JOHNSTOWN - Community banks in Greater Johnstown say the financial reform mega-bill poised for a Senate vote misses its intended mark, winging them, though a consumer advocate is very high on the legislation.
"We think it's a huge positive," said Susan Weinstock of the Consumer Federation of America in Washington, D.C., who lobbied Congress on behalf of the bill.
She ticked off pluses ranging from a new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to rules designed to keep mortgage brokers at least partly exposed to the credit they issue.
"We will finally have a bureau looking out for consumers," Weinstock said last week from her Washington office. Now, she said, that responsibility is spread among seven different agencies, "none of whom feel that consumer protection is their top priority."
In practical terms, the bureau will be looking at – among other things – any excessive overdraft...
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