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Posts Tagged ‘Elizabeth Warren’

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Sheriff Elizabeth Warren

August 20th, 2010 by Sally Brzozowski

With the financial reform bill behind us, we’ve moved onto a new challenge: making sure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is as strong as possible and is led by a great consumer advocate.

Professor Warren has been fighting on behalf of consumers for decades, and her dedication to the cause coupled with her experience, her independence, and her efficiency make her the best person to lead the CFPB.

The big banks are dipping into their wallets once again to fuel the fight against her nomination as CFPB director.  They know that with Elizabeth Warren in charge, the CFPB will be strong, and will actually fight to protect consumers.  This just serves as further proof as to why we have to make sure Professor Warren becomes the first CFPB director.

Consumer advocacy groups are coming together to ask President Obama to nominate Elizabeth Warren as soon as possible.  To raise your voice about this issue, sign our petition here or write to the President and your Senators here.

Support for Elizabeth Warren comes in many forms, including this Western-themed rap from our friends at the Main Street Brigade.  Enjoy, share, and pass it on: We need Sheriff Warren in DC!

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Posted in Consumer Financial Protection Agency | No Comments »

Payday Lending in the New Financial Reform Law

August 9th, 2010 by Sarah Byrnes

As you know, after a mammoth battle with the banks, on July 21 President Obama signed the financial reform bill into law.

You can read a big picture overview of what the bill accomplishes in this previous post, find more details about the great new mortgage reforms here, and read info about the unfortunate and unfair car dealer exemption here.

Next up:  payday loans.  These are nasty, short-term loans designed to trap borrowers in a long-term cycle of debt.  They have traditionally been regulated at the state level.  Fifteen states plus DC currently outlaw them, but other states haven’t taken enough action to protect their citizens from these usurious debt traps.  (A special shout out to Illinois and Wisconsin, which recently passed new legislation limiting payday lending in their states.)

Now, the CFPB will have jurisdiction over payday lenders – hooray!   (more…)

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Posted in Consumer Financial Protection Agency, Payday Lending | 4 Comments »

Car Buyer Protections Still Up in the Air

June 24th, 2010 by Sarah Byrnes

Today is the sixth day of substantive debate by the Congressional Conference Committee discussing financial reform (see its members here).  Consumer protections were discussed on Tuesday, but decisions were postponed.

AFR produced this list of outstanding questions regarding the Consumer Protection Bureau.  At issue, still, is whether auto dealers will be covered by the CFPA.  We’ve long argued that car dealers – when they make loans – are lenders.  It’s pretty simple, really.  They shouldn’t get a special exemption from the rules, no matter how much clout they have on Capitol Hill.

Because there’s no decision yet, there’s still time to sign this petition asking Congress to oversee car dealers.  For more explanation and inspiration, check out Professor Elizabeth Warren on Fox Business News here or below.

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Posted in Car Financing, Consumer Financial Protection Agency | No Comments »

Exploding Toasters and How to Change the System

April 8th, 2010 by Sally Brzozowski

On Tuesday, we hosted a successful webinar with Professor Elizabeth Warren and AFR Director Heather Booth.  Thanks to everyone who was able to join us for this exciting online event!  We had a great conversation and had tons of thoughtful questions asked by the audience.  We’d like to continue that discussion online.  If you have remaining questions, feel free to post them in the comments section of this post or in the discussion section of our Facebook page.

If you missed it or would like to share the webinar with your friends, you can click here for a recording.

As Professor Warren and Heather Booth emphasized, we can’t win this fight without everyone’s help.  The big banks will always be able to outspend consumers, so it’s up to us to make sure our voices are heard as the Senate considers financial reform legislation.  Use your words to make a difference by taking action today:

  1. Write to your Senators and ask them to strengthen the financial reform bill in the Senate.
  2. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper about the need for financial reform.  (Use this letter for talking points.)  Click here for contact information for media in your area.
  3. Sign our petition on Change.org.

(Don’t forget that you can also find us on Facebook and Twitter!)

(Photo: bixentro)

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Posted in Consumer Financial Protection Agency | 5 Comments »

Financial Reform 101 with Prof. Elizabeth Warren

March 29th, 2010 by Sally Brzozowski

AFFIL and AFR are hosting a special discussion with Professor Elizabeth Warren and AFR Director Heather Booth on Tuesday, April 6th from 4:00-4:45 pm EDT. It will focus on where we stand in the movement for financial reform, and how consumers can get involved in the fight to rein in the big banks and get the economy back on track.  We hope you can join us!

Click here to register.

* Find out about reform efforts in Congress—including the Senate bill currently being debated, and the House bill which passed in December
* Learn why we need a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to protect us from abusive financial products
* Ask Professor Warren and Heather Booth your question about financial reform
* Hear about ways to join the fight around the country and online

Space is limited so sign up now!

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Posted in Consumer Financial Protection Agency | 3 Comments »

The “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010″

March 17th, 2010 by Sarah Byrnes

After months of anticipation, Senator Dodd released his proposal to reform the nation’s financial structure this week.  The bill would create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, but that agency would be housed at the Federal Reserve instead of being independent.

Our Partners at AFR hope the bill gets stronger as it makes its way through the Senate.  As Professor Warren puts it, “We’re now heading toward a series of votes in which the choice will be clear: families or banks.”

Here’s more of what AFR thinks of the proposal:

“While we appreciate Chairman Dodd’s work, we remain concerned about aspects of the bill and believe that it must be strengthened as it moves through the legislative process. One of our key concerns is the independence of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). A strong and independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency must be the cornerstone of any meaningful reform. (more…)

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Posted in Consumer Financial Protection Agency | 1 Comment »

Elizabeth Warren: What part of ‘we bailed you out’ don’t you get?

January 29th, 2010 by Sally Brzozowski

Professor Elizabeth Warren was back on the Daily Show on Tuesday night to speak to host Jon Stewart about the dire need for financial reform in order to preserve the middle class and America’s financial security. 

Warren, who has served as the TARP oversight chair since November 2008, said that real reform is being held up by the big banks, and if the decision is left to these CEOs, “Nothing, nothing will change. You know, I want to turn to these guys sometimes, and I want to say: what part of ‘we bailed you out’ do you not get? These are people who would not have their jobs because they would not have their companies.”


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Posted in Consumer Financial Protection Agency | 1 Comment »

NOW on PBS: Elizabeth Warren on the Economy

November 16th, 2009 by Sarah Byrnes

What exactly is going on with the economy? Stocks are up and big bonuses are back, but while they’re throwing parties on Wall Street, there’s pain on Main Street. One out of every six workers is unemployed or underemployed, according to government statistics – the highest figure since the Great Depression.

This week NOW gets answers and insight from Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren, who’s been heading up the congressional panel overseeing how the bailout money is being spent. Watch below!

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Posted in Credit Cards | 1 Comment »

Warren: “What I hate are banks that cheat people.”

November 3rd, 2009 by Sally Brzozowski

That was Elizabeth Warren’s response to a critic who claimed that she must hate banks, according to a recent article in the Boston Globe.

The article provides biographical context through which to understand Warren’s rise as a consumer advocate.  She says that her involvement in consumer financial issues is linked to her personal experience, in which a simple mistake, compounded with an anti-consumer system, made it difficult for everyday Americans to regain financial stability.

Elizabeth Warren’s recent work has been in support of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, an endeavor that AFFIL supports.  This consumer agency would regulate lending products and financial tools, from credit cards to mortgages to student loans.  To find out more about the proposed CFPA, click here.

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Posted in Consumer Financial Protection Agency | No Comments »

Lessons from October 29, 1929

October 29th, 2009 by Sally Brzozowski

Eighty years ago today, Wall Street experienced its worst day in history.  The events of October 29, 1929 helped drag the United States into the Great Depression that led to a vast number of bank closures, foreclosures, and widespread unemployment.

Two generations later, have we learned from our mistakes?  Today’s Huffington Post has an article courtesy of the New Deal 2.0, the Roosevelt Institute’s economy blog, that poses this question to politicians, economists, lawyers, historians and more.  You can see all their responses here.

Elizabeth Warren contributed her opinion on the matter.  Here’s her final paragraph:

“The banking lobby is as powerful and deeply entrenched as ever, but it was powerful in the 1930s, too.  Nonetheless, the New Dealers learned the Great Lesson: Powerful insiders cannot be permitted to write the rules, and prosperity and security depend on a playing field that supports a vibrant middle class.  Today, we face a similar set of questions as we faced then.  Will the institutions that created the middle class continue calling the shots and writing the rules, or will Washington take the side of families?  Have we learned the Great Lesson?”

(Photo: onohoku)

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Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

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