senate banking committee

Attempting to fix a problem that his panel helped create, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) will introduce legislation today to prevent credit card companies from hiking rates on existing balances. Although Congress passed sweeping credit card reforms earlier in the year — including a ban on retroactive rate hikes — the banking lobby [...]

On Monday, it was Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) unveiling legislation to rein in overdraft fees. Today it’s Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.) doing the same.
Both bills would require banks to get customer consent before enrolling them in the overdraft protection program; both would cap the number of overdraft fees at six [...]

Democrats on Capitol Hill were all cheers when they passed first-of-its-kind credit card reform earlier in the year — only to become publicly indignant when the card companies began hiking rates and fees in advance of those changes taking hold.
So after some Democrats initially delayed the implementation date until next year — a naked bow [...]

Enacted as part of February’s economic stimulus bill, the popular $8,000 tax credit for new homebuyers expires Nov. 30, prompting calls among some lawmakers to extend it for the sake of struggling consumers and a sputtering housing market.
Those calls gained some volume this morning in the Senate Banking Committee, where Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) reiterated [...]

He’s been threatening to do it for weeks, and today Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) made good on his vow to push legislation reining in the overdraft charges that hit consumers who exceed their balances when making debit card purchases. Those fees — which average upwards of $30 a pop — have evolved into an [...]

By 35 percent in just two years, according to a report released today by the Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer advocacy group. Those overdraft fees — applied when consumers exceed account balances when making debit card purchases — generated $23.7 billion in 2008, up from $17.5 billion in 2006, CRL found. For context, Americans [...]

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 [...]

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) — the notorious budget hawk who almost became President Obama’s Commerce Secretary — has accepted a spot on the powerful Banking Committee just as discussions are heating up over legislation (not yet unveiled) to reform the finance industry. The seat was vacated by former Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), who retired last [...]

The 10 members of the panel named by Congress to investigate the causes of last year’s economic implosion appear to be wrestling with their role in this year’s push for financial industry regulatory reform, judging from their statements at today’s first hearing.
Brooksley Born, who fought unsuccessfully to regulate derivatives during her years at the helm [...]

When the news broke that they’d received special deals on loans furnished by Countrywide Financial Corp., Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) both denied wrongdoing, saying they had no idea they’d gotten preferential treatment. Today, The Associated Press reports a different version of the tale, citing statements from a Countrywide employee claiming that [...]