The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) officially opens for business today with the goal of helping consumers get a good deal on loans.
The CFPB was created by the Dodd-Frank Act after the financial crisis. Regulators saw how some abusive lenders were fleecing the general public, and now that's supposed to get more difficult. CFPB will monitor almost any loan you can imagine, including credit cards, payday loans, auto loans, and mortgages.
How will all of this work? We still don't know all the details, but we have a general idea. On yesterday's Marketplace Morning show, David Lazarus with the L.A. Times described what the CFPB will do, how it differs from other regulators, and whether or not the organization can help prevent another financial crisis.
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