Holly Petraeus joins Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Holly Petraeus, wife of the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, has named to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to establish the Office of Servicemember Affairs.

Her main priority is hearing what issues troops and families are dealing with, one of the most pressing of which is financial debt, which can have serious repercussions, such as the loss of a servicemember’s security clearance.

Petraeus comes to the office from the Better Business Bureau, where she served as a consumer advocate for troops and their families. She also wrote a column about scams that target military families.

The difference between her old and new jobs is now she is part of an enforcement agency, which has the power to make changes, she said.

Elizabeth Warren, special advisor to the Treasury Secretary for the bureau, said Petraeus “knocked my socks off” when the two first met and Petraeus talked about all the issues the bureau could tackle.

“I did mention that day my concern about the proliferation of bad deals and outright scams on the internet – how difficult it has been to even find out who has loaned you that money or who has run off with your money and to enforce against them,” Petraeus said. “So that’s certainly something that I feel there is a lot of work to be done there and it’s an area that is exploding.”
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