So, having a little time on my hands last night I decided to review the new some articles on the Financial Reform Bill that has recently be signed by congress. There are some very interesting items here which I have bulleted for your ease of reading. Please read the whole document if you have the time though, as information is power!
CONSUMER BUREAU
* Create an independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, housed within the Federal Reserve
* The CFPB will write and enforce rules for most banks, mortgage lenders, credit-card and private student loan companies. Auto dealers, meanwhile, are exempt from the bureau’s oversight
CREDIT SCORES
* You are still able to get a yearly copy of a free credit report from each of the three reporting agencies
* If you are refused credit, the company or individual would have to provide you, for free, the score (probably a FICO score) that led to your troubles
MORTGAGES
* Lenders will have to check borrowers’ income and assets. This was not done in the past and we can see what happened in the past because of this
* Ban on prepayment penalties for people with adjustable rate and other more complex types of mortgages
* Mortgage brokers and bank employees will no longer be able to earn bonuses based on the type of loan they put you in
* There will now be a cap limiting mortgage origination fees to 3 percent of the loan
CREDIT/DEBIT CARDS
* Retailers can now require a minimum purchase of $10 to use your card
* Maximum purchase limit can be implemented by the Federal Government and Colleges/Universities
* Merchants may offer discounts to people paying in cash