Ann Brown, former Chair of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, recently submitted this Op-Ed to The Hill in support of a CFPA. She says:
As former chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, I know a product when I see one. Mortgages or credit cards may not take up counter space or fit into toy boxes, but make no mistake: These are consumer products. They are marketed, sold and profited upon like any other product, be it a doll or a toaster oven. They can be just as dangerous and they should be regulated just as stringently. This is hardly a radical idea. Indeed my guess is that most Americans already assume that these products are indeed regulated by a dedicated team of experts. They aren’t; but that may change soon. The House of Representatives recently passed legislation creating a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The Senate should do the same.
The logic is simple. Consumers don’t buy a crib for a new baby hoping that the crib is safe. They purchase a crib with the confidence that the crib won’t collapse or that the baby’s head cannot get caught in the crib rails. That confidence is made possible by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which ensures that cribs in the baby store are safe and will recall a crib if it doesn’t meet the standards.
By contrast, when potential home buyers go to see a mortgage broker they are on their own. If they have advanced degrees in finance and hours on end to read the stacks of documents and tiny print that come with a home loan they may catch a bad product before they buy. For most people though, they have no choice but to trust the lender and hope for the best.