Sheila Bair, the Bush-appointed chairman of the FDIC, has stepped down. Her tenure ends today and to fill her shoes: Martin Gruenberg, “her low-profile successor.”

According to CNN Money, “Gruenberg enjoys wide support from both industry and consumer advocates.”

With the announcement last week of the CFPB’s “Know Before You Owe” campaign, one of the main concerns that has been circulating in the financial services marketplace is whether the new agency should involve the public in its decision making. Elizabeth Warren explains the CFPB’s ‘know before you owe’ mortgage document initiative to CNN’s Ali Velshi.

CNN has a story: “What Consumer Advocates Want From Obama.” 

Here are some other issues he {Consumers Union spokesperson} says need attention:

• Consumers need effective regulation of financial-services products, including an agency independent of banks to protect consumers. This regulation would focus on products like mortgages, payday loans and annuities. Watch Ali Velshi on what Obama should do first »

• Make credit products agreements easier to understand and appropriate for the consumer. End “gotcha” fees and interest-rate spikes. Recently, the Federal Reserve ordered a crackdown on some controversial credit card practices, but those changes won’t take effect until 2010. Butler says that’s too long. His organization wants these changes take effect within three months.

For the most part, payday lenders are on the same page.  No service has more transparency than a payday loan.   Another government agency, though?  Won’t that tread on the traditional role of states in regulating consumer lending?    

This CNN report from yesterday points out that homes have lost $2 trillion in value.  The impact on the credit markets must be enormous as people’s ability to access home equity loans must be decreased by the same amount.  From the story: 

The real estate Web site Zillow.com calculated that home values have dropped 8.4% year-over-year during the first three quarters of 2008, compared with the same period of 2007.

Some 11.7 million Americans are now “underwater,” owing more on their mortgage balances than their homes are worth.

An interesting piece on Customer Service Agents at credit card companies is up on CNN.com right now.

These former CSA’s allege that they were told to push people to take out more credit than they needed and rushed through the details.

CFSA member companies are required to post in large print and explain to customers the terms of each loan they make.  Why aren’t credit card companies held to more stringent measures?  Afterall, credit history is becoming more and more important in the US.

CNN Money lists the Best (and worst) ways to raise fast cash.  Of course, they list payday lending as the last option…even below liquidating your 401K and taking a cash advance on a credit card.  With a bit of education, the folks at CNN Money would recognize that paying a flat fee of $15-$17 per $100 for a payday loan is much better than many of the options they listed.