Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of articles about the U.S.’s landmark financial reform legislation.

Mortgage reform and foreclosure prevention are major components of the U.S.’s new consumer protection legislation, but it also covers a wide variety of other financial products and services.

“The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 will give consumers more protection in areas such as private student loans, sharing of medical information, debit card “swipe” fees, prepaid cards and insured deposits,” says Debra Pankow, North Dakota State University Extension Service family economics specialist.

For example, the legislation creates a private student loan ombudsman position to resolve borrower complaints.

The legislation also provides that, for the first time, a single federal agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), will be responsible for financial consumer protection.

On the issue of student loans, the CFPB will study and report to Congress on the cost of private student lending, who uses these loans and why, and whether students have borrowed the maximum allowed under safer, cheaper federal loans before turning to private loans.

Here are some other provisions of the legislation:

• Information sharing: The CFPB will establish accuracy guidelines for companies that provide information to credit bureaus. The CFPB also can write rules restricting the use of medical information for inappropriate uses.
• Arbitration: The CFPB will study the use of mandatory arbitration in disputes between consumers and companies that sell or service financial products. The bureau also has the authority to ban or limit the use of binding, mandatory arbitration.
• Debit card “swipe” fees: Standards will be established to assess whether the “swipe” (processing) fees that card companies charge merchants when consumers use debit cards are reasonable and proportional.
• Credit cards: Merchants can offer discounts to customers who use cash instead of credit cards. Also, merchants are allowed, but not required, to establish a $10 minimum-purchase requirement for customers paying with credit cards.
• Prepaid cards: A study will be conducted on the use of and the fees on prepaid cards in federal and state programs, such as Social Security and disability payments.
• Insured deposits: Deposits at Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-insured institutions are insured up to $250,000.
• Remittances: The CFPB can write rules to resolve errors, create strong refund policies and require price disclosures on remittances, which are funds immigrants and others send to people in other countries, usually by wire. The bureau also will study the opportunities consumers have to compare the prices of remittances. Model remittance forms will be developed.
• Investor protection: The legislation created the Office of Investor Advocate at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to analyze rules and regulations on investor protection and recommend future regulations. An SEC ombudsman will help resolve investors’ complaints. The SEC will study whether to require brokers to operate in a client’s best interests.
• Office of Women and Minority Inclusion: This new office will establish standards for equal employment opportunities and assess diversity policies and practices and minority business lending.
• Auto dealers: The Federal Trade Commission received authority to write rules regulating auto dealer financing.
• Financial stability: The Financial Stability Oversight Council has been established to detect risks that could damage the entire economy. The Office of Financial Research will collect and analyze risk data for the council. To avoid the necessity of taxpayer bailouts, the Office of Complex Financial Institutions will be responsible for liquidating the most risky financial institutions that fail. Financial firms are required to keep more money in reserve in case of a financial crisis.
• Federal insurance: The new Federal Insurance Office at the U.S. Treasury Department will indentify gaps in regulation, recommend stricter standards where necessary, study underserved communities’ access to affordable insurance products and recommend ways to modernize insurance regulations.

For more information about the new legislation, visit http://capwiz.com/consumeraction/utr/1/BCEUNBBVVE/IOYINBBVWF/5657733786/.

NDSU Agriculture Communication