I have previously voiced concerns about the CFPB’s Academic Research Council, particularly the lack of transparency surrounding the Council’s creation and the CFPB’s decision not to seek public input on appointments to the Council.  My concerns about the Council were heightened by a report appearing earlier this week in the New York Times that the Obama campaign received research-based ideas about how to “get out the vote” from a group of behavioral scientists.  … Continue Reading

The CFPB has issued a reminder that comments on its Request for Information on Effective Financial Education are due by October 31, 2012.  Published in the Federal Register on August 2, the request seeks responses to a series of questions designed to assist the CFPB’s Office of Financial Education in developing “effective financial education approaches that create opportunities for consumers to improve their financial decision making capabilities.” … Continue Reading

The first meeting of the CFPB’s new Academic Research Council, which was held on July 27, 2012, was not open to the public.  In an article about the CFPB’s mortgage disclosure proposals that appeared in the New York Times on August 18, 2012, University of Chicago Professor and Council appointee Richard Thaler noted that he had met with CFPB staff members “last month” to discuss from a behavioral science perspective the CFPB’s proposal to integrate TILA and RESPA disclosures.… Continue Reading