Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren dreamed up the idea of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Congress authorized as part of Wall Street reform. She campaigned for it tirelessly and understands the issues better than anyone else. She’s the most qualified person, by far, to become its first director – the one that will [...]
What Jane Says: Consumer Rights
Consumers won. Banks lost. That summarizes the consumer piece of the financial reform bill.
On the other part of the bill that affects individuals, my verdict flips. Investors lost, Wall Street won.
Taking the consumer side first, color me thrilled that Congress created a potentially strong Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. When President Obama proposed it last [...]
- Why consumers need financial reform
- POSTED 05.19.10
What angers me most about Wall Street’s shady dealing and greed is that that they like to blame the national meltdown on their customers. You’ve heard their sniffy defense: People took mortgages they couldn’t afford, lied to lenders about their incomes and deserve whatever they got. The poor li’l ole mortgage [...]
- Buyer beware, if the Senate exempts auto dealers from any new consumer protection rules
- POSTED 05.17.10
Auto dealers are swarming Capitol Hill, asking their Senators to exempt them from scrutiny by the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency. They’ve already won an exemption from the House of Representatives. If the Senate gives them a free pass, too, it will hurt consumers, turn a blind eye to predatory practices, and violate the principle [...]
Now we know exactly what Republicans have in mind for consumer protection: No new protection, period. The proposal they introduced in the Senate yesterday amounts to a wipeout. Nothing would happen at all to stop future predatory loans.
The Administration want an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency with its own budget and authority to act. The [...]
