Petraeus speaks at Maxwell Published March 29, 2016 By Senior Airman William Blankenship 42nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala -- Holly Petraeus spent time educating Maxwell Airmen and families on consumer financial protection practices, March 28th. Petraeus serves as the assistant director for Service member Affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a supervisory agency of the federal government that works to ensure businesses are following consumer laws and not taking advantage of customers. The bureau also provides financial education and resources to pre-emptively help consumers. The visit provided an opportunity for Petraeus to share issues she hears from military members during travels, and the actions underway to protect them from business practices that potentially harm the financial fitness of service members. "Being a military spouse, I understand the life of a military family," she said. "I really hate seeing service members taken advantage of, financially. That is why my office at the CFPB does what we do." The CFPB has been open since July of 2011 and has ensured $11 billion returned to U.S. consumers, $200 million of which to military families. They are enabling financial coaching for military members before they even attend basic training. "Basic Military Training is a tough time to retain financial protection information," said Petraeus. "We have provided information to the recruiting squadrons that enable future military members to be educated while in the delayed entry program." Petraeus said service members are a targeted because of the necessity to stay up to date on bills. Veterans and military families have submitted more than 11,000 debt collection complaints to the CFPB since they stood up. "We've received reports that some debt collectors are threatening service members by claiming that they will report the unpaid debt to their superiors, which could affect their rank or have their security clearance revoked," she said. "Our men and women in uniform should be able to do their jobs without having to worry about falling victim to unfair or deceptive financial practices." After she was finished speaking to the group, Petraeus stayed behind to address any questions from the audience members that were not publicly asked. She uses these visits to military installations to hear firsthand the financial challenges service members and families face when dealing with businesses and scammers that target service members with bad deals and outright rip-offs. "It is always special to get the opportunity to be face to face with military members," she said. "You all are doing great work and keep it up!"