Consumer Law & Policy Blog

DNC Chair Wasserman Shultz wants to derail CFPB's efforts to regulate payday lenders

According to this article by Zach Carter, "Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) ... is co-sponsoring a new bill that would gut the [Consumer Financial Protection Bureaus's] forthcoming payday loan regulations. She's also attempting to gin up Democratic support for the legislation on Capitol Hill[.]" Here's an excerpt:

The misleadingly titled Consumer Protection and Choice Act would delay the CFPB's payday lending rules by two years, and nullify its rules in any state with a payday lending law like the one adopted in Florida. The memo being passed around by Wasserman Schultz staffers describes the Florida state law as a "model" for consumer laws on payday loans, and says the CFPB should "adjust their payday lending rules to take into account actions Florida has already taken." Consumer groups are appalled by the bill. The Consumer Federation of America, the NAACP, The National Consumer Law Center, The National Council of La Raza, The Southern Poverty Law Center and hundreds of others wrote a letter to every member of Congress in December urging them to oppose the legislation. 

Go here for more reporting on the topic.

Troubling report on financial adviser misconduct

The Post reports:

Some 7 percent of advisers have been disciplined for misconduct, according to a working paper released this week by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Misconduct included selling clients investments that weren’t suitable or not consulting with them before making trades and other investment decisions.

And contrary to what some investors might expect, rates of misconduct are much higher at some of the largest financial advisory firms.

Read the story here, and the paper ("The Market for Financial Adviser Misconduct") here.

Miami Beach, on the front lines of climate change

CNN published this week an interview with Miami Beach's "chief resiliency officer" about the threat. Prefacing the discussion, the interviewer notes of the city, "a 90,000-person island municipality off the coast of Miami proper," that "At even 2 to 4 feet of sea level rise, the island will be considerably flooded. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says 6 feet of sea level increase is possible by century's end."

Read the interview here.

 

Home loans and race in California

A recent report by the Greenlining Institute and the Urban Strategies Council, "Locked Out of the Market: Poor Access to Home Loans for Californians of Color," highlights the stark disparities between whites borrowers and borrowers of color when it comes to access to home loans. Among the report's findings:

-In 2013, Hispanics were nearly 40% of CA’s residents yet received just about 9 percent of all the mortgage dollars lent in CA. They submitted 15.5 percent of applications.
-African American were 6% of CA residents in 2013 yet submitted just under 3% of loan applications and walked away with below 2% of the total mortgage dollars lent in CA.
-Whites exceeded their 40% share of CA residents by double digits submitting 62% of all applications and receiving just below 59% of all dollars lent in CA.

The report studied loans in Southern California, Northern California, and the state's Central Valley.

Read it here.