The WSJ has a really sharply-worded attack on the CFPA today and mentions a new Blue Dog Democrat proposal (this is the first I’ve heard of that).
David Evans and Josh Wright have a new paper posted on SSRN on “The Effect of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009 on Consumer Credit.” I think this is the most thorough academic critique of the proposal to date.
Also, about two weeks ago the Chamber of Commerce published an excellent paper by Tom Durkin on the impact of the CFPA on small business access to credit. Because many small businesses use “consumer credit” (such as the owner’s personal credit cards) to start and grow businesses, these small businesses would also be affected by the CFPA.
ohwilleke says:
Since when is the fact that a large share of small businesses are funded with credit cards a good thing? Perhaps the SBA, whose lending is down about 50% in 2008 over 2007, needs to start doing its job.
Furthermore, even if credit card financing of small businesses is good, since when is small business funding with credit cards that use deceptive or unfair practices a good thing?
Then again, a large share of small business funding through credit cards is secured from companies who granted credit in reliance on pre-self-employment income and didn’t volunteer to fund risky business ventures (small business failure rates are around 50%). Perhaps turnabout was fair play.
October 9, 2009, 8:21 pmDavid Evans says:
The answer to your first question is that it depends on whether you think small businesses are a good thing and what you think their alternatives are for getting funding. It turns out that most net new jobs in the economy comes from new businesses and most of those businesses start out small. Get your local dry cleaner out of your head and think of Google circa 1998. Yup, Larry and Sergey used cards. So do lots of other new firms that start tiny but get big. So we probably want to encourage the formation of new businesses. It also turns out whether you like it or not that about half of small businesses rely on consumer credit cards (not the fancy corporate cards from Amex). They do that because its usually the only readily available source of capital they can get. What’s their alternative? Well it isn’t the SBA in real life. They can ask Uncle Joe for a loan but borrowing from family members usually comes back to bite you. They could go the the local bank with a business plan and told to come back when whey actually have a profit. Of course you are right that we don’t want small businesses being screwed by card issuers anymore than we want consumers to be. To my mind we want to get sound consumer protection without collateral damage to the ability of consumers and small businesses borrow. My and Josh’s concern over the CFPA is that will likely lead to a significant reduction in the availability of credit–just when the economy needs credit for job creation and spending.
October 10, 2009, 3:47 pmJohnboy says:
It’s all the about power and control of the peoples money, or in a term “economic slavery”. Rule-making authority left solely to the banks , will lead us further into economic disaster. Try to regulate them by forcing them to play fair and they will dry up the source of funds for lending and prolong the recession. We are at an important turning point in history. Will the greedy rich, (who own the most stock, are CEOs, Directors, etc…who influence the control of banking), do the right thing for the nation, or will they fight to the end for the last dime of the poor and working class?
October 11, 2009, 7:49 amaddy says:
It’s about time we get some real laws in place for credit cards.
October 11, 2009, 12:28 pmHave you ever asked your credit card service rep why your
credit card rate went up, even though you’ve made all your payments
on time? When they run out of excuses you may be told it was for business reasons.
At least that is what CapitalOne likes to tell you while all the execs are
sitting in Martini bars chuckling about their inside joke…’What’s in your wallet’.
dana says:
The CFPA would have authority to determine which products consumers can choose from. In short, the bill would create a regulatory overlay of the entire business community, extending far beyond traditional financial services. We need to take control of consumer choice. How does CFPA affect you? http://www.friendsoftheuschamber.com/issues/index.cfm?ID=469
October 13, 2009, 8:12 pmjason says:
Wrong question. Wrong person to ask it to. Instead you should be asking yourself: How was I provided this marvelous service? Credit cards provide a large, unsecured line of credit, ability to make easy transactions, and insurance on every purchase to boot…free of charge unless you choose to carry a balance. There are costs, too, if you carry a balance (which is strictly voluntary) but where else can you get all of these benefits with no documentation?
We are all still free to use a debit card for purchases, or negotiate a better deal for credit (i.e. a secured loan) if it is needed, or choose not to have a line of credit.
October 15, 2009, 4:11 pmaddy says:
“you should be asking yourself: How was I provided this marvelous service?”
Wrong response. Was I addressing the usefulness of credit cards? Lets.
Easy transactions don’t count, that is a standard not an exclusive feature nowadays and the true credit card is becoming a dinosaur when you consider debit cards, companies like PayPal and electronic checks. Insurance? Soon card companies won’t be able to afford it as much because they won’t have the extra income they’ve been legally robbing from the card holders with the large balances.
Many of the other benefits are either useless, have too many restrictions to be convenient or the benefits cater to specific characteristics of card holders such that the benefits are not likely to be used by too many card holders or will be used infrequently thus rendering them near useless. The unused credits end up in the executives pockets at the end of the year or dare I say their pension given the recent BofA news.
“unless you choose to carry a balance. There are costs, too, if you carry a balance ”
No!?, say it ain’t so! Where is the special land where all the good little spenders pay off their card balances every month? People in my land are having their homes foreclosed on, are unemployed, new grads or college students or just people who are fighting to get out of deep debt before they take permanent drastic measures.
“where else can you get all of these benefits with no documentation?”
Extensive documents are unnecessary when signing the initial forms gives card companies free reign to amend the contract at their own discretion.
Congratulations, here is your new Visa gold card provided by Madoff Investment Securities, LLC.
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March 3, 2010, 5:44 am