Bailout

Customers will have to opt-in to overdraft protection programs before banks can charge them overdraft fees on debit purchases and ATM withdrawals, according to new finance rules rolled out by the Federal Reserve today. The move marks a sharp departure from current practice, in which many banks silently and automatically enroll their customers into overdraft [...]

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) is set today to unveil legislation overhauling the way the banking industry is regulated. On certain points, the Dodd bill mirrors the wish list outlined by the Obama administration over the summer, including the creation of a new federal agency designed to protect consumers from the increasingly complex world of financial [...]

Senate leaders are trying to “hotline” a bill that would expedite previously passed credit card reforms to prevent companies from hiking rates and fees before the law takes hold, according to sources on Capitol Hill.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has asked members of the Banking Committee for their consent to move the bill directly [...]

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner got an earful last week from House Democrats wary of the White House proposal to pay for government rescues of Wall Street firms by taxing healthy competitors only after Washington steps in. The critics want companies to pre-pay instead into a kind of sitting insurance fund to be used for the [...]

It’s no mystery that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is the ultimate Wall Street insider. But it seems that more and more Democrats are losing their patience with what they perceive as his protectionism of the finance industry at the expense of consumers and taxpayers. The latest to weigh in is Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who [...]

Testifying before House lawmakers yesterday, Sheila Bair, head of  the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, endorsed much of the controversial proposal to grant the White House new powers to take over Wall Street investment firms when their failure threatens the larger financial system.
A timely, orderly resolution process that could be applied to both banks and non-bank [...]

“Mr. Secretary, I’m not a man that fears this administration or you,” Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) told Geithner. “But I do fear the accumulation of power exercised by someone in the future that can be extraordinary.”

As we just noted, Senate Republicans are urging consideration of three amendments on the proposal to extend federal unemployment benefits, but only two are the source of disagreement between the parties.
The first, sponsored by Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), would fund the extension using unspent stimulus money, rather than extending a small surtax on employers, as [...]

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who’s testifying this morning before the House Financial Services Committee on legislation empowering the White House to take over Wall Street firms when their failure threatens the finance system on the whole, just made a curious claim. Asked by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) whether the legislation grants the White House the [...]

Different bill; same concerns.
House Democrats introduced legislation Tuesday granting the White House broad new authority to bail out investment houses and other non-banks when their potential collapse is a threat to the larger financial system. But while the bill goes far beyond a similar White House proposal in terms of protecting taxpayers, Rep. Brad Sherman [...]