WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, offered a series of amendments to S.2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act. After the failure to adopt a range of Democratic amendments that Menendez said “would have better protected homeowners, homebuyers, student loan borrowers, military and other hard working families; provided relief to consumers, community banks and credit unions; and held big banks like Wells Fargo accountable for their actions,” Menendez voted no on advancing the bill to the full Senate.

Sen. Menendez opening statement during Senate Banking Committee Markup:

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Sen. Menendez urged the Committee to pass his amendment to ensure the bill does not reward banks, like Wells Fargo, which implement a punishing sales culture that puts consumers at risk. Specifically, his amendment would prohibit relief under Title IV of the bill for any bank with more than $50 billion in assets who has used in the last five years or currently uses individual sales performance goals or quotas as a compensation metric for branch employees. His amendment sparked significant debate before ultimately being defeated.

VIDEO Menendez Amendment on Punishing Wells Fargo-esque Sales Culture Sparks Debate

(Menendez Responds again at 8:08)

Named for Christopher Bryski, a New Jersey resident who tragically passed away in 2006, leaving his family responsible to pay back his full student loan, Sen. Menendez also argued for inclusion of his amendment that would provide commonsense safeguards to help protect co-signers and prohibit lenders from engaging in egregious practices that threaten the financial stability of our students and their families. The amendment is based on a bill he also introduced last week.

VIDEO: Menendez Reintroduces Christopher’s Law to Protect Student Loan Borrowers and their Families

The Senator called for inclusion of an amendment based on a bill he introduced to provide financial protections for military servicemen and women while on active duty. It would allow servicemembers to provide consumer reporting agencies with contact information to be notified of negative information reported while on deployment. It would also provide consumers the ability to include a note in their file that any negative information report occurred while on active duty. The amendment protects consumers from any adverse consequences (such as credit denials or changes in the terms of service) solely on the basis of the consumer providing notice of active duty status.

VIDEO: Menendez Introduces Military Families Credit Amendment

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