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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is investigating bank's use of chatbots and voicemail to abuse customers.

In plane English, they are looking at regulating voice mail hell:

The Biden administration is asking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to look at banks’ use of chatbots and to address customer service “doom loops” as part of a wider effort, unveiled Monday, to prioritize customers’ time.

“Companies often deliberately design their business processes to be time-consuming or otherwise burdensome for consumers, in order to deter them from getting a rebate or refund they are due or canceling a subscription or membership they no longer want — all with the goal of maximizing profits,” the White House wrote in introducing what it dubbed the “Time Is Money” initiative. “Americans are tired of being played for suckers.”

Among the pillars of the initiative, the White House said the CFPB is planning to issue guidance meant “to crack down on ineffective and time-wasting chatbots used by banks and other financial institutions in lieu of customer service.”

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The CFPB will identify when the use of automated chatbots or artificial intelligence voice recordings is unlawful, including when customers believe they are speaking with a person, the White House said.

“This is not about shaming corporations writ large,” a senior administration official told reporters Friday, according to CNBC. Rather, it’s “a new frontier of consumer protections.”

The initiative comes roughly a year after the Biden administration and the CFPB doubled down on efforts to root out unnecessary “junk fees” charged by banks for basic services.

“When people request basic information about their accounts, big banks cannot charge them massive fees or trap them in endless customer service loops,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra told reporters last October.

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The CFPB isn’t the only agency being pressed into action. The Department of Health and Human Services is set to urge health plan providers to make it easier for customers to talk to live people, the White House said. The Federal Communications Commission, too, will launch an inquiry into how phone, broadband and cable companies can do the same.

The Time is Money proposals will not require congressional approval, the senior administration official said. Any bill to boost consumer protections — this late in the Biden administration — would have a remote shot at passage because Republicans hold a majority in the House.

Driving a stake through the heart of voice mail hell is a very good thing.