Better Accountability Through Open

Data

Merici Vinton

MERICI VINTON

Currently: Business Development and Product Consultant and OI Engine, IDEO’s SaaS collaboration platform

One of the first employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and assisted the CFPB’S CTO and its special advisor (and now Senator) Elizabeth Warren with the development of its technology and digital strategy.

HOW OPEN DATA IS CHANGING FINANCIAL INSTITUATIONS.

REALLY.

FOR REAL.

OPEN GOVERNMENT: A BRIEF HISTORY

January 21, 2009 - Transparency and Open Government Memorandum

3 principles:Government should be transparent.Government should be participatory.Government should be collaborative.

OPEN GOVERNMENT: A BRIEF HISTORY

May 9 2013 - Executive Order: Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information

Openness in government strengthens our democracy, promotes the delivery of efficient and effective services to the public, and contributes to economic growth. As one vital benefit of open government, making information resources easy to find, accessible, and usable can fuel entrepreneurship, innovation, and scientific discovery that improves Americans' lives and contributes significantly to job creation.

JULY 2010: Congressional legislation passes

Our 3 tech + design principles paid off

To start, the president could study the example of how the British government used the initial failure of its electronic medical records system as a catalyst for broader change. But he doesn’t even have to look that far. The Affordable Care Act, after all, isn’t the only product his administration has launched. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), created by the Dodd-Frank financial reform act of 2010, has won wide plaudits for its remarkable, user-friendly deployment of technology. Merici Vinton, who recruited most of the original technology and digital team and oversaw the creation of consumerfinance.gov—her agency’s version of healthcare.gov—outlined three principles for making technology work in government:

1. Never build a website that’s too big to fail; instead, start small.

2. Do open-source when possible, preferably always.

3. Have in-house strategy, design, and tech.

#rmcitysummit @merici

#rmcitysummit @merici

As of July 1, 2014, the CFPB received 395,300 complaints

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Annual complaint volume has steadily increased, rising 80% from 91,000 in 2012 to 163,700 in 2013.

COMPLAINTS BY THE NUMBERS

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CUSTOMER SERVICE FTW (WELL, GENERALLY)

Online FAQsSocial media monitoringOrganizational change

Banks have responded to 97% of the complaints they’ve received, and roughly 25% of customers received monetary relief as a result.

The median sum consumers have received is $110.Forbes: Why Banks Are Scrambling To Hear Your Complaints

• All letters to consumers are now “common sense” checked for readability

• Policy to address social media comments within four hours and any other form of complaints typically within 24 hours.

That was partly because the bank wanted to let customers know they could respond faster than the CFPB

Forbes: Why Banks Are Scrambling To Hear Your Complaints

• Online complaint forms (instead of having to call)

• Online customer service chat and email

Forbes: Why Banks Are Scrambling To Hear Your Complaints

Response times have sped up by 3 percent since the database came online.

(that’s a good thing)Data compiled by Bloomberg Businessweek

WHAT’S IN IT FOR THE BANKS?

problem resolution = customers less likely to leave

“For the first time, the companies have a benchmark to compare themselves to their competitors.

Previously, they were acting in a vacuum.”

- Steven Ramirez, CEO of data-mining consultancy Beyond the Arc

Bloomberg Businessweek

WHAT’S IN IT FOR THE BANKS?

“We know that if we hear about a particular problem from 50 consumers, that likely means it looms larger than if we hear about it from two.”

Richard Cordray, Director of the CFPB

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CFPB.GITHUB.IO

THANK YOU

@MERICI