From whitehouse.gov:
Today, we are taking the next step in President Obama’s historic push for the strongest consumer protections in America’s history. As the President called for in February, the Department of Labor is proposing to update rules to protect Americans saving for retirement and crack down on conflicts of interest in retirement advice that are costing middle-class and working families billions of dollars every year.
The President takes a backseat to no one when it comes to strengthening consumer protections. That’s why he fought to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an independent watchdog that has already enhanced safeguards across mortgage, credit card, debt collection, and student loan servicing markets, while putting more than $5 billion back in the pockets of more than 15 million wronged consumers through enforcement actions. Recently, the CFPB took an important step toward cracking down on abusive practices in payday lending, yet another example of how this critical consumer watchdog is delivering for the American people.
The Department of Labor’s proposed rule adds to those protections, by reflecting a simple, commonsense principle: Retirement advisers should put their clients first and give advice that is in their clients’ best interest.
(my bold)
https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
That lines up with the CFPB's own report from July of last year:
CFPB ENFORCEMENT AND SUPERVISION BY THE NUMBERS
• $4.6 Billion: Money ordered in relief to consumers by CFPB enforcement actions
• 15 Million: Consumers who will receive relief because of CFPB enforcement actions
• $150 Million: Money ordered to be paid in civil penalties as a result of CFPB enforcement actions
• $75 Million: Monetary relief provided to consumers as a result of CFPB supervisory actions
• 775,000: Consumers who will receive remediation because of CFPB supervisory actions
http://files.consumerfinance.gov/...
Not too shabby. Also nice to see the updated protections for retirement savings. On the very same day, no less, that Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said in a speech that Social Security needs to be overhauled (read gutted):
http://news.yahoo.com/...
Update 1:
More CFPB news today, from consumerist.com:
For many low-income consumers, tax time provides an opportunity to catch up on bills and get back on track financially. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous companies out there that aim to make money of these same consumers by pointing them in the direction of high-cost tax-refund-anticipation loans. That appears to be the case for the owner of New Mexico-based H&R Block franchises and a tax-time loan company operating an alleged illegal tax-refund scheme.
The CFPB and the Navajo Nation filed charges against Jeffrey Scott Thomas and his company, J. Thomas Development of NM Inc., as well as Dennis Gonzalez and his loan company S/W Tax Loans (Southwest) for allegedly participating in a scam to steer low-income consumers into expensive and risky tax-refund-anticipation loans in which the defendants collected fees and interest to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
http://consumerist.com/...
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