Instead of raising revenue by adding new fees, why not focus on raising revenue by creating real, tangible incentives for customers to do more of their financial business with one institution?
We at the FDIC continue to believe the small-dollar loan model is replicable and that these loans can be cost-effective and responsive to the needs of both consumers and bankers.
Banks are entitled to a profit. Customers are entitled to value for their money. Financial products can be designed, marketed and priced to satisfy both parties' needs.
We finally have a regulator with no mandate to preserve banks' image. To protect consumers, the CFPB must assure that those who cheat them are punished. New rules won't help if we don't enforce the old ones.
If a bank doesn't disclose what it's not charging, someone might assume it is charging that fee without disclosing. Pew Charitable Trusts made that assumption, and says consumers could too.
We need a system in which credit bureaus are required to sell consumer data at a uniform price to any company with permission to access it, instead of pricing out perceived competitive threats or withholding the information.
Many so-called consumer advocates doubt consumers can make responsible decisions about credit and believe they should be "protected" from certain financial products. We did not sense this sort of patronizing viewpoint from the new agency.
Financial institutions and technology companies are working hard to bring location-based advertising to life, but research in psychology suggests those same offers may be draining a limited resource: our willpower.
"I wouldn't want to be buying a foreclosure, then have the title examiner find that a robo-signer had participated in the process," says Massachusetts' register of deeds.
