Many Common Security Clubs recognize the limits of local action –and the urgent need for more people to be engaged in advocating for policies that strengthen the real economy. On this page we suggest actions that Clubs can take together.

Move Your Money - http://moveyourmoney.info/

Each individual account is significant to the big banks who make big profits from checking, savings and transaction accounts.  When thousands of people move their money, it creates a wide-spread social phenomenon beyond the amount of money involved. People everywhere are moving their money to small, community-minded institutions and spreading the word around the web. Major news organizations have taken notice, and the effort only gets stronger as more people get involved. To find a local bank or credit union go to the move your money website.

Sign Petition: No New Powers for the Federal Reserve

Treasury Secretary Geithner is proposing to give the Federal Reserve “superagency” powers to oversee the banking and financial sector.  This is a bad idea.  The Federal Reserve is an unaccountable organization that failed to effectively prevent the economic meltdown.  Our partner organization, A New Way Forward, is coordinating a petition campaign to press for an independent and democratically accountable regulator rather than the Fed.  Sign the Petition

Don’t Let Wall Street Weaken Consumer Financial Protections

One year after the economic meltdown, powerful Wall Street interests continue to block meaningful reforms. Trillions have flowed to banks and this week they are posting record earnings. Meanwhile, Congress has failed to establish proper oversight of the financial sector to prevent future asset bubbles, predatory lending practices, and financial meltdowns. We need the Consumer Financial Protection Agency as the first line of defense for consumers.

We urge CSCs to contact your members of Congress in support of the Consumer Financial Protection Act, which would provide greater oversight of credit card industries and banks.

A. Call your member of the House: The Capitol Hill switchboard will connect you to your member’s office: 202 225 3121

Message: Don’t water down the Consumer Financial Protection Act currently emerging from the House Financial Services Committee.

B. Send a printed letter or online message to your US House Representative and Senators through the Americans for Fairness in Lending link here.

See this link to a toolkit –with fact sheets and action tools: Tool kit for Consumer Financial Protection Agency

BACKGROUND

The proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency would regulate and oversee all consumer lending products, replacing the current ineffective and inefficient regulatory system.

In addition to generally protecting consumers from dangerous financial products, the CFPA would also serve as a regulatory “floor”, setting minimum national regulatory standards. Unlike in the current system, where federal preemption often prevents state governments from passing greater protections, the CFPA would give states back their ability to provide greater protections for their citizens where they see fit to do so.

LINKS:
The Hill “Lobbying Intensifies Over Regulatory Plan”

The Wall Street Journal “Plans Scaled Back”

There’s been so much resistance to the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency that Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has proposed a less powerful version of the agency in an attempt to get it passed. Here’s what’s changed:

•    No more requirement that banks offer “plain vanilla” loans for easy comparison shopping.
•    There would be a governing panel where banks could appeal rulings they don’t agree with.
•    Non-financial companies like retailers, doctors, and auto dealers would be exempt from oversight.
•    The agency will have to be funded without imposing any new fees on banks.

Will this be enough to get the bill passed, and if so, will the CFPA still be powerful enough to police the financial industry? The American Bankers Association seems a lot happier with it, which doesn’t sound like a good thing:

Edward Yingling, president of the American Bankers Association, welcomed what he called “significant improvements” in the legislation.

Yingling still isn’t happy with the consumer agency, part of a sweeping overhaul of financial regulation in the wake of Wall Street’s meltdown last year. He notes that the plan still lets states impose stricter consumer regulations if they want to. And he wants traditional bank regulatory agencies to keep their authority to regulate consumer finance.

But Frank wouldn’t budge, saying the FDIC, comptroller of the currency and Federal Reserve had an “abysmal” record on protecting consumers: “They never cared about consumer affairs. … They regard consumer affairs as a kind of nuisance.”