Miguel Afonso Caetano on Nostr: "To draw a bad metaphor, ending the CFPB is a bit like blowing up the containment ...

"To draw a bad metaphor, ending the CFPB is a bit like blowing up the containment unit, with scammers as the ghosts and ghouls, and big tech as Gozer. We can now expect rampant fraud and cheating in banking and fintech, not just a scam here or there, but regular losses of life savings by people who followed the rules, illegal foreclosures, random seizures of the working capital of small businesses, abuse by debt collectors, and routine deception by even respected financial firms. And behind that, we could see big tech, either Google, Meta, Amazon, or perhaps X, serving as your credit card, payroll provider, and debt collector, all in one. It’s a bit like what I wrote about in 2019 when then-Facebook tried to start its own currency, Libra.

Let’s start with some of the small stuff that will now change. Rules against excessive overdraft fees? Gone. A rule capping credit card late fees? Gone. Oversight of debt collectors and payday lenders? No more. An honest site to compare credit card products? Likely gone. In 2023, the CFPB said that big banks can’t charge junk fees for basic customer service, like being able to check the amount of money in your account. The reason isn’t just that it’s nice, but that big banks themselves were unable to offer basic information, like who owned mortgages, prior to 2008. That’s gone too. Another rule put forward recently is that mortgage servicers can’t garner excessive fees when they foreclose, which is an incentive to foreclose rather than working out loans. No longer."

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-round-up-on-ending-the-consumer