Remarks in Cleveland, Ohio 
January 4, 2012

The President. Well, I just want to thank the Easons and Ms. Kirkpatrick for welcoming us. As some of you may be aware, just in terms of background, the Easons, who have been married for 42 years now—Mr. Eason is a former marine, and so served our country in the Korean war—were living in their home, were taken advantage by a mortgage broker, and as a consequence, ended up being $80,000 in debt. The repairs that had originally been promised to be made for a few thousands dollars were never completed, and they almost lost their home.

And thanks to Ms. Kirkpatrick’s organization and some timely intervention, they were able to stay in their home and prevent foreclosure. But it’s a good example of the kinds of trickery and abuse in the nonbank financial sector that we’re going to have to do something about. And we’re so glad that we’ve got somebody like Rich Cordray who’s willing to take this on and make sure that families like the Easons, who’ve done the right thing, who’ve been responsible, who’ve served their country, that they’re not taken advantage of and they’re able to live in security and dignity in their golden years.

So thank you so much for letting us be in your home, Mr. Eason and Mrs. Eason. Thank you.

William Eason. It’s an honor you being here.

The President. Well, we appreciate your service all the way around.

Now, he’s not mentioning he also used to be a boxer, so if you guys break anything in here you could be in trouble. [Laughter]

Thanks, guys.

NOTE: The President spoke at 12:25 p.m. in the residence of William and Endia Eason. In his remarks, he referred to Richard A. Cordray, Director-designate, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and Deonna Kirkpatrick, communications director, Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People. Audio was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.