Consumer Financial Protection

In response to the serious crisis in our financial markets, Congress is working on reforms to ensure there is adequate regulation of banks and other financial institutions.  I believe that one essential part of this regulatory reform must be protection for ordinary people who are the consumers of financial products such as mortgages, credit cards and loans.

The financial crisis has made clear that risky financial products pose a great danger to millions of American families and to our economy as a whole.

I was an original co-sponsor of the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights (H.R. 627).   The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights protects cardholders against arbitrary interest rate increases, excessive fees, due-date gimmicks and double-cycle billing.  The legislation also cracks down on misleading and deceptive marketing by credit card companies, prohibits them from issuing credit cards to minors, and curbs practices that result in high fees on low-income consumers with weak credit histories.  In addition, the bill empowers cardholders by giving them information and rights they need to make important financial decisions.

I also support the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which would protect Americans from risky, complicated products like exotic mortgages and from hidden and predatory fees imposed by credit card companies and payday lenders.

Appropriate regulation and enforcement of safeguards against risky financial products is helpful at a time when families steered into risky subprime mortgages are losing their homes to foreclosure, exorbitant interest rates and excessive credit card fees are driving consumers further into debt, and scam artists like Bernie Madoff are robbing hard-working people of their life savings.

The Consumer Financial Protection Agency would assist average Americans with important financial decisions – purchasing a home without being tricked into a faulty loan, choosing a credit card without being confused by the fine print, and gaining access to credit without being swindled.