Congress appears to think the U.S. economy has improved so much that it’s time to turn the screws on American households.
Convinced that consumers and household borrowers needed more protection from the financial industry in the aftermath of the financial crisis, Congress and the Obama administration restricted the use of so-called “gotcha” credit card fees and created a new federal agency devoted to protecting consumers from unscrupulous financial companies.
But with the U.S. economic expansion in its seventh year and the unemployment rate poised to drop below 5 percent, Washington policymakers are discontinuing aid to household borrowers and paring back key protections -- much to the delight of creditors.
Consider three recent examples:
Convinced that consumers and household borrowers needed more protection from the financial industry in the aftermath of the financial crisis, Congress and the Obama administration restricted the use of so-called “gotcha” credit card fees and created a new federal agency devoted to protecting consumers from unscrupulous financial companies.
But with the U.S. economic expansion in its seventh year and the unemployment rate poised to drop below 5 percent, Washington policymakers are discontinuing aid to household borrowers and paring back key protections -- much to the delight of creditors.
Consider three recent examples:
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On Nov. 2, President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that allows Department of Education loan contractors to bombard
federal student loan borrowers’ cell phones with texts, pre-recorded
messages and autodialed calls without borrowers’ consent, gutting a key
consumer protection. Harassing borrowers in this manner won't save the
government much money: The White House estimates the proposal will
generate just $12 million
annually in additional revenue. The Congressional Budget Office
projects the federal government will collect even less -- below $500,000 annually, or a bit more than 1/100,000th of 1 percent of the government’s fiscal year 2015 revenue.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/economy-improving-screw-you_566b06a8e4b009377b24c556?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
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