We’re excited to announce applications are now being accepted for the next round of CFPB Technology & Innovation Fellows. The fellowship is a two year program for software developers, graphic and user experience (UX) designers, data specialists, and cybersecurity professionals interested in leveraging technology to help further our mission of making financial products and services work for consumers.
We’re looking for talented individuals with diverse backgrounds who embrace our mission and are excited about building technology and helping to build our organization. We expect the next group of fellows to begin work in January 2015.
Since the program launched two years ago, fellows have been hard at work applying their talents to build amazing things to help financial products and services work for consumers. Today, I’m proud to share with you some of their work.
Fellows have been instrumental in creating and building:
- An easy-to use online tool to visualize and track public mortgage data
- Ask CFPB, an interactive tool that includes over 1,000 frequently-asked questions and answers to help consumers find clear, unbiased answers to their financial questions (also available in Spanish)
- eRegulations, a tool that makes regulations easier to use by parsing public regulations, and then presenting the information in a format that’s easier to read, navigate, and understand
- Consumer-friendly design that is being incorporated in all facets of our work, such as forms that consumers use for submitting complaints, the college cost shopping sheet and student debt repayment tool, or our public reports.
Looking ahead, the next round of fellows will continue to build on these accomplishments as well as tackle new projects in areas such as building software for our website, developing consumer-friendly tools and materials, and supporting agency cybersecurity functions.
Technology and innovation are fundamental to our ability to achieve our consumer protection mission. If you’re ready to serve the public and help us build amazing things, apply now or sign up here.
Want to learn more? Check us out on GitHub or GitHub.io to learn more about the web applications our current fellows have developed and check out our Design Reel to see how current fellows have improved the ways consumers interact with the federal government.
Continue Reading
Today, we’re releasing our third Snapshot of Complaints Received from Servicemembers, Veterans and their Families. The report details the data and trends from consumer complaints we’ve received from members of the military community since July 2011.
Here are just a few highlights:
- Debt collection complaints have continued to rise since our last report, and now make up 39 percent of total complaints. It is our largest category of complaints from the military community.
- Credit reporting remains a top category of concern. 72 percent of these complaints are about incorrect information on credit reports. This remains a significant issue for the military community, one that we highlighted earlier this year.
- Student loans are another concern. 49 percent of these complaints are about problems dealing with a lender or servicer. In these complaints, we continue to see long-standing trends, such as servicemembers complaining about not being provided their Servicemembers Civil Relief Act rights.
This year our report also highlights our outreach efforts that allowed us to connect with thousands of members of the military community, as well as three of our enforcement actions that recovered millions of dollars for affected consumers, primarily servicemembers, veterans, and their families. These figures represent the positive impact of the work we continue to do on behalf of those who serve.
Problems with account services
Basic account servicing stands out as a significant area of concern for servicemembers. Most consumers can call their financial institution, visit a branch, or connect online to try and get the help they need to maintain their account. Unfortunately, for military personnel and their families, the realities of military life, including deployments, frequent moves, and a high operational tempo, can sometimes make access to those services extremely challenging.
We found that servicemembers were often subject to a variety of account maintenance or penalty fees, as well as account-access restrictions, which were triggered due to aspects of their military service.
These problems raise concerns that financial institutions may not have a true understanding of the servicing needs of their military customers and may lack proper procedures and protections for them. Detailed examples of servicemember experiences can be found in Section II of the report.
Check out the snapshot to learn more.
We’re listening
As always, if you have a problem with a consumer financial product that you can’t resolve on your own; or if you know someone in that situation, please remember that you can submit a complaint online or by calling (855) 411-2372. We make your voice heard.
