The White House and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are
On Monday, the Biden administration announced a
"Companies often deliberately design their business processes to be time-consuming or otherwise burdensome for consumers, in order to deter them from getting a rebate or refund they are due or canceling a subscription or membership they no longer want — all with the goal of maximizing profits," the administration said.
Two of these efforts could directly impact financial services companies if the rules mentioned in the White House announcement come to fruition.
For one, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is planning to issue rules or guidance cracking down on ineffective
"While chatbots can be useful for answering basic questions, they often have limited ability to solve more complex problems and disputes," the White House said. "Instead, chatbots frequently provide inaccurate information and give the runaround to customers seeking a real person."
This effort follows
There are
Financial institutions are also gradually exploring
The Time Is Money effort also addresses customer service "doom loops," or extensive menu options and recordings that hinder a consumer from reaching a real person. The CFPB is one agency on the White House's list to address this issue. The announcement said the CFPB would initiate a rulemaking process that would require companies under its jurisdiction to connect customers with humans by pressing one button.