Customers are too good.  From the Washington Post: 

After the recession forced credit card companies to purge their rosters of the riskiest loans, the industry is facing a new problem: customers who are too good.

Card issuers have long found their bread and butter in penalty fees and high interest rates paid by consumers who carry a balance. But that business model has been upended by the legions of consumers who were overwhelmed by debt when the recession hit, forcing the industry to write off billions of dollars in loans. In addition, new federal laws limit how much card companies can charge risky customers.

Now, frugal-minded consumers are charging less on their credit cards, paying down their balances and steering clear of penalty fees — steps that are financially responsible but have the industry scrambling to find new ways to make money.

A debate in Politico’s “Arena.”

people need to understand that these payday lenders are businesses trying to provide a service, and they should be compensated for taking risks on people no one else will lend to…

A Dow Jones columnist says the President must pick Elizabeth Warren.

And Mother Jones says she will “build agency in her own image.”

CRL continues to play the race card.

At least on one issue.   From CFSA’s news release: 

The Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA) said today that it supports the efforts of the Consumer Federation of America and the Consumers Union to protect recipients of Social Security and other government benefits from lenders who access their directly deposited checks through sub-account arrangements.

According to a Wall Street Journal story on July 20, “The Social Security Administration has been depositing benefits directly into accounts controlled by storefront lenders, which repay themselves from the benefits before remitting the rest of the money to beneficiaries.”

Lynn DeVault, board chair of CFSA, said she knows of no payday advance companies that engage in this practice and that the industry strongly supports efforts to block all lenders from gaining access to a borrower’s bank account through these sub-account arrangements.

“Citizens receiving government benefits are among the most vulnerable members of society,” DeVault said. “We agree with the consumer groups that the Treasury Department should stop banks from giving lenders access to bank accounts through these sub-account arrangements.”

No mention of payday lending.

An idea from a reader:

What about making this position like jury duty? Anyone could be the next head of the CFPB. Heck, any elected office could be that way.

 From BNA:

President Obama July 21 signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the most sweeping overhaul of U.S. financial regulation since the 1930s.

The 2,319-page bill (H.R. 4173) named after Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) mandates new monitoring and controls on large and systemically significant financial institutions and establishes a new consumer protection bureau at the Federal Reserve to regulate a wide array of financial products.

“Few from Wall Street to attend signing.”