banking industry

For months, Congress has had its eyes on reining in the overdraft fees tacked on by many banks when consumers — often unbeknownest to them — exceed their balances with debit card purchases. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) introduced a consumer protection bill earlier in the year, and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) has vowed to follow [...]

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) will soon unveil legislation to rein in the overdraft fees that banks charge consumers who exceed their balances with debit card purchases, American Banker reported Thursday (subscription required).
The bill is sure to provoke an outcry from the banking industry, which claims the overdraft policy protects consumers by covering [...]

As a quick addition to Mary’s thoughts on yesterday’s Treasury Department report confirming the reluctance of mortgage servicers to modify loans through the administration’s Making Home Affordable program, it’s worth noting that some of the poorest-performing banks are the same institutions that appeared before Congress just a few weeks ago with declarations that they were [...]

Congressional Democrats this week have been publicly incredulous that the credit card industry would have the temerity to raise rates and limit lending in the months before legislation restricting those practices takes hold. Indeed, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who in April asked the Federal Reserve to step in to prevent card issuers from raising rates [...]

The 15 banking CEOs who met with President Obama today in Washington head financial institutions that spent at least $45 million on lobbying in 2008, and gave $21.2 million in political contributions in 2007-2008, according to OpenSecrets.org, the Center for Responsive Politics’ Website that tracks money in politics.

It sure looked last week like allowing bankruptcy judges to modify mortgage loans and keep people in their homes finally was getting somewhere. After two years of opposing any such move, Citigroup announced it was getting on board with the idea, with some limitations. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) praised the bank’s “courage” and predicted others [...]

Now that the government has nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it should step in and modify the mortgage loans of troubled borrowers on a massive scale, consumer advocates say.
Housing Wire reports that advocates are pushing the two mortgage giants to follow the lead of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which is attempting an en [...]