Warren outlines plans for consumer watchdog

The New York Times:

Elizabeth Warren, who is overseeing the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, spoke about some of her top priorities on Wednesday, namely mortgages and credit cards.

“The consumer agency will make it easier for a family to see the costs and risks of a mortgage upfront and will give them the tools to make the choice that is right for them,” Ms. Warren said during a half-hour conference call with personal finance reporters. “Second, the consumer agency will cut down the fine print in credit card agreements, empowering consumers to make direct comparisons between products and restoring competition.”

She also emphasized that the agency will draw on technology to help empower the agency, calling it a “cop on the beat” that will ensure the banks are playing by the rules. “We’re not building a new regulatory agency in the era of the typewriter and broadcast television,” Ms. Warren said, “we’re building the consumer agency in the age of iPhones and the Internet.”
She didn’t provide specifics, but she said the agency can use technology to tap directly into consumers’ experiences as a way “to develop a rapid-response approach to policing credit markets.”

In nearly two months on the job, Ms. Warren said she has met with bankers big and small, consumer advocates, housing counselors and others while also focusing on the nuts and bolts infrastructure of the nascent agency.

President Obama appointed Ms. Warren in September to get the agency up and running, which allowed her to avoid a contentious confirmation battle in the Senate first. She needs to get the agency in shape by mid-2011, at which time a new director would be more formally chosen. She couldn’t comment on whether she was in the running.

But she did sound as if she’s have an awfully good time doing the job.

Is there anyone else you would like to see head the new agency? What issues do you think they ought to start with first?