More on federal developments
March 11, 2010 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)This story is hot off the wires, getting picked up everywhere:
Reporting from Washington – With time running out this year for the Senate to deal with financial regulatory reform legislation, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said Thursday he plans to offer his own bill after lengthy bipartisan talks failed to produce a consensus.
Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, has been working since mid-February with Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) in hopes of crafting a bill to enact the most sweeping overhaul of financial regulations since the Great Depression. But while those talks have been fruitful, Dodd said Thursday “a few outstanding issues remain” and time is running out for the Senate to deal with a complex bill this year with midterm elections looming.
“It has always been my goal to produce a consensus package,” said Dodd, who has been engaged in on-again, off-again talks with Republicans since unveiling his own bill last fall. “And we have reached a point where bringing the bill to the full committee is the best course of action to achieve that end.”
Dodd said he will unveil his latest draft of the legislation Monday and wants his committee to begin considering a bill the week of March 22. But with Republicans holding enough seats to block any legislation, the failure to produce a bipartisan bill spells trouble for Democrats hoping to push through a regulatory overhaul that is one of President Obama’s top priorities.
Hot off the web
March 11, 2010 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)POLITICO Breaking News:
—————————————————–Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd, concerned that bipartisan talks were losing momentum, will unveil his own financial reform bill Monday without the full support of his Republican negotiating partners. Dodd stressed in a statement that his talks with Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee would continue.
For more information…http://www.politico.com
Is this still news?
March 11, 2010 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)From FoxBusiness.com:
In a move that’s raising red flags among some consumer advocates, top negotiators for the Senate Banking Committee signaled Wednesday they favor establishing a new consumer financial protection agency within the Federal Reserve as part of a compromise financial regulation reform bill.
Consumer advocates and Fed critics in Congress have opposed any major Fed oversight of consumer financial protection as part of reforms. They say they Fed fumbled consumer protection during the financial bubble, failing to crack down on subprime mortgages, predatory lending and other questionable products and practices. Fed officials have acknowledged as much and stepped up their efforts.
I thought this has been the storyline for about two weeks. I guess Fox is catching up.
Does this guy have perspective?
March 11, 2010 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)This is probably the tenth story he’s done lumping us in with the Wall Street types that caused the financial meltdown:
Last year, fresh off the financial crisis, strident lawmakers pledged to strengthen consumer protections against predatory mortgage lenders that lured borrowers with zero-interest loans and option-ARM loans (which give borrowers the ability to choose what kind of payment to make each month). These loans drove many homebuyers into foreclosure and bankruptcy. So, legislators pledged to form a Consumer Financial Protection Agency that would look into all sorts of questionable financial practices, including payday loans. Two bills were introduced to curb payday lenders — one in the Senate from Sen. Dick Durbin (pictured) and another in the House from Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, both Illinois Democrats.
How does he make this leap from mortgages to $345 loans?
All is fair in love and war
March 11, 2010 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)From the Huffington Post:
The opponents of the Obama administration’s proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency apparently have very little competition in the Google AdWords space.
As you’ll see by the below screen shot, contextual ads for the term “CFPA” have already been snatched up by consumer agency opponents. The agency, first proposed by Elizabeth Warren, head of the Congressional Oversight Panel charged with monitoring the bailout, would protect consumers against deceptive credit card deals and misleading mortgage agreements while also acting as a bulwark against some of the more exotic financial products.
Click on the link above and you can scroll down to the ads.
Telling it like it is
March 11, 2010 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)From the Los Angeles Times today:
“We’re a small consumer loan industry and we had nothing to do with the economic meltdown, and we won’t have anything to do with any future economic meltdown,” said spokesman Steven Schlein, noting the industry lends about $40 billion a year, with an average payday loan of $354. “Consumer loans have been regulated by the states, and the states are doing a good job.”
That’s why Congress should regulate Wall Street and not us.
Nice not to be singled out
March 11, 2010 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)From today’s Washington Post:
Payday lenders, pawnbrokers, car dealers and other companies that make loans but do not hold bank charters would be shielded from the scrutiny of a proposed federal consumer protection regulator under the terms of a tentative compromise between senators who are attempting to craft a bipartisan bill.
Under the proposal, the regulator would hold broad authority to write rules protecting borrowers, but officials would make regular compliance checks only at banks and, for the first time, at mortgage lenders, a step that still would exclude some of the nation’s largest and most controversial lending industries.
But we were mentioned first.
CFSA pushes back on Wall Street
March 10, 2010 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)From a news release sent out tonight:
Today, the Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA), the trade association representing America’s responsible, small denomination, short-term payday lenders, questioned the activities of certain large Wall Street financial institutions for promoting their own interests over those of hard-working, middle income consumers.
“Unlike those who are responsible for the collapse of our financial system, payday lenders provide a fully disclosed, transparent and highly regulated product to working families with the highest customer satisfaction rate of any comparable product,” said CFSA Board Chair D. Lynn DeVault. “We are not an industry trying to hide behind pre-emption, in fact we are highly regulated in the 34 states we do business in. The attorneys general, banking commissioners and legislators in those states monitor our neighborhood stores on a daily basis.”
DeVault continued, “The same interests who brought complex and costly transactions that created havoc for millions of Americans are now trying to create a system of winners and losers that is stacked unfairly in their favor and is a bad deal for the average consumer.”
Not heavyweights
March 10, 2010 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)In a Scripps news story:
Opposing an independent consumer protection agency are industry heavyweights including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Bankers Association and Financial Services Roundtable.
Recent stories about our lobbying efforts are being pushed by so-called consumer groups to make us looking bigger than we are. Obviously, we’re not in the league of the big three mentioned above.
Corker denies “exemption” reports
March 10, 2010 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)A top Republican in U.S. Senate talks on financial regulation reform said on Wednesday there are no special exemptions for particular institutions in a proposed new government financial watchdog agency.
Amid reports that he has pressed in negotiations for special treatment in legislation for payday lenders, Senator Bob Corker said, “There are no carve outs for anybody.”
The first-term Republican also reiterated, in remarks at a conference, that consumer protection should not be allowed to trump supervision of bank safety and soundness — a position Republicans have held consistently through months of debate.
This could be simply about wording as the bill focuses on “systemic risk.” That obviously would exclude payday lending as well as other industries.
