Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Seeks to Enhance Servicemembers' Education on Financial Issues

Servicemembers continue to face a number a financial challenges in such areas as housing and payday loans. According to a recent article in American Banker, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) Office of Servicemember Affairs has undergone recent efforts to help educate servicemembers about these financial challenges. As part of these efforts, the CFPB plans to unveil its first education product that could be delivered to individual servicemembers by computer or smart phone. According to the CFPB, this education product would help enhance the financial aid course that the military offers during basic training, but would be offered earlier, at a time when servicemembers are more likely to retain the information. Holly Petraeus, the assistant director overseeing the CFPB, is also the wife of CIA Director and former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, David Petraeus. According to Petraeus, "I want to educate [servicemembers] first of all that there are resources there, second, not to be afraid to use them, but third, to not walk blindly into some of these financial traps that may be there for them early on."

The full American Banker article is available here.