Clark Howard: The new banking law is a good thing for everybody

Jacksonville, Fl. — Clark Howard: The new banking law is a good thing for everybody

Congress has sent a bipartisan bill to President Trump’s desk that would ease a series of financial rules on smaller banking institutions enacted under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Law.

Consumer Warrior Clark Howard says this is the first major reform in banking since the banking scandals of the last decade. He says the changes including the bill will help you as a consumer.

"Smaller banks that quit the mortgage business because of endless rules, procedures, and regulations are now going to be able to go back into issuing mortgages."

Clark says the reason this is significant is because mortgages obtained from big banks are significantly more expensive than they are from credit unions or smaller banks.

"We have suffered in the mortgage market by giving way too much market share particularly to the four-giant monster mega-banks."

Clark says one of the big changes that has happened since the banking scandals are that credit unions have become the most important player in mortgage loans. They generally much better offers than what people have seen elsewhere compared to the big banks. He says credit unions are going to face competition again from smaller banks and everybody wins from that.

LISTEN: To Clark Howard’s latest podcast.

Clark says in addition to the smaller banks originating mortgages...it means that mortgage brokers that go out and shop loans will have more choices of places to go get quotes from for you.

Another change consumers can expect from this banking will come in the summer and that’s free credit freezes.

He says being able to freeze your credit will help you protect yourself from identity theft.