Three months ago, a vendor for Legal Newsline submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for copies of the communications between Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) staff members and the Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC).
There has been no response from Danielle Duvall Adams, Freedom of Information Act Manager at the CFPB.
Legal Newsline’s Freedom of Information Act representative emailed the request for copies of all communication between the CFPB and Seth Frotman, Director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, as well as emails and other communications between members of CFPB staff and the SBPC, on Nov. 21, 2019. The request asked for copies of the information within the law’s required response time of five days. That time frame was up on Nov. 26, at 2:16 p.m.
“If you deny any or all of this request, please cite each specific exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under the law,” the emailed request reads.
The Freedom of Information Act allows members of the public and the media to request copies of records from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other government agencies. It requires that agencies submit the information within a five-day period, or notify the requestor of a timeline for response.
The CFPB’s web page focusing on the Freedom of Information Act notes that the timeframe outlined in the Freedom of Information Act is 20 working days, or approximately one month, although this varies, depending on the intricacy of the request. It also says that when the agency needs an extension, they will send written notification and allow the requestor to modify the scope of the request, or propose a different timetable for processing the request.
It has been three months and Legal Newsline has not received the documents requested, or a response regarding timeframes.