mrs. petraeus? transparent in the fees they are charging and when that contract comes up for review that is an opportunity for the servicemembers to decide if they are treating their customers right. i will say that we are taking a look at the issue of what are the special products that financial institutions are providing for servicemembers? we put a federal register notice and about a month and a half ago asking for input from across the field saying let us know what you are doing and we are going to have a one-day forum next month where we discuss both the issues and then some of the things that are being done better on the positive side. hopefully that will serve to put the word out about what is being done that is commendable and what are the issues that need to be addressed and we look forward to some cross-pollination if you will. i hope you look at them and go back and say why can't our institution do this so i'm pleased about that. >> ms. spain, your comments? >> there is a credit union tha

mrs. petraeus. ms. spain, you may proceed. >> chairman johnson, ranking member shelby, committee members, thank you for the font to be here today. our organization has been serving western south dakota for 37 years providing counseling, credit counseling, and financial education programs. we also create financial education programs that have been used by 1.4 million consumers across the nation. we serve military personnel. the readiness center invites us two or three times a month to provide financial education programs. they refer individuals to us that are struggling with housing issues or if they have more financial issues for our debt management program, and on the rare occasion, for someone to come in for prefiling. the military had housing issues they don't. when they have orders, they have to move. civilians choose if they move and when they move. the military cannot. if they take their family with them and leave a home empty, it creates financial stress. it's a difficult time. agencies that prov

mrs. petraeus. ms. spain, you may proceed. >> chairman johnson, ranking member shelly bi, committee members, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about what we see happening with the military in our area. our organization serving western south dakota for 37 years providing housing consling and other programs and create programs used by 1.4 million consumers across the nation. our agency serves military personnel at the air force base. the airman family readiness center invites us to provide financial education programs. they refer individuals to us struggling with housing issues or if they have financial issues for our debt program and they come in for debt education. the military has housing issues they don't. when they have orders, they have to move. siesmians have choices to move or not move and when to move. the military cannot. if they take their family with them, it creates financial stress. if they leave their families home, it creates financial stress. it's a difficult time. agenc

mrs. petraeus has already brought attention to important issues like aggressive marketing by the for-profit colleges to the personnel to riches also were the attention to those under water but not delinquent on their mortgages and then they've received military orders to move. we recently brought on skip humphrey to head the office of older americans. that office will help seniors navigate financial challenges by educating them about their options in areas like long-term savings and planning for retirement and long-term care. the bureau will work with senior groups, financial institutions, law enforcement offices and other federal and state agencies to identify and prevent scams targeting seniors. we also recently named a corporate loan ombudsmen. the bureau will work with the department of education to receive and review and attempt to resolve complaints of the borders of private student loans. in july the cfpb and the department of education will provide the report on the private student loan complaints to congress. at the same time, we are also working to fill other important positions l

mrs. petraeus and i share a commitment to ensure the men and women to protect the security of the countryare themselves protected from financial practices. also will also share a few thoughts about what to do to give yourself the best shot at a promising financial future. a few words about the federal reserve. at the federal reserve we are working hard both the central bankers and the financial regulators to help restore the nation's prosperity. in 2008 and in the early 2009 the world suffered the worst financial crisis since the great depression, a crisis which had been left unchecked it would have resulted in the global financial meltdown and collapse. working with policy makers around the world, the federal reserve acted forcefully to help stabilize the financial system and halt the economic slide. our economy has been growing and adding jobs in the last few years now if. for people i know it feels like the recession never ended. the unemployment rate remains very high command more than two fifths of the unemployed have been out of work for six months or more. the highest ratio since w

mr. petraeus that we are honored to have with us today. thank you, holley, for working and responding so swiftly to complaints that mortgage servicers were illegally for closing on the homes of service members while they were deployed. she reached out to the ceo of 25 companies and got them to stop these abusive practices. the bureau is already working to help students. it drafted a new financial aid form last week that breaks down the real cost of student loans into an easy to understand sheet. it features a total tuition cost, projected monthly payments and a loan default rate from each university. yesterday the financial services roundtable issued a statement strongly supporting the know before you go student initiative saying, and i quote, it will help students knowledge about student loans, and i request unanimous consent to place their letter in the record. >> without objection. >> the bureau is already making some regulations simpler. they will also begin a targeted review of regulations that inherited from seven different agencies

mr. president, i had an opportunity to go in a codel to pakistan, afghanistan and met with a lot of the leaders over there. then-general petraeus and others, and had an opportunity to go back as a soldier recently still serving. in speaking with general allen and a lot of the contracting generals, this by far is the most important piece of legislation we can file when it comes to dealing with funding. and after speaking with obviously general petraeus and general allen and all those generals in charge of contracting, i was shocked that we are unable to actually sever contracts once we determine through the new way of paying versus, cash versus electronic transfers, that we're actually in some instances doing contracting with the enemy which in turn are using those funds against our soldiers. and we have heard many stories of those funds falling into taliban hands and other insurgents' hands and used against us. that, quite frankly, is unacceptable. can you imagine that our own troops would be forced to continue giving money to the enemy because they're unable to terminate a contract? i mean, that makes absolutely no sense. so i