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Can the Community talk louder than Wall Street?
CFPB/Cornell's plan for community input on consumer protection laws:
Good start, but will the community be heard?
The Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform bill of 2010 was passed in response to the 2008 financial crisis. It was meant to rewrite some rules on Wall Street to limit risky behaviors, particularly with federally-insured deposits; deter future bail-outs; limit mega mergers of financial institutions, and provide consumer protections against any predatory practices of lenders and servicers of debt, including mortgages, refinances, and credit cards. But as with so many good reforms, powerful interests threaten to undo or delay much of the bill. We are greatly disturbed by the stalled implementation of key aspects of Dodd-Frank, especially the Volcker rule which, two years later, has yet to be written, much less enforced. The Volcker Rule is designed to prevent another 2008 financial crisis and bailout. What should be a common-sense rule is being overturned by industry lobbyists and politicians on both sides of the aisle who want to weaken it or kill it entirely. So we are cautiously optimistic about the new partnership between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Cornell University's "Regulation Room" to bring more people into the rule-making process to implement the new consumer protection laws governed by the CFPB. The new partnership was recently rolled out (http://www.consumerfinance.gov/blog/your-chance-to-weigh-in-on-mortgage-servicing/) so that consumers can more easily weigh in on proposed rules - starting with mortgage servicing rules - with access to the process via plain-language explanations and links to more detailed information. They can easily submit comments and questions and receive a response from a trained moderator who will clarify the comments so they are most impactful and meaningful. At the end of this process, the moderators will consolidate and summarize all comments and submit one document to the CFPB. This is an excellent tool to reach more people so the new rules respond to real-life experiences. But we also know that comments alone are not enough; intense lobbying and court actions by Wall Street to weaken aspects of Dodd Frank have already demonstrated that. The community needs a similar strategy - official comments must be coupled with good organizing so that, through collective strategy and action, the same people have the same opportunity to interact with and influence the decision-makers and ensure that their voices are truly heard.