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We now have two different definitions of a "high-cost" mortgage, as well as a "higher priced" mortgage, and a "higher risk" mortgage. Clearly, Congress failed to practice what it preaches.
November 28
WASHINGTON The nation's capital tends to operate with its own wonky language that seems meant to confound and confuse. But a handful of agencies that deal with financial institutions are now being assessed for how easy their forms and documents are to understand.
The Center for Plain Language released a study Tuesday with grades for 20 agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Small Business Administration, evaluating how well they adhere to a 2010 law urging clearer communication in government.
The CFPB received an 'A' grade for compliance with the Plain Writing Act in the center's second report card. But in a supplemental grade the center provided for judging whether an agency's communications are in the "spirit" of the 2010 statute, the consumer bureau only received a 'C'.
The law, authored by Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, calls on agencies to use "clear government communication that the public can understand and use."
The grades indicate some agencies have a ways to go before their communications are accessible to the everyday reader.
The SBA received a compliance grade of 'A' from the center, but it earned a 'D' for its adherence to the spirit of the law. The Securities and Exchange Commission received a 'D' on both counts. The Treasury Department received a grade of 'F' for compliance, and a 'D' for how well Treasury's communications correspond with the spirit of the law.
"The mixed results of the Plain Writing Act Report Card show that we still have a long way to go to make government forms and documents simpler and easier for taxpayers to understand," Braley said in a press release issued by the center. "Some federal agencies have embraced the Plain Writing Act, and others haven't. Until these grades are all A-plus, we're going to keep holding bureaucrats' feet to the fire."
