Mar 06, 2010

"While much of the Congressional debate over consumer financial protection has focused on banks, lawmakers have been grappling behind the scenes over whether and how to regulate payday lenders, debt collectors, check-cashing outlets, title and installment lenders and even pawnbrokers.

Many of these companies primarily take aim at lower-income customers, and consumer advocates say the companies are far less regulated than banks.

Oversight of such companies has been left largely to the states. The Federal Trade Commission has brought fewer than 25 lawsuits in the last five years against mortgage originators, payday lenders and debt collectors, officials said. It has only 70 staff members to cover about 10,000 such companies nationwide, and does not have the authority to conduct compliance exams, as bank regulators do."

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