The Consumer Side of Financial Reform
You know that the financial regulation bills recently passed by the House and the Senate are targeted primarily toward reforming the way business is done on Wall Street, but how does the passage of these pieces of legislation affect consumers like you? In order to answer this question, we need to first take a look at the two versions of the financial reform bill.
A comparison of the two bills demonstrates that even though both versions of the financial reform bill will create an organization specifically dedicated to the protection of consumer finances, the one passed by the Senate on May 20 will set up a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau within the Federal Reserve to monitor lending practices, while the House version of the legislation will establish a stand-alone Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Moreover, the Senate version of the bill excludes from oversight any small business that does not engage in financial services; the House version of the bill, on the other hand, specifically highlighted real estate brokers and agents, accountants and tax preparers, and auto dealers as those who will not be subject to agency oversight.
Although it is difficult to forecast exactly how the financial overhaul bill will translate in terms of everyday purchases for consumers without a complete reconciliation of the House and Senate versions of the financial reform legislation, there is a myriad of possibilities. For instance, if an addendum to the Senate’s version of the financial overhaul bill, which aims to reduce the fees that merchants pay to process debit card transactions, is included in the final bill, banks that lose revenue as a result could attempt to regain the lost income by adding fees to checking accounts or cutting bank on rewards programs, according to an article by the New York Times. On the other hand, retailers benefiting from the lower debit card costs say that they will use the opportunity to hire more workers and keep their prices in check.
To read more about how the financial reform bill could be affecting consumers, click here. Image courtesy of Flickr.
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