Gail Hillebrand led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Division of Consumer Education and Engagement from its inception in 2011 through early 2020. The division’s offices developed financial education approaches for community-based service providers and web content for the public. It also performed education and policy work addressing the needs of four special populations identified in the Dodd-Frank Act: older adults; post-secondary students; active-duty military and veterans, and their families; and economically vulnerable individuals and families. The Consumer Response office for complaint handling was added to the division during the latter part of her tenure. Hillebrand served on the CFPB’s Executive Committee and other governance and policy committees.
Before joining the CFPB, Hillebrand worked for consumer protections in financial services at the West Coast Office of Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. In those 25 years she analyzed, commented upon, and advocated on a wide range of issues, in Congress and state legislatures. Her issues included banking, community reinvestment, consumer credit, credit reporting, debt settlement, electronic signatures, identity theft, payments, and effective regulation of financial services.
Hillebrand has testified five times in Congress and frequently in state legislatures. She was appointed by two California governors of different parties to serve on the California Board of Accountancy. She is a member of the American Law Institute and of the American College of Financial Services Lawyers. She is a recipient of the National Consumer Law Center’s Vern Countryman Award. She holds a BA in Economics from the University of California at San Diego and a JD from Berkeley Law School.
After leaving the CFPB in 2020, Hillebrand served as a board member of the Faster Payments Council and led its Financial Inclusion work group through the 2022 publication of its first report, Faster Payments and Financial Inclusion. Her current interests include bank and financial services regulation, consumer issues raised by new financial services products and features; electronic payments; fintech; financial inclusion; supports for savings and asset formation; financial services issues in elder care; and federalism in financial services law and oversight.
BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES OVERSIGHT AND REGULATION:
Presentation
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Symposium hosted by Berkeley Business Law Journal, Berkeley Center for Law and Business, and Berkeley Law. Transcript at 8 Berkeley Business Law Journal 219 (2011)
Congressional Testimony
The Proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency: Implications for Consumers and the FTC: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, (July 8, 2009)
Congressional Testimony
Modernizing Bank Supervision and Regulation: Hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs, (March 24, 2009)
ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS:
Podcast
Pioneers in Payments Insights from Gail Hillebrand, BMHI Podcast, (2023)
Podcast
Financial Inclusion: Faster Payments, Leaders in Payments (2024)
Presentation
Implications and Next Steps for Irrevocability in Faster Payments, Faster Payments Council Fall Member Meeting (2022)
Public Comment
CFPB-0017-0002, Inquiry into Big Tech Payment Platforms, (Dec. 3, 2021)
Journal Article
with S. Martindale, “Pay at Your Own Risk? How to Make Every Way to Pay Safe in Mobile Payments,” 27 Banking and Finance Law Review 2, 265 (2011)
Presentation
Mobile Payments, Issues for Consumers, at Mobile Payments, Global Markets, Empowered Consumers and New Rules Conference, hosted by the University of Washington School of Law and Berkeley Law (2010)
Journal Article
“Before the Grand Rethinking: Five Things to Do Today with Payments Law and Ten Principles to Guide New Payments Products and New Payments Law,” 83 Chicago-Kent Law Review 2, 769 (2008)
Congressional Testimony
The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit of the House Committee on Financial Services, (Sept. 25, 2002)
ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES AND E-COMMERCE:
Presentation
Existing Dispute Resolution Mechanisms for Cross-Border B2B and B2C Transactions (moderator), at A Summary of State, Business, and Consumer Interests, A Fresh Look at Online Dispute Resolution and Global E-Commerce, hosted by UNCITRAL and others (Austria 2010).
Article
with M. Saunders, “E-Sign and UETA, What Should States Do Now?,” Cyberspace Lawyer (Jan. 2001)
FINANCIAL EDUCATION:
Presentation
Economic Inclusion through Financial Education – High Tech and High Touch, at Responsible Finance Forum VI, Evidence and Innovation for Scaling Inclusive Digital Finance, hosted by the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion established by the G-20 (Turkey 2015)
Presentation
Ask, Plan, Act and Save: Contributors to Financial Well-Being from the CFPB Research (2016), Research in Financial Education and Financial Capability (2014), and CFPB as a Partner with the Asset Building Field (2012), at Assets and Opportunity Learning Conference, hosted by Corporation for Enterprise Development.
Presentation
Challenges and Opportunities in Financial Education and Financial Capability, at Global Summit on Financial Literacy and Education, hosted by Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and VISA (2016 and 2012).
STATE LAW ISSUES – FEDERALISM AND THE UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE:
Journal Article
“After the FACTA: State Power to Prevent Identity Theft,” 17, Loyola Consumer Law Review 1, 53 (2004)
Journal Article
“The Uniform Commercial Code Drafting Process: Will Articles 2, 2B, and 9 Be Fair to Consumers?,” 75 Washington University Law Quarterly 69 (1997)
Journal Article
“The Redrafting of UCC Articles 2 and 9: Model Codes or Model Dinosaurs?,“ 28 Loyola of L.A. Law Review 191 (1994)
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