Apparently, he’s a business man who’s is against competition and consumer choice.

Lengthy piece by Miami Herald reporter ran on Sunday.  From the story:

Annualized, payday loan interest rates may be as much as 300 percent or higher, drawing the ire of consumer advocates and earning the industry labels including “legalized loan-sharking,” “financial apartheid” and “predatory lending.”

But the cost is up front and transparent, Fulmer said.

Customers “see our product as a cost-competitive alternative. You often hear critics talk about exorbitant annual percentage rates, but you have to look at an apples-to-apples comparison,” Fulmer said. Credit card late fees interest rates and overdraft fees can be far more expensive on an annualized basis, he said.

Exactly.   For many people, a payday loan is the right choice when facing an unexpected expense.   If a pawn loan or credit card is a better choice in a  particular situation, the consumer is the best person to decide that.

SanFran Chronicle thinks Warren appoint is a “half step”

From the White House website: 

And that’s partly why even when I was still in the U.S. Senate, I took such a great interest in the work of the woman standing next to me.  I have known Elizabeth Warren since law school.  She’s a native of Oklahoma.  She’s a janitor’s daughter who has become one of the country’s fiercest advocates for the middle class.  She has seen financial struggles and foreclosures affect her own family.

Long before this crisis hit, she had written eloquently, passionately, forcefully, about the growing financial pressures on working families and the need to put in place stronger consumer protections.  And three years ago she came up with an idea for a new independent agency that would have one simple overriding mission:  standing up for consumers and middle-class families.

Thanks to Elizabeth’s efforts, as well as the dedication and persistence of the person to my right, Secretary of Treasury Geithner, as well as leaders in Congress like Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, that agency will soon become a reality.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was one of the central aspects of financial reform, will empower all Americans with the clear and concise information they need to make the best choices, the best financial decisions, for them and their families. 

Latest from the Wall Street Journal: 

An announcement is expected later Friday from the Treasury Department after President Barack Obama introduces Elizabeth Warren in a new White House role where she would lead the creation of the new agency. Mr. Obama and Ms. Warren are expected to make remarks at the White House at 1:30 p.m.

Treasury Department officials plan to transfer existing enforcement, examination and rule-writing powers from federal banking regulators to the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection by July 2011, people familiar with the matter said.

Elizabeth Warren just posted this on The Huffingon Post: 

The new consumer bureau is based on a pretty simple idea: People ought to be able to read their credit card and mortgage contracts and know the deal. They shouldn’t learn about an unfair rule or practice only when it bites them — way too late for them to do anything about it. The new law creates a chance to put a tough cop on the beat and provide real accountability and oversight of the consumer credit market. The time for hiding tricks and traps in the fine print is over. This new bureau is based on the simple idea that if the playing field is level and families can see what’s going on, they will have better tools to make better choices.

I have no problem with that as long as “better choices” includes a regulated cash advance option for consumers.

Looks like it’s coming at 1:30 today from the Rose Garden.

According to the Huffington Post, she will lead the search for the permanent BCFP director.

Apparently, it’s coming tomorrow.

From the story: 

“What I gather is Elizabeth will be some sort of adviser in all this,” Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee chairman, told reporters in the Capitol. “They need to send us a director, though, a nominee. The issue’s no different today than it was yesterday. We need a nominee that can be confirmed by the Senate to run the place.”