Consumer Law

Why We Need a Consumer Financial Protection Agency

By Kemnitzer, Anderson, Barron, Ogilvie & Brewer

Prof Elizabeth Warren has been the leading advocate for creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The proposed new agency is part of the financial reform bill currently being debated in a Senate House conference committee.

Writing on Politico.com, she points out that when lobbyists for the banks announced last year that they would kill the consumer financial protection agency, observers predicted they would succeed given their money and lobbying. But the dire predictions were wrong and the agency is part of the versions of the bill passed by both houses. Of course, the lobbyists have not given up. They are currently trying to convince the conferees to weaken the agency before it is born.

Prof Warren explains that the reason the lobbyists have not undercut the basic sense behind consolidating seven different consumer protection bureaucracies into one streamlined agency that would be accountable to consumers. Everyone can understand there is a crying need for regulation aimed at making credit card agreements and mortgage documents short and readable.

Full post as published by California Credit Law Blog on June 18, 2010 (boomark / email).