Lending influence: Progressive group profits from pushing financial regs

Watchdog.org discusses new regulations from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with John Berlau. 

One of the chief advocates of the CFPB’s regulatory actions has been the Center For Responsible Lending, which says it is dedicated to creating “a fair, inclusive financial marketplace that creates opportunities for all responsible borrowers, regardless of their income.”

Critics of the CFPB’s regulatory power worry about the influence being exerted by the Center, which has close ties to several top officials at the federal agency.

“They are advocating policies that are in their interest,” John Berlau, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., told Watchdog. “Not every conflict of interest is evil, but they don’t have a great track record of disclosing it, and the media rarely ever checks them on it.”

Berlau said the media knows to be wary of influence exerted by banking executives on federal regulators, particularly in the wake of the economic collapse in 2008. But the Center For Responsible Lending has been able to avoid broad scrutiny when advocating policies that will directly benefit its own parent organization.

Read the full article at Watchdog.org.