Looking Ahead on the Dodd-Frank Consumer Protection Path
The passage last year of a new federal law covering lending and credit transactions for consumers will provide stronger protection, but questions about how it will be enforced and what it will actually mean are just beginning to be answered.
That was the overall theme of the 2011 Public Service Conference held at Eckstein Hall. The conference, New Directions in Consumer and Community Financial Protection, brought together prominent federal and state authorities on the subject and provided an up-to-the-minute look at the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
“Dodd-Frank created a floor, not a ceiling, for consumer protection” noted Kathleen Keest, an expert on consumer protection law from the Center for Responsible Lending. The new law reverses some of the federal preemption rules that were in effect prior to its passage, providing state attorney generals with increased enforcement authority with respect to many consumer protection laws.