Document Shows CFPB Shakedown of Ally Bank
Toyota might want to rethink its settlement with the federal government.
Toyota might want to rethink its settlement with the federal government. A recently reveled internal memo from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau showed that the agency conspired to trump up the charges that the bank was giving out racist auto loans to minority car buyers — a shakedown, if you will. In 2013, the bank agreed to pay out $88 million in a settlement over CFPB accusations that the bank was targeting minority borrowers with higher interest rates. Visiting fellow with the Hoover Institution, Paul Sperry, wrote, “The high-level memo, sent by top CFPB civil-rights prosecutors to the bureau’s director and revealed by a House committee, admits their methods for proving discrimination were seriously flawed from the start and had little chance of holding up in court. Yet they figured they could muscle Ally, as well as future defendants, with threats and intimidation.” Instead of using Rule of Law, Obama’s agency established in 2010 used political coercion to force its way. CFPB never received a complaint from a consumer; it merely looked at databases and made guesses into the race of each borrower. At best the result is unreliable data. At worst, CFPB’s data is made-up. But CFPB got away with Ally Bank, and it recently reached a settlement with Toyota Motor Credit Company. If a “green” car company like Tesla or a self-driving car company established itself, what are the chances that the ecofascist leftists will not sic the CFPB on their favored industry?