From The Hill:

No announcements are expected this week on a replacement for a departing White House economic adviser or who will lead the consumer protection agency created under the new financial reform law.

From the New York Post:

Wall Street is preparing for a hurricane starting with the letter E, but it’s not Earl, it’s Elizabeth, as in Warren.

Bankers appear to be resigning themselves to a fate worse than tougher financial regulation: The hard-charging Harvard professor, who oversees TARP funding, seems a near-cinch to be named the nation’s consumer watchdog.

“At this point, it seems pretty clear that she’s going to get the nomination,” said one high-ranking bank official, noting that President Obama, who has been sliding in the polls, could use a Warren nomination as a rallying point.

This past weekend I paid $3 to a store ATM so I can get $40 out of my own money! But I am not complaining.
The point is lack of options is what led me to go to a store ATM to get cash out when I needed it. So in fact I appreciate the fact that someone put an ATM there in middle of nowhere to help me out. $3 is a bit too high but it did help me out.

It’s the same deal with payday loans and other type of short term loans. People take them, because they under employed and they have problem with cash flow but they lack option. And banks aren’t lending these days, they are in fact taking money away from people in all sort of way. So people go with payday lender.
I would really hope State and Federal politicians would promote responsible payday lending, instead of continue threatening of banning it. And I wish they would put more focus on creating jobs so people would be less reliant on payday loans or any type of loans.

From the story:

Restricting the high amount of interest a quick-cash company charges its borrowers would put the company out of business, Scott Putnam told the Jackson County Board of Supervisors on Monday.

Putnam told the board people in Mississippi need the option of payday loans. He said they are a cheaper option than the alternative, which is writing a bad check and being charged an over-draft fee by a bank or credit union.

Speaking on behalf of an association for quick-cash lenders in the state, he also said 4,000 people in Mississippi make a living writing short-term, high-interest loans.

Putnam’s plea, along with calls they got from legislators and state financial officials, convinced some members of the Board of Supervisors to reconsider a stand it took last week against predatory lending that exploits low-income and desperate people. The board had voted to ask the Legislature to let laws expire that support high-interest loans and then cap annual interest rates at 36 percent.

Supervisors rescinded that vote Monday, saying they needed to look into the issue more thoroughly.

A California state senator answers the question emphatically in a Washington Informer guest piece: 

Traditional banks are allowed to hold government deposits where they pay minimal interest rates and make a sizeable profit. And as we have seen if the traditional bank makes a bad decision the government bails them out. So if those concerned offer no solutions, don’t close the door on the last hope for those locked out. While the poor and credit-challenged appreciate your sympathy, if you can’t help, don’t hurt.

Payday Pundit will be on vacation.  Not much news anyway.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Could Elizabeth Warren’s outspokenness yet prove a plus? A whisper is that some Republicans are warming to Ms. Warren as the first consumer financial-affairs regulator over another candidate, Treasury Department Assistant Secretary Michael Barr. The thinking: Ms. Warren isn’t shy about speaking her mind, so banks would know what was coming. Some fear Mr. Barr would be more circumspect but end up hitting bankers with surprise initiatives. But all that could be moot. One idea doing the rounds in Washington is that President Obama might name Ms. Warren when Congress is out of session, avoiding a confirmation hearing until next year.

Banks have found away around credit card reform rules.  From the story:

Professional cards aren’t covered under the Credit Card Accountability and Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, or Card Act for short. Among other things, the law prohibits issuers from controversial billing practices such as hair-trigger interest rate increases, shortened payment cycles and inactivity fees—but it doesn’t apply to professional cards (see table).

Until recently professional cards largely had been reserved for small-business owners or corporate executives. But since the Card Act was passed in March 2009, companies have been inundating ordinary consumers with applications. In the first quarter of 2010, issuers mailed out 47 million professional offers, a 256% increase from the same period last year, according to research firm Synovate.

And Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is after them.

What?! Reporters in Britain actually research the topics that they report?! Even if it forces them to deal with a little math?!!

Ridiculous! It’s so much easier to simply regurgitate a popular opinion, mixed with harsh negative attacks and a little fear.