LAS VEGAS – Holly Petraeus, assistant director for the CFPB's Office of Servicemember Affairs, said Tuesday that fewer combat deployments for active duty military has created an opportunity for credit unions as financial educators.

“Now that the large scale combat deployments have come to an end at least for the moment, I think we may see more financial challenges for active duty military families who frankly are growing used to the infusion of extra cash and benefits that go along with deployment,” Petraeus said during a keynote speech at the Defense Credit Union Summit during NAFCU's annual conference.

Since chasing deployments is no longer a viable option for many service members, Petraeus said tailoring their finances appropriately is going to be a difficult task.

“Your role as credit unions who operate in the military space will be even more important as financial educators, as volunteers in the community and as providers of reasonable priced small loans,” she said.

Petraeus said the CFPB, which has been in operation for three years, has received more than 14,000 complaints from 50 states about financial services and products from service members and families.

In total, military service members and their families have received more than $1 million in monetary relief, according to Petraeus.

She said the majority of the complaints have been about mortgages, while debt collection and credit reporting complaints have climbed steadily over the last year.

The CFPB recently announced new complaint categories including, pre-paid cards, credit repair services, debt settlement, pawn and title loans.

“I suspect we will get some very interesting complaints in those areas,” she said.

Petraeus also encouraged the audience to comment on the CFPB's complaint narrative policy.

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