Warren Outlines Sweeping New Approach to Consumer Financial Protection

[Pirate Smile]

Warren Outlines Sweeping New Approach to Consumer Financial Protection
Investigations through crowd-sourcing, wikis, and heat-mapping

Elizabeth Warren, the architect of the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, spelled out a sweeping new strategy today to use the latest in “crowd-sourcing” technology to collect tips from millions of consumers about deceptive new financial practices, from misleading mortgages and improper “gotcha’’ fees on credit cards to outright fraud.

In an interview on Tuesday with National Journal, Warren said new techniques like crowd-sourcing – scaled-up variations on Wikipedia -- make it possible to collect valuable information from millions of ordinary consumers who report problems as they arise. Using new systems to organize and find patterns in all that information, Warren said, the bureau could be able to spot new enforcement targets in a matter of days – an unheard-of response time for traditional regulators.

“Crowd-sourcing” has become one of the hottest forms of information gathering, and refers to online collaborations like Wikipedia that are built through contributions from thousands or even millions of people.
It is an entirely new approach for government regulators, but Warren said she believes the opportunities are great.
“It’s also about how we will receive information about how the world works,” she said. “It’s about how people will tell us about what is happening. I want you to think about this more like ‘heat maps’ for targeted zip codes where problems are emerging, or among certain demographic groups, or among certain issuers,” Warren said in her still-not-decorated office.

Warren’s outside-the-box thinking to consumer complaints comes as she ramps up the establishment of the agency for next July and hires about 1,000 workers. Consumer groups have been concerned that the new agency will have insufficient resources to handle consumer complaints given the wide swath under its jurisdiction, from home mortgages to payday loans to credit reports. The Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law requires the bureau to develop a nationwide consumer-complaint center, but Warren’s ideas go beyond those traditionally embraced by federal agencies.
To help solicit answers, Warren will visit Silicon Valley later this week, including a visit to Google.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/warren-outlines-sweeping-new-financial-protection-approach-20101026

[ProfessionalLeftist]

1. If the pubes are back in control of any part of our government

this will never get implemented, as badly as it is needed.

[gateley]

2. I am SO glad she's there! nt

[Kdillard]

3. So am I.

[polichick]

5. Ditto :)

[lunatica]

4. Throwig out a wide net on the inernet. Good idea!