The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), formed by President Obama in July 2011 as part of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, was put in place in order to protect consumers. Since its inception, the CFPB has cracked down on predatory lenders, created a complaint database for credit card holders to air their concerns, and made companies pay penalties for practices that were deemed harmful to consumers. However, some people are still unsure about whether or not the CFPB is really beneficial to consumers or not.

A recent poll by Zogby Analytics found that the majority of people surveyed oppose the CFPB’s efforts to keep them safe. These people feel that the CFPB is not subject to enough congressional oversight, and worry that they CFPB is infringing on their right to use credit cards however they please. While it is true that the CFPB is researching and enacting safeguards and protocols that banks and credit card issuers should use to keep consumers safe, these are not meant to limit consumers’ options or violate their rights.

Poll shows doubts about CFPB

The U.S. Consumer Coalition, led by Brian Wise, its senior advisor, polled 3,604 adults about the CFPB. They found that 55% feel the CFPB’s data collection program—designed to gather information about financial institutions and consumers—is “similar or worse than” the National Security Agency (NSA), which has come under so much fire for invading Americans’ lives in the past few years.

“Americans have spoken loudly for the first time in thissurvey that they believe this agency is invading their privacy and restricting their freedom of choice in a way that makes them very uncomfortable,” said Wise. “They clearly oppose the agency’s activities to invade their privacy, track their purchases, and efforts to tell them what products they can and cannot use.”

Specifically, the U.S. Consumer Coalition is concerned about the CFPB’s recent program that will monitor consumers’ credit card activity. Eighty percent of people polled believed that the CFPB should not be able to access folks’ credit card statements without them knowing about it.

Seventy-eight percent of those polled want the CFPB to seek Congressional approval for its budget, and 70% think the government has no business telling people how to spend money or make decisions about money despite the fact that the actions of the CFPB are meant to protect consumers, not undermine them.