3 Consumer Issues for Elizabeth Warren

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- Back in September, President Barack Obama charged Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren with putting together the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency given the power to write and enforce new rules for mortgages, credit cards, bank fees and other consumer finance issues under financial reform.

Many believe Warren was selected for her passion, communication skills, solid relationship with the president and because the agency was largely her idea. Many advocacy groups were disappointed (though not exactly surprised given the public criticism Warren received from Republicans) when the President announced Sunday that he was nominating Richard Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general and current head of the CFPB's enforcement division, to helm the bureau.

Elizabeth Warren can now focus on issues outside the jurisdiction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

While the nomination means Warren won't be head of the CFPB, it doesn't put her outside its sphere of influence. She has said she will continue to work closely with the president to make sure adequate consumer protections are in place and remains on staff as an adviser to the White House and Treasury.

On the bright side, Cordray's nomination could give Warren the time to focus on issues outside the CFPB's jurisdiction. With this in mind, we highlight three issues that could benefit from Warren's expertise and what she should do about them:

Create a passengers' bill of rights
Airlines are notorious for their poor customer service and exorbitant (and plentiful) fees. Consumer advocacy groups have long argued that many of these problems should be addressed with a uniform passenger bill of rights, and while the Department of Transportation has made some strides to create better protection for travelers, such as requiring that airlines pay for lost luggage and disclose hidden fees, they still have a ways to go.

For instance, airlines are not mandated to implement customer service plans, and most fee regulations don't apply to tickets sold through travel agencies or search engines. Airlines are also not required to provide accommodations if a consumer gets stranded or bumped off a flight, and they can essentially eject passengers from a flight with little or no reason.

Establish a uniform set of regulations for retailers
The customer service a consumer gets at different retail outlets varies widely, mainly because many laws require greater transparency on part of the store or chain's owners but not uniformity in terms of the actual policies each retailer carries. For instance, stores don't have to institute the same time limits on their return policies and can include a variety of exclusions if they desire, so long as they clearly advertise these on their website.

Additionally, there is no legislation saying a retailer has to honor any pricing mistakes it makes online or in stores, and other types of conflict resolution are similarly left to their discretion.

Clamp down on data breaches
The recent slew of hacks and data breaches indicates a need for heightened security, but also points to the fact organizations and financial institutions should be more forthcoming about how exposed their personal information may be when a consumer hands it over. At the very least, one could argue that these businesses should be much clearer about the fact you are handing over information at your own risk. Many times, the fact that you are even doing so is buried in the fine print of your digital contract.

Companies such as Javelin have suggested ways that financial institutions can make consumers' information safer, including prohibiting the use of a full Social Security number or incentivizing fraud protection. So far, these are just suggestions, not law.

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