H.R. 2570 would open the door to predatory mortgage lending by making it easier for lenders to steer homeowners into high-cost, abusive deals on certain mortgages, especially on home equity lines of credit and construction loans
Disguised as a regulatory relief for small businesses, this legislation would exempt from registration requirements merger and acquisition brokers of transactions involving quite large privately held companies, while opening a deregulatory window of opportunity for private equity firms to exploit.
On Friday, Senate Republicans passed a bill with some $1.5 trillion in tax cuts, overwhelmingly weighted to the wealthiest Americans. The bill lavishes tax cuts on Wall Street banks, on executives who can manipulate their legal status to obtain a lower tax rate, and on operations in foreign tax havens. In contrast, ordinary Americans earning wages and salaries receive very limited benefits, and in many cases will see their taxes increased.
In the meantime, the CFPB still has work to do holding Wall Street to account on behalf of American consumers, and Ms. English and the CFPB staff can continue its successful run. Now, the president should nominate someone with a track record of fighting for consumers who will enjoy bipartisan support in the Senate.
Mulvaney has said he is opposed to the very existence of the CFPB, and as a member of Congress he voted in favor of Wall Street banks and predatory lenders — his largest donors — again and again. The CFPB has recovered $12 billion in ill-gotten gains on behalf people around this country. It is this work that the administration apparently wants to destroy
Congress should abandon budget rider proposal that would eliminate independent funding for the CFPB and other poison pills.
The Take on Wall Street campaign denounces the passage of a tax bill in the House of Representatives that would give Wall Street and the 1% over $1 trillion in tax breaks while leaving many middle-income Americans paying higher taxes, increasing the public deficit, and leading to deep cuts in important public services.
Congress ought to be passing robust new consumer protections, not doing favors for banks. Annual industry earnings by banks set a new record in 2016, and community banks saw even faster growth than big banks. Over 95 percent of community banks turned a profit last year.
The hack may even have been a boon to the bottom line of credit reporting companies, which charge consumers to freeze their credit report or monitor their credit, even though consumers are seeking these protections due to this massive breach.
But the question is, what will Congress do after a hearing on data breaches? Will they act to restore our right to control information about our own lives, and protect our privacy, or will they let Equifax and other data brokers turn the problems they caused into an excuse for undermining existing state laws with a sham weaker federal standard that replaces them? Will they restrict access to the courts?