Well, it’s a Center for Responsible Lending report so what do you expect them to say since the pushed the law so hard?   From the story:

But the Center for Responsible Lending report finds that rules mandated by the CARD Act have benefited consumers without causing prices to rise and without restricting access to credit. Overall, the new rules have increased transparency for consumers without any unintended consequences, it said.

“This report’s findings refute claims by the credit-card industry that new credit-card rules have restricted access to consumer credit and raised its costs,” the report said.

This obviously conflicts with a lot of other reporting that credit has been constricted.

To the Consumers Union gala, published on this Washington Post blog.  This caught the Payday Pundit’s eye:

But today, credit markets work differently. With credit, the product is, in an important sense, the contract itself. And lengthy credit agreements written in overly legalistic language too often make it difficult for families to compare costs, benefits, and risks. Certain lenders have taken advantage of this lack of transparency. Too many profit models have been built around keeping customers confused or uncertain, pretending to sell at one price on the front end and knowing that the real profits will be made on fees, penalties and re-pricing on the back end – when it is too late. Too many profit models have been built around steering customers into products they can’t understand and may not be able to afford. All this was a way to boost profits by avoiding head-to-head competition on features that customers could easily understand.

This won’t die.  From the story:

Rachel Maddow better watch her back.

The progressive mega-blog Daily Kos yesterday began pushing a new high-profile liberal darling to take on the Bay State’s popular GOP Sen. Scott Brown: Harvard professor and Obama administration star Elizabeth Warren.

Calling her an “energetic candidate who knows how to pick and win fights,” Daily Kos blogger Chris Bowers encouraged followers to sign a petition asking Warren to jump into the race.

The Clarion Ledger reports:

If the Senate passes and the governor signs the bill, it would take effect Jan. 1 and expire July 1, 2015. The current law is set to expire July 1, 2012.

The Hill gets a preview: 

Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard law professor charged with setting up the CFPB, will tell consumer advocates Tuesday that while the bureau was created when the Dodd-Frank financial reform law was enacted, the fight is not over.

“Families can and should be proud of their new watchdog, but they would be wrong if they take its future security and independence for granted,” she will say in a speech to the Consumers Union, according to her prepared remarks.

Specifically, she will warn against efforts to bring the CFPB’s budget under the jurisdiction of Congressional appropriators. Several Republicans, critical of the bureau, have contended that the office suffers from a lack of Congressional oversight because its budget falls outside the appropriations process. Instead, the CFPB receives its funding as part of the Federal Reserve’s budget.

I don’t think using an Indian tribe is preferred. It can be less expensive to pay an Indian tribe than pump money into the lobbyist machine.

In CFSA’s defense, they’re constantly fighting legislation from politicians that, for the most part, a) have never used a payday loan and b) don’t understand our customer. They create rules that neither side likes and typically makes the product less effective for the borrower.

WalletPop picks up on the “Indian partnership” stories.   At the risk of beating a dead horse, this is a practice of Internet lenders, not CFSA’s storefront member companies.

I wonder what the APR is on Their advertising? Hmmm one week small ad to sell your car with a decent amount of lines in the classifieds? Maybe $50? The APR on that is probably over 920%! Maybe we need caps on newspaper advertising rates? That is clearly unaffordable and traps people in a cycle of advertising which may not work!

The CFSA annual conference begins.  To register, click here.

Credit card fees go up to make up for lost revenue.  From the story: 

Many credit card companies are now adding more fees to consumers as a way to make up for revenue lost to greater regulation from the federal government, but the majority of those charges are likely being paid by consumers who are getting a credit card for the first time, according to a report from Forbes. Some studies have found that new cardholders pay about $15 a month in fees on average, but that amount decreases by 75 percent over the next four years.