Virginians Deserve Accountability in Financial Services
I am running for Congress because too many of the systems Americans rely on—especially financial systems—have stopped working for ordinary people when they need them most.
I’m challenging Rep. Bobby Scott, who has represented Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District since 1993. Experience matters, and long service deserves respect. But longevity alone is not leadership. After 32 years in Congress, Virginians deserve to ask a simple question: where are the results?
For too many families across the Commonwealth, interactions with financial institutions are not moments of opportunity—they are moments of crisis. A medical emergency. A job loss. A temporary housing disruption. And in those moments, instead of clarity, people often encounter opaque rules, cascading fees, automated penalties, and silence.
That is not accidental. It is the result of a system that has grown more complex, less transparent, and less accountable—while congressional oversight has steadily weakened.
Congress sets the standards for how power is exercised across federal agencies, courts, and financial regulators. When Congress hesitates, ordinary people pay the price. And in financial services, that price is often measured in overdraft fees, compounding interest, damaged credit, and lost stability.
My campaign starts from a simple question: does government use power to stabilize people—or to control and destabilize them?
Right now, too often, our financial system does the latter.
Over the past several decades, consumer finance has become more sophisticated for institutions and more confusing for borrowers. Hidden fees, complex disclosures written for lawyers rather than consumers, and aggressive debt collection practices disproportionately harm those with the least margin for error. These are not “bad choices” by individuals; they are predictable outcomes of structural design.
Virginia families know this firsthand. Whether dealing with mortgage servicers, student loan administrators, medical debt collectors, or credit reporting agencies, people frequently find themselves navigating systems that punish vulnerability rather than accommodate it.
This is not a partisan issue. It is a governance failure.
After more than three decades in office, Rep. Scott’s legislative record tells a troubling story of stagnation. In that time, he has passed only a small number of bills into law—several of which were ceremonial. That pace of lawmaking would be unacceptable in any other profession, especially one charged with overseeing trillion-dollar financial systems that shape daily life.
I am not running to be loud. I am running to be effective.
In my first 100 days in Congress, I will introduce the Consumer Stability and Crisis Protection Act, legislation guided by two principles: restraint and care must come before coercion, and government power must protect people in moments of crisis—not overwhelm them.
The bill would require hardship reviews before aggressive debt collection begins, limit cascading fees during documented crises, and expand the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to oversee abusive servicing and collection practices. It would also mandate plain-language financial disclosures so consumers can understand what they are agreeing to without needing a law degree.
In parallel, I support restoring the CFPB’s full enforcement capacity, launching serious public and postal banking pilots to expand access to safe financial services, and strengthening borrower protections during periods of economic disruption.
These are not radical ideas. They are common-sense corrections grounded in the reality of how people actually experience financial systems.
I came to this work not through a traditional political pipeline, but through lived experience inside the very institutions people encounter at their most vulnerable. I have seen how well-intentioned policies fail when accountability erodes and oversight becomes performative rather than substantive.
Congress does not need more symbolism. It needs members willing to do the unglamorous work of governing—asking hard questions, exercising restraint, and restoring trust in systems that are supposed to serve the public.
After 32 years, it is fair to say: thank you for your service. But it is also time to ask whether continued stagnation is acceptable in a moment when so many Virginians are struggling for stability.
Good government should stabilize people in moments of disruption. That is the standard I will bring to Congress—and why I am asking for your vote.
Justin Garvin Maffett is a candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 3rd District.