Looks like the CRA's and major CA are about to get oversight

[pipeguy]

Oh I don't trust Washington in any way and I'm kind of a political junkie being in Northern Virginia so I see "them" day in and day out. However, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is not supposed to answer to or be governed by politicians, its supposed to be independent of congressional oversight. Yeah I know, has to be funded, etc, but I can hope can't I ? 

[Anonymous]

This is a GREAT thread!  Thank you so much for sharing this. 

[jdogi]

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@pipeguy wrote:

Oh I don't trust Washington in any way and I'm kind of a political junkie being in Northern Virginia so I see "them" day in and day out. However, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is not supposed to answer to or be governed by politicians, its supposed to be independent of congressional oversight. Yeah I know, has to be funded, etc, but I can hope can't I ? 

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Yes!  And in all honesty I am at least somewhat hopeful that this Richard Cordroy is actually on our side and won't end up in somebody's pocket.  I'll admit, I've never been through anything like some of the horror stories that I've just been reading about (after searching for Equifax LVNV).  I guess, as cynical as I am, I assumed that someone out there was enforcing the laws that already exist.  Seems that isn't the case.  If the CFPB can find a way to punish the criminals, or find a way to stop them, then I'll be quite happy with that.  Just keep the bumbling congress out of it until we can replace them with a body of representatives that are worthy of an approval rating higher that 11%!

I'll admit to being a little confused about how a department that was established and funded by an act of congress, can exist under the umbrella of the supposedly independent Federal Reserve.  I suppose stranger things have happened.

Thanks for pointing me to the LVNV/Equifax debacle, very interesting and revealing.

[pipeguy]

Heh.... Equifax and LVNV are just two of the worst, there are no pure actors here.

I am not holding my breath that the CFPB will fix everything, but they do have in theory the power whereas the FTC "governing" the credit industry really is only a report taker. I know the debt collection trade is concerned, very concerned, about the CFPB supervision and to me that's a good sign. The debt collection industry has its' own wish list for reform which includes proper verification standards and what a true debt validation consists of. On the other hand they also want a federal 7 year SOL for credit card debt, so let's hope they don't get to write the rules.  

[Anonymous]

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@jdogi wrote:

Well, when you put it like that...

...seriously though, I understand that the system has issues.  Obviously something needs to be done to ensure that the law is being followed.  At the same time, it's important that the entire system doesn't get broken.  IMHO, that would be very bad for all but a very small number of people out there.  I would rather see more state AGs take this on rather than handing it to the corrupt politicians that are bought and payed for by the big banks.  Talk about a fox watching the hen house.  It's clear to me that nobody in Washington is working in my best interest, I would much sooner trust my state elected leaders.

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We both agree that the politicians in Washington are bought and paid for.  However, I contend that that is why there is no regulation over this system, not why regulation wouldn't work.  As long as these politicians are bought and paid for, they will not kill the golden goose, which among many other golden geese, is the financial and credit system.

I also disagree with your contention that the local politicians lack the corruption fo the federal ones.  This goes all the way down the chain, even to the level of a local school board.  This is not a federal problem, it is a political problem.  It is a power problem.  It has happened for as long as people have had power.

I will agree with one thing.  Overregulating the credit card companies could cause some people not to get credit at all.  Sometimes, high interest rates and yearly fees, or whatever, are the only reason a person with bad credit becomes a viable customer.  My wife recently got a car loan with 16.5% interest.  That is very high for a car.  If they were limited to how much interest they could charge, we would simply be denied instead in the future.