Where have all the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau funds gone?

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

Help comes from CFPB

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. Using the Federal Register, unifying the following seven federal agencies is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s goal:

• The Federal Reserve Board of Governors is one
• Also involved is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• Federal Trade Commissioned
• The National Credit Union Administration is one of these
• Do not forget about the Officer of the Comptroller of Currency
• Office of Thrift Supervision
• The seventh is the Department of Housing and Urban Development

The primary objective of these agencies has never been customer protection before. The personal bankruptcies could be helped by the CFPB that will help the middle class.

"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."

Support the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

In accordance with the Customer Federation of The United States, the CFPB will play a major role in making sure that customers aren’t abused by such things as subprime charge cards, which bear high rates and fees; financial institution overdraft loans, which have astronomical interest rates; military loan businesses that attempt to operate outside the boundaries of federal regulation requiring a cap of 36 percent Annual Percentage Rate; and the most unscrupulous payday advance loan outlets, where fees can become excessive.

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."

Citations

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