The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is preparing to launch a project to provide direct financial coaching services to transitioning veterans and economically vulnerable consumers nationwide. Word of the plan came in a Sept. 4 Paperwork Reduction Act information collection notice published in the Federal Register.
The CFPB said the financial coaching project will begin late this year and is expected to serve tens of thousands of customers over three years.
According to the Federal Register release, the CFPB plans to collect various types of information to evaluate the program. The information to be collected from clients likely will include a combination of personal information, including basic contact and demographic information. Information also will include performance metrics, client-level information on progress towards financial goals or other relevant outcomes, and programmatic and organizational outcomes.
The comment period for the bureau’s information collection proposal closes Nov. 3.
Separately, the agency also revealed plans to study the effectiveness of its “Owning a Home” project, which includes a suite of online tools and other resources aimed at helping consumers make informed decisions about mortgages.
The study, described in a Sept. 26 Federal Register release, is expected to involve more than 47,000 individuals or households.
The CFPB said it plans to recruit prospective homebuyers and assign them to one of two study groups — those exposed to the Owning a Home tools or resources, and those not exposed to those resources.
The bureau will survey both groups of homebuyers as they go through the process of shopping for and acquiring a mortgage and then compare the two groups’ attitudes, behaviors and outcomes.
Comments on the Owning a Home information collection request are due by Nov 25.