CFPB may have its funding stripped by House GOPs

Here’s news that will not shock anybody: Elizabeth Warren and the CFPB don’t rank high among the favorite things of House Republicans, writes the Huffington Post. Dodd-Frank Act opponents Majority Whip Eric Cantor, Rep. Bachmann and House Financial Services Chair Spencer Bachus have already voted to cut the Federal Reserve-funded budget of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from $ 143 million to $ 80 million. If the trend continues, the CFPB – which is scheduled to open on July 21, 2011 – will be the only federal financial institution regulator in the U.S. subject to political budget cuts.

CFPB helps customers out a bit

The way that banking has hurt U.S. families is something that has been studied by Harvard Law Prof. Elizabeth Warren who helped co-author the book "Two-Income Trap." It seems the middle class is slowly dropping down to the poor classes. In order to make up for lost salaries and to pay bills, these families have to borrow. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s goal is to unify the following seven federal agencies, per the Federal Register:

• Federal Reserve Board of Governors
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• This includes the Federal Trade Commissioned
• Next is the National Credit Union Administration
• Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
• Office of Thrift Supervision
• Last is the Department of Housing and Urban Development

Customer protection hasn't been a goal of these agencies. Now it’s the primary focus. The reason of the CFPB is to serve the middle class. The personal bankruptcies can be focused on.

"The numbers are sobering," Warren said at a Feb. 23 Chicago lecture. "Since the late 1970s, (personal) bankruptcy filings have doubled and doubled again. Women have been hit particularly hard. Over the course of 20 years, the number of women filing bankruptcy petitions increased by 662 percent. By the early 2000s, a woman was more likely to file for bankruptcy than to graduate from college."

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs support

Things for instance credit cards with high interest rates, financial institution overdraft loans which have high rates of interest, military loan businesses that try to get over the 36 percent Annual Percentage Rate cap that is federally mandates, and payday advance loan outlets with additional fees can be protected against with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau , states the Consumer Federation of The United States.

What is being done with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is something that consumers should be paying attention to, states John Wasik who writes for Reuters.

"I believe everyone with a credit card, bank loan or savings account needs to back Warren now," writes Wasik. "Contact your senators and congressmen and urge them to leave the bureau's funding alone, which is tied directly to the budget of the Federal Reserve."

Information from

Consumer Federation of America

consumerfed.org/pdfs/PR-CFA-CFPB-6-months.pdf

Federal Register

edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-23487.pdf

Huffington Post

huffingtonpost.com/ed-mierzwinski/iin-the-public-interesti_b_829659.html

Reuters

blogs.reuters.com/prism-money/2011/02/28/why-elizabeth-warren-needs-your-help-to-police-the-banks/

‘I’m not here to support criminal schemes,’ said Rep. Maxine Waters

youtube.com/watch?v=TUVxcNxULyU