CONSUMER CHOICE
CFPB's Canan Leads Efforts to Shield Older Americans From Exploitation
By Sarah Lai Stirland S
tacy Canan, a lawyer at the Con- sumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), has spent her career blocking
fraudsters’ attacks on older Americans. She is the assistant director of the CFPB’s
Office for Older Americans, which operates within the broader department of Consum- er Education and Engagement. The law that created the CFPB in 2011
defines “older Americans” as those 62 and over. The office’s goal is to help seniors and their caregivers make sound financial deci- sions, as well as guard against fraud. Canan’s office reviews complaints about financial products, works with community groups to educate seniors on managing their finances, issues reports on trends in senior consumer protection issues, and provides how-to guides on managing money on be- half of seniors.
Prior to joining the CFPB in 2012, Canan
was a managing attorney at the AARP Foundation, where she handled consumer and health cases. She began her legal ca- reer at a nonprofit called University Legal Services in Washington, D.C., where she battled predatory mortgage lenders who preyed on older, low-income homeowners. Here, she discusses some of her office’s initiatives and reports.
Seniors’ Increased Debt Load More seniors these days are carrying more kinds of debt than in previous generations, Canan said. These can range from mort- gages, credit cards, and even student loan debt. A January 2017 CFPB study reported that “the number of consumers age 60 and older with student loan debt has quadrupled over the last decade in the United States, and the average amount they owe has also dramatically increased.”
50 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE / ISSUE 5 2017
Two things happen as a result of this, Canan said: » Seniors increasingly have to deal with debt collectors. A 2014 CFPB report (
http://bit.ly/debt-report) said that these debt collectors often contact the wrong people, misapply the amount owed, and/ or provide inaccurate or inadequate infor- mation about the debt owed. The CFPB has published a webpage (
http://bit.ly/ elderdebt) advising seniors on their rights.
» Another subject of frequent complaints is the co-signing of loans. Often a grand- child or child may ask a senior to co-sign an auto or education loan. But the senior often doesn’t reflect on the reality that if the primary borrower doesn’t pay, they’ll be on the hook for the loan, and they have to deal with the process of pay- ing it back. Complaints to the CFPB, as described in its January 2017 report on older consumers and student loans, show that this process can be complicat- ed with administrative errors resulting in misdirected funds and non-payment of owed amounts. Complaints to the CFPB are forwarded to the debt collectors and the CFPB works to elicit a response to resolve issues.
Other Struggles Another CFPB report issued this June (
http://bit.ly/senior-finance-complaints-cf- pb) found that seniors often encounter complications with the reverse mortgages they’ve taken out on their houses; 39 percent complained that they couldn’t pay. To help with the matter, the CFPB has subsequently created a “Reverse Mortgage Discussion Guide” (
http://bit.ly/cfpb-RVM-Disc) and explanatory video (
https://youtu.be/ L89d3faoFGw).
Change Agent Profile
Stacy Canan Assistant Director of the Office for Older Americans, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
CFPB How-To Guides The CFPB has published various guides to assist caregivers and seniors with financial management, including: » Guides on managing other people’s money: Several guides provide information on spotting financial abuse and each in- clude a section on where to go for help if exploitation is suspected. (http://bit. ly/managing-snr-money)
» Money Smart for Older Adults: Provides information and tips to help prevent common scams, such as telephone scams and identity theft, and other forms of el- der financial exploitation. (
http://bit.ly/ MoneySmartOlder)
» Manual for assisted living communities on recognizing, recording, and reporting finan- cial exploitation and scams: The manual can be used by managers to train staff with protocols on how to recognize and report suspected cases of financial exploitation. (
http://bit.ly/spotabuse)
» The CFPB’s “Frequently Asked Questions” portal for older Americans: Provides answers for commonly used terms and questions. For example, “What happens if I have to move out of my home into a nursing home, or to live with family, and I have a reverse mort- gage?” (
http://bit.ly/senior-finance-FAQ)
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