The Consumer Federation of America today cited the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the financial problems it caused as a reason for a new agency to regulate financial products and other pro-consumer actions.
Abusive lending and shady financial practices by financial firms caused millions to lose their jobs, foreclosures to soar, home values to tank, and retirement and college savings to disappear," said Travis Plunkett, CFA's legislative director. "And yet, many of the same institutions that helped cause the financial meltdown are shamelessly trying to kill the President's proposal to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency."
Plunkett cited the results of the group's recent survey which showed that 59% of respondents favored creation of the agency. The survey also found that 89% of respondents favor a requirement for banks to disclose all mortgage fees upfront," clearly and conspicuously," and 85% want banks to be required to disclose, on the ATM machine, when a withdrawal will overdraw an account so that they can avoid the overdraft and the exorbitant fees that go with it.
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He also noted that that 71% of the respondents wanted to require banks to gain the permission of customers before routinely providing loans to cover these overdrafts.
Lawmakers will be taking up measures on these subjects in the weeks ahead. CUNA and NAFCU both are pushing to limit the scope of the new agency so that it won't increase the regulatory burden on credit unions. The groups also say they want to strike a balance on the other issues that provides information to consumers but doesn't add to the regulatory burden of credit unions.
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