Signs are mounting that the second Trump administration will try, like the first iteration, to undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s mission and capacity to safeguard the rights and wallets of families throughout the United States.
A cap on junk fees could have saved consumers billions. Now, opposition from big Wall Street banks is costing consumers $317 each and every second.
Today, Americans for Financial Reform is launching the Wall Street Ripoff Counter that tallies the money consumers have lost since big banks managed to block a new consumer protection limiting credit card late fees in court.
This week, a chapter closed on one of the more outlandish crypto crimes we’ve seen (which is saying a lot for crypto): a couple of internet influencers pulled off a massive crypto heist that fueled their lavish lifestyle, leading to the Department of Justice’s largest asset seizure in history.
“If you mean to stick up for the little guy, and not stick it to the little guy, you don’t pick nominees from industry for agencies that should be protecting the public interest,” said Patrick Woodall, managing director for policy at Americans for Financial Reform.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) finalized two proposals that would bring much-needed transparency to the audit industry to the benefit of investors and the broader public, for example, by requiring disclosure of partner and manager involvement, workload, and other details of individual audit engagements and firm-wide metrics.
“Almost all of the money that was spent in the elections came from a handful of wealthy donors from Silicon Valley,” said [Mark] Hays, [senior policy analyst] with American for Financial Reform. “They did not come from rank-and-file voters.”
Earlier today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized a proposal that brings much needed oversight and supervision to large providers of digital wallets and payment apps, also known as peer-to-peer or P2P apps.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has just gotten approval from the National Futures Association (NFA) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to become the first exchange to buy and sell commodities with and for the same customers who trade on its exchange.
AFR and consumer, community, small business, and farm advocates sent a letter to the House Oversight and Accountability urging them to oppose legislation that aims to privatize federal loan guarantee programs. This measure would be a big win for Wall Street but reduce access, raise costs, and exacerbate racial gaps in homeownership rates, small business formation, and family farm viability.
Pension funds that provide a secure retirement for workers around the country have the potential to help alleviate the nation’s housing crisis by investing directly in efforts to ease the terrible shortage of homes, according to a new report, Investing for the Common Good: How Workers’ Pensions Can Help Solve the Housing Crisis.