CFPB's Humphrey Shines Light on Financial Abuse of Seniors

WASHINGTON — Hubert "Skip" Humphrey, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office for Older Americans, was sitting in a meeting with Florida seniors talking about financial fraud when his mobile device buzzed.

It was an email from a European bank letting him know that the money he was waiting for was now available. The person handling the transaction was in Africa, the email informed him, so he just needed to call with his bank account, Social Security number and other personal information so the funds could be transferred.

The message, of course, was a scam, immediately obvious to Humphrey. But he wondered how many of the other seniors in the room would have understood.

"You would think that someone could see that, but sometimes people don't," he said in an interview last week. "Seniors, I think, sometimes are in circumstances that create a vulnerability that otherwise wouldn't occur."

Humphrey is uniquely positioned to understand these circumstances: he is an older American himself.

The 69-year-old spent years working on consumer protection issues as a state attorney general in Minnesota, and served on the state and national boards of the AARP. The son of former vice president Hubert Humphrey Jr,, Skip Humphrey also has the benefit of name recognition among an older generation of consumers.

He was selected in October to run the CFPB's Office for Older Americans, part of the agency's consumer engagement and education division. The office's main role, especially in these early days, is to reach out to seniors about the financial issues that are most troubling or confusing or overwhelming to them.

When he's not in Washington, Humphrey does that most mornings at the YMCA in the small suburb he calls home, just northwest of Minneapolis.

Stop by around 5:45 a.m. — before the young people arrive — and you'll find Humphrey and his friends sitting around, post-workout, talking about the latest medication one is taking, or the visit that one had with his kids, or the problems that another is having with her bank.

"To me, it's got to be real life," Humphrey said, of the agency's engagement efforts. "It's got to be right where people are, and that's what the Congress asked us to do, go and find out what people are doing, how they're making decisions, what we can do to help. Because this isn't about the government solving all the problems, it's about how do we lend support for them to make good decisions in a rapidly changing global financial marketplace."

Humphrey is the person leading that effort for seniors.

He began his life of public service in 1972, when he was elected to the Minnesota state legislature. He became the state attorney general in 1982, a position he held for 16 years.

Humphrey also pursued higher political office, losing the governor's race in 1998 to third-party Jesse "The Body" Ventura. But the loss paved the way for another opportunity: to teach as a fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Humphrey has also served as president of the Minnesota State AARP, and until recently, served on the organization's national board.

Choosing someone with a high profile who can help increase visibility for the bureau, who understands the issues and who knows how to enforce the laws was a smart choice, said Jo Ann Barefoot, a co-chair at Treliant Risk Advisors.

"I think it is quite parallel to Holly Petraeus as a choice" to lead the Office of Service Member Affairs, Barefoot said. "Somebody that catches the attention, someone who can speak with empathy to the needs and the goals, and who's also very well-qualified to do the job."

In his first three weeks as the head of the office — an opportunity he said he could never have imagined, and too good to turn down — Humphrey has traveled to San Diego, Los Angeles, Florida and Massachusetts. He spoke with seniors, local leaders and experts about elder abuse and exploitation, and the need for increased coordination among federal and state agencies, and other nonprofit groups.

Humphrey said a huge part of the agency's role is to bring together the myriad organizations, public and private, that work with seniors to create a coordinated federal presence.

"It's not to duplicate, it's not to complicate, it's to complement," he said.

Humphrey said his time as a state AG taught him that those efforts must be backed up with enforcement tools.

The office's primary function is consumer engagement and education, and it is focused primarily on information gathering. The staff is paying special attention to reverse mortgages — it has already begun work on a study requested by Congress on that issue — as well as to identity theft, online scams and certification requirements for people who hold themselves out as financial experts or advisers, among other issues.

Seniors are often the target of financial scams simply because they have a significant amount of money after a lifetime of savings. Still, many have seen the value of their assets — particularly homes and retirement accounts — deteriorate in recent years.

"There are some financial products that are primarily marketed to older Americans, whether it's because they are products that make more sense at that point in your life, or because they are attractive to folks who have to decide what to do after a lifetime of savings," said Christina Martin Firvida, the director of financial security for the AARP, which praised Humphrey's selection to lead the office.

Another top priority, Humphrey said, is educating younger generations about the challenges their parents or grandparents may face, as well as helping people better understand when a senior has "diminished capacity" to make financial decisions.

"As people age, as we live longer …we have to make these decisions more and we want to live independently, we're going to have to confront this," Humphrey said. "It seems to me professionals can help, family members, trusted friends, also those that you deal with in the marketplace, should participate in this."

He said the banking industry also has a role to play. In order for them to be helpful and successful, they need to learn new ways to work with and communicate with seniors, too.

"Frankly, I think banks can be great partners in this," he said. "They have the capacity to know about and see the patterns of abuse and fraud, to just get the indicators, and if they start saying things, that can save a life, that can affect not just a life but a family, a community. And these are things that separately we cannot do, but together, I'm telling you, there's just a wonderful opportunity out there."