Some troubling findings today out of the Woodstock Institute, which examined home lending trends in seven major cities to discover that banks have scaled back prime loans to minority communities at a much quicker clip than they’ve reduced those same loans in predominately white neighborhoods.
The group — in collaboration More…
So says The Washington Post, reporting this morning that, for the sake of passing banking reforms this year, the White House is willing to drop its insistence on a stand-alone consumer protection agency — an idea championed by a number of consumer advocates, including Elizabeth Warren, More…
Bad news for consumer advocates who experienced a flutter of hope this week when Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) swapped Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) — an opponent of creating a consumer financial protection agency — for Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) at the finance reform negotiation table: Corker More…
Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, was asked today whether the administration will insist on the creation of a separate consumer financial protection agency as part of the year’s plans for banking reform. His response should encourage the consumer advocates pushing for that agency.
The president still believes
Ten years ago, Congress dismantled the decades-old Glass-Steagall Act, breaking down the firewalls between commercial banks and securities houses, and helping Wall Street firms grow into the too-big-to-fail institutions that exist now. There’s been a great deal of debate about the extent to which the death More…
The finance industry, seeming to forget that it was responsible for the economic turmoil that’s pushed unemployment above 10 percent, is lobbying furiously (and successfully) against Democratic legislation designed to protect consumers and prevent a similar episode in the future.
Yesterday, industry representatives held More…
Moments ago, Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic proposal to freeze credit card rates on existing balances through the holiday season. The bill, sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), would prevent credit card companies from hiking rates and fees on existing balances until the industry reforms More…
The Federal Reserve’s new opt-in requirement for overdraft protections is progress, according to Democratic finance leaders, but legislation providing further consumer protections is still needed.
“Giving customers the chance to choose whether they want ‘overdraft protection’ is important,” Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said in More…
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 More…
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 More…
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