Consumer Protection Agency Closer To Reality
On Wednesday of this week, the House Financial Services Committee of the United States Congress voted for a bill to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) by a vote of 39 to 29. The proposed agency, which is part of a larger financial overhaul developed by the Obama Administration and Congress this year, will now move to the full House floor for a vote.
Consumer advocates such as Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, have long advocated for stronger regulatory oversight to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, and abusive financial products and practices.
The proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency would ensure that credit; deposit and payment products and services are offered in a fair, sustainable and transparent manner. The CFPA would also create baseline federal consumer protection standards that would apply whether the product is offered by a big bank, small bank, or non-bank lender or other financial company. States would have powers to create and enforce new consumer protection standards.
As the bill moves to the House floor for a vote, increased efforts are being made by financial industry lobbyists to water it down with more exemptions, weakened powers for examination and enforcement, and more restrictions on the role of states in consumer protection.
Consumers Union applauded the vote and issued a statement that “for years, do-nothing federal bank regulators stood by while risky financial products that triggered the mortgage meltdown grew and flourished. This bill rejects business as usual and creates real oversight of banks and lenders to protect consumers.”
