THE ARTICLE

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) is the most powerful, and in many cases the only, governmental entity looking out for elderly victims of financial abuse. However, the CFPB has been organized in a potentially unconstitutional manner. Thus, to comport with the Constitution, it may be necessary to reconfigure or disband the CFPB. Unfortunately, any reconstruction process to the CFPB’s command structure may put the programs and enforcement groups responsible for educating and protecting elderly consumers in jeopardy.

This Note analyzes the various solutions to fixing the CFPB’s constitutionality that could be implemented by various branches of the government through the lens of their impact on programs and services benefiting elderly consumers. The Note concludes that changing the CFPB into an executive agency by making the director terminable “at-will” will be the smoothest, less disruptive path for elderly safeguards over other options, such as turning the CFPB into a multi-member agency or disbanding it. Transforming the CFPB into an executive agency will ensure the Constitution is properly followed while eliminating the risks elderly Americans would face from a major renovation to the CFPB command structure. Thus, this Note recommends making the CFPB into an executive agency.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter LeGrand is the Executive Administrative Editor 2017-18, Member 2016-17, The Elder Law Journal; J.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; B.A. in Religious Studies 2014, University of Missouri, Columbia.