North Carolina consumer advocates to Sen. Tillis: Protect us from the Trump grift-ocracy

Yahoo

2 days ago

Small business owner Dr. Ashley Gaddy Robbins speaks of the importance of preserving the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at a May 29 press conference outside of U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis's Raleigh office. (Photo: Rob Schofield)
North Carolina has always been a conservative, business-friendly state in which lobbyists for corporate interests have generally had their way in the state Legislative Building under both Republicans and Democrats.
From the days of tobacco, textiles and furniture to the modern era in which industries like banking, technology, construction and health care predominate, it's been a rare instance in which lawmakers have said 'no' to the policy demands of a large industry – especially those willing to make significant 'investments' in political campaigns.
One notable and interesting minor exception to this pattern in recent decades, however, has been in the realm of predatory consumer lending. Throughout the latter decades of the 20th Century right down to the present day, grifting high-cost lenders have generally struggled to gain the foothold here that they enjoy in many other states.
Despite repeated efforts to loosen state laws that bar exploitive products like 'payday loans' and 'car title loans' and that cap interest rates and fees charged by 'consumer finance' companies and makers of high-cost home loans, North Carolina lawmakers have largely held firm.
Several factors that have contributed to this situation, including consistent and forceful advocacy from the consumer protection offices of Attorneys General Mike Easley, Roy Cooper, Josh Stein, and Jeff Jackson; resistance from several legislative leaders (including a handful of Republicans like veteran State Rep. Julia Howard and former State Rep. Jeff Barnhart); and tough stances by the state's military commanders who've seen how predatory loans target and harm the readiness of their troops.
Together with the rise of one of the nation's strongest networks of consumer advocacy nonprofits – a group that included, among others, advocates from the Center for Responsible Lending, the North Carolina Justice Center, the Financial Protection Law Center and the state's Legal Aid community — these forces helped keep North Carolina a state that is comparatively predatory lender-free.
What's more, the successes in this area were so numerous and impactful that following the financial crisis of the early 2000's that morphed into the Great Recession, they helped inspire action in Washington to establish a watchdog federal government agency known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
In the years since, the CFPB has done prodigious work – winning billions of dollars in refunds for ripped-off homebuyers, student loan borrowers, and banking customers and even putting some predatory lenders out of business. Since its inception, more than 300,000 North Carolinians have turned to the agency with complaints of consumer abuses. More than 86,000 have thus far won relief.
Unfortunately, as one might expect, laws and lawyers that target grifters, scammers and predators are anathema to President Trump – a man whose business career was largely predicated on all manner of shady deals — and he and Republicans in Congress are working hard to gut or abolish the agency.
According to Adam Rust of the Consumer Federation of America, since Trump returned to office in January, his minions have quickly sought to lay off virtually the entire CFPB staff (a move that has waxed and waned in the federal courts), cancelled numerous consumer protection regulations (including rules designed to protect vulnerable seniors from junk fees, rein in online payment app scams and debt collectors, and cap bank overdraft fees), and dismissed more than 20 lawsuits targeting predatory actors.
Where federal law protected certain kinds of work from complete elimination – as with the Office of Servicemember Affairs (a creation of the Military Lending Act) – Rust says Trump's team evaded the law by simply firing everyone in the office except for a single person. The massive budget and tax bill recently approved by the U.S. House doubles down on this pattern by slashing the agency's funding agency by around 75%.
To their credit, however, North Carolina advocates and activists – some of whom helped birth the CFPB — have no intention of letting the agency be destroyed without a fight. Last Thursday, several of them gathered for a press event outside of Sen. Thom Tillis's Raleigh office to plead with him to intervene.
In addition to Rust, speakers included community organizer Emma Horst-Martz, who cited her grandmother's victimization by an online tech firm as an example of the need to preserve protections for seniors, and a pair of small business women – Ashley Gaddy Robbins and LaCharo Owens – both of whom explained the critical role CFPB protections have played in making access to safe, affordable credit possible for minority and women-owned businesses.
Is there a chance that Tillis could muster the courage, as is his wont every once-in-a-blue-moon, and do the right thing? Experience and a glance at some of his past actions indicate that it's a huge longshot, but with an uphill reelection race looming in 2026, it seems at least possible that Tillis will see handing such an issue to a Democratic challenger could be a dangerous move.
For their part, the activists and small business owners who pleaded with him last week will not be giving up or going away. Their simple message: stand with the people of North Carolina, not the banks, billionaires and lobbyists. Let's fervently hope Tillis was listening.