U.S. PIRG Consumer Blog: Hill/FDIC Leaders On Credit Cards/Military Lending/More

This week, Senator Levin, incoming House Financial Services Chair Barney Frank (D-MA) and Sheila Bair, the new head of the FDIC, all made speeches on important consumer financial issues. The messages were generally very encouraging and reflective of concerns we've been raising for years.

First, over at a conference of the Center for American Progress, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) said his Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations would follow up on the results of its recently-completed GAO study of unfair credit card practices with a series of hearings that would build a record to assist Banking Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) in reform efforts. Levin vowed to "crack down on what he called abusive credit card company practices" and said that "educating consumers about the pitfalls of credit cards will not be enough," (Detroit Free Press) and that the November "vote reflected not only concern about Iraq, but underlying pocketbook concerns of working-class families" (Reuters). "Yesterday might be a good day to mark on the calendar. A new voice [Levin] rose to say that it is time to talk about new regulations on credit cards." Professor Elizabeth Warren's blog).

In a speech at the Consumer Federation of America's Financial Services conference, new FDIC chair Sheila Bair strongly opposed the bankers' call for legislative rollbacks to their inclusion in the tough new protections against predatory lending and usury for military families. [Ira Rheingold's blog entry rebutting military rollback cheerleader Senator Tim Johnson's (D-SD) unbelievable statement: "This time it's military. Who's to say it isn't going to be widows and orphans or other sympathetic groups in the future?"] Any clarifications can be handled through regulation, Bair said, but no one who heard her speak thinks that the bankers will obtain the brazen exceptions they seek in Congress through that necessary fine-tuning regulatory process.

Also at the CFA, incoming House Financial Services Chair Barney Frank (D-MA) outlined his committee's priorities, including reforming predatory mortgage lending and forcing federal banking regulators to improve their consumer protection efforts.