Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, is concerned the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is exceeding its authority in purchasing “big data” on consumer behavior and the senator has asked congressional auditors to investigate.
In a letter to the General Accountability Office, Crapo notes the consumer bureau is not permitted to gather or analyze personally identifiable financial information (PII).
“While CFPB officials have stated CFPB is not collecting PII, we do not know what information it collects, on how many accounts, or how this information is being used,” the Idaho senator says in a July 2 letter to GAO.
The ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee has learned from news reports that the consumer bureau allocated $20 million for collecting and tracking spending habits of more than 10 million Americans.
“The size and scope of this data collection warrant proper government oversight to both guard consumers’ privacy and ensure that the CFPB is acting within its authority,”
CFPB director Richard Cordray has testified that the agency is using the data so that bureau officials have a better understanding of the mortgage and credit card markets as they draft rules to protect consumers.
In commenting on Crapo’s request for an investigation, the CFPB said it uses “anonymized industry data” to better understand the markets it oversees.
“The anonymized data purchased by the CFPB is widely available in the marketplace and is used by the public and private sectors—such as the Federal Reserve, retailers and consumer product manufacturers,” according to a statement issued by the consumer bureau.
