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Reining in Wall Street Updates

Professor's paper on "Industry's Misguided Quest to Undermine the CFPB"

Thursday, January 12, 2012
By | Ed Mierzwinski
Consumer Program Director

Last fall, U.S. PIRG co-hosted, with Americans for Financial Reform and the Consumer Federation of America, an academic symposium featuring a discussion of a forthcoming paper by Professor Art Wilmarth of George Washington University Law School,  perhaps the nation's leading bank law scholar. I am pleased to report that a close-to-final draft of Professor Wilmarth's paper -- “The Financial Services Industry’s Misguided Quest to Undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- is now available for review at the AFR website and will be published in the Spring 2012 issue of the Review of Banking and Financial Law at Boston University Law School.

Media Hit | Higher Ed

CNN: Consumer Bureau: Now, It Can Do Something

Rich Williams, a higher education advocate for U.S. Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG) said he's looking forward to the consumer bureau's work with student loans, as well as credit cards and debit cards issued on campus. With a director, the bureau can now set rules of the road for all providers of student loans, not just those issued by banks.

Obama's New Consumer Finance Chief Can Lower Student Debt

Thursday, January 5, 2012
By | Rich Williams
Higher Education Advocate

President Obama took a bold and important step this week, standing up for student consumers by making a recess appointment of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The president's action means that the CFPB now has all its powers to protect students from unfair financial practices that pile on student debt, including lenders offering dangerously expensive private student loans and aggressive credit and debit card marketing.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

U.S. PIRG Applauds President For “Bold and Important” Recess Appointment of Richard Cordray To Head New Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

President Obama is taking a bold and important step to protect consumers from financial tricks and traps by announcing a recess appointment of his well-qualified nominee, Richard Cordray, to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Higher Ed

New Consumer Finance Chief Can Lower Student Debt

President Obama is taking a bold step to protect student consumers from financial tricks and traps by announcing a recess appointment of his well-qualified nominee, Richard Cordray, to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Media Hit | Financial Reform

LA Times: Richard Cordray Appointment 'Turns Lights On' at Consumer Bureau

"Congress wanted the bureau to protect consumers no matter where they shopped for financial products," said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. "With a director, the public can now have confidence the consumer bureau is ready, willing and able to investigate their financial problems."

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

U.S. PIRG Disappointed Senate Blocks Confirmation of Rich Cordray To Head CFPB, Says “Constituents can ask opponents why.”

Today, despite strong support from diverse organizations and leaders seeking to protect consumers, veterans, students and older Americans from financial tricks and traps, the Senate failed to confirm the well-qualified nominee, Rich Cordray, to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

U.S. PIRG Ratchets Up Support for Confirmation of Rich Cordray to Head CFPB

With a Senate vote on confirmation of former Ohio Attorney General Rich Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau expected tomorrow, U.S. PIRG ratcheted up its efforts to urge Senators to support confirmation. The group announced that it is urging its members in every state to contact Senators and running radio ads in several states.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

Changes Gut Consumer Protections, Protect Wall Street

The House Financial Services Committee simultaneously approved an industry-friendly rollback of consumer financial and product safety protections. The approved bill eliminates the independence of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) while also preventing the Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) new public information database from informing the public about product hazards.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Financial Reform

OCC Again Chooses Interests of Banks Over Consumers and States

A broad coalition of more than 250 consumer advocacy and civil rights groups are protesting yesterday’s announcement by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) that it will largely ignore a key mandate of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act passed by Congress last year in response to the financial scandals that brought on the nation’s worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Instead, the OCC will continue to give national banks a blank check to violate state rules against unfair and predatory practices.

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