“People in the US send more than $400 billion in remittances each year, hard earned dollars that are crucial for their families overseas. We applaud the CFPB for a rule that will provide clarity and confidence for consumers. This rule lets people compare prices and shop for the best service, and defend remittance senders’ rights if companies do not fulfill their obligations or if money is not delivered as promised.”
“The final rules on swaps dealer business conduct approved by the CFTC today represent a significant weakening of the Commission’s initial proposed rules in this area. The Dodd-Frank Act created a significant set of new protections for public entities and pension funds in the derivatives markets. These rules, unlike the initial proposal, are simply not sufficient to fully implement the Dodd-Frank protections.”
Consumers won today when President Obama defied Wall Street interests to make a recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. President Obama stood with consumers and families in making this crucial decision.
With this morning’s vote on General Cordray’s nomination to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Senators faced a choice. Would they stand up for fair rules of the road in the consumer financial marketplace, or would they side with the big Wall Street banks, and the bottom feeders in the lending industry?
Unfortunately, 45 Senators chose the latter. With unemployment still above 8.5%, and millions of foreclosures devastating families and communities, they chose to defend the status quo that allowed the deceptive and abusive lending at the heart of the financial crisis to flourish. With people struggling to make ends meet in hard times, they chose to protect payday lenders making 300% ‘debt trap’ loans. Now they are on the record. We do not think their constituents will be pleased.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 7, 2011 For Interviews: John Carey at 202-466-1854 or john@ourfinancialsecurity.org Updated: 200 Organizations sign on to letter in support of Cordray nomination. National, State, and Local Organizations Call On U.S. Senators to Protect Consumers. *A Letter of support for General Cordray’s
An overwhelming majority of Americans—Republican, Democratic, and Independent—favor strong, sensible oversight of the financial services industry, including a strong and independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the poll finds.
As early as today, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the “Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) of 2011” (H.R. 3010) and the “Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act” (H.R. 527). The “Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2011” (H.R. 10) is expected to come to the House floor for a vote early next week. All three of these bills attempt to grind the rulemaking process to a halt, thereby placing corporate interests ahead of public health, safety, environmental protection and a secure economy.
“I want to draw attention to one of the biggest financial issues facing seniors and this country today – elder financial abuse and exploitation. Whether you call it a hidden epidemic or the Crime of the 21st Century, as some have, it is a serious problem that we need to address. The numbers paint a sobering picture. According to a study by the MetLife Mature Market Institute, Americans over the age of 65 lost more than $2.9 billion to financial abuse and exploitation in 2010, a 12 percent increase from the $2.6 billion estimated in 2008. …More disturbing is the $2.9 billion the MetLife study estimated represents only a fraction of all instances of financial exploitation against older Americans because elder financial abuse and exploitation is underreported.”
“News reports indicate that House-Senate conference committee is cutting the administration’s $308 million budget request for the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) by one-third, to $205.3 million, a near funding freeze. This leaves the agency without the funding it needs to do its job and will make it impossible to implement key aspects of financial reform. This is not just a budget question: this is a question of whether Washington is serious about bringing oversight and reform to Wall Street at all.”
We applaud Senator Johnson for holding this important hearing. In 2006, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a “Report on Predatory Lending Practices Directed at Members of the Armed Forces and Their Dependents”, which concluded that “predatory lending undermines military readiness, harms the morale of troops and their families, and adds to the cost of fielding an all volunteer fighting force.” In surveys conducted by DoD last year, personal finances ranked second on the list of causes of stress for servicemembers, second only to career concerns. Financial problems are now the top cause of revocation of military security clearances.