policy developments in North Carolina over the last several decades was the rise of one of the nation’s strongest networks of consumer advocacy nonprofits.

Together with elected leaders from both major parties, these advocates helped make North Carolina a state to avoid for predatory lenders who target consumers with high interest loans and fees and abusive collection tactics.

Indeed, the successes in this area were so numerous that following the Great Recession, they helped inspire the establishment of a federal government agency known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Unfortunately, as you might expect, laws and lawyers that target scammers and predators are anathema to President Trump, and he and Republicans in the U.S. House are working hard to gut or abolish the agency.

The bottom line: Last week, a coalition of activists and small business owners pleaded with Senator Thom Tillis to help protect the agency. Their simple message: stand with the people of North Carolina, not the billionaires. Let’s fervently hope he was listening.

For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.