HARRISBURG, Penn.-The circumstances surrounding overdraft protection are particularly tricky. Rick Wargo, EVP/General Counsel at the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association, said credit unions could face "tough sledding" on the programming side as they get ready for the Federal Reserve's July 2010 deadline mandating "opt-in" on overdraft or courtesy pay programs.
But those rules could change, and will likely become more stringent when Congress sends its bill to the President's desk.
While those two overhauls may mean the end of new federal financial regulation laws for some time, Kramer sees the most significant changes coming after the new agencies are established.
"I don't know the minds of all our legislators but at least in my opinion, what we have proposed now is going to be the brunt of it. If they get CFPA in place, they're going to let the dust settle and let the new agency assess what is out there," he said. "[The CFPA] is going to have the ability to go out there, focus on the consumer and bring forward a heck of a lot more than there is now."
With Congress and federal agencies already engaged in a "race" to protect the American consumer, that competition may switch to one between government bureaucrats starting next year. Many agencies will want to ensure that they have a good regulatory structure and examination follow through that can withstand reviews from a Consumer Federal Protection Agency and that means more fair lending examinations, tougher consumer protection requirements and an overall more demanding regulator, analysts told Credit Union Journal.
"We don't know how that is going to operate yet. And before CFPA hits, you'll have NCUA in a new consumer protection mode," said Wargo, with a nod to the new Office of Consumer Protection NCUA announced in November.
