Banking UP

On December 10, the Center for Responsible Lending has published a new report entitled “Dodging Reform: As some credit card abuses are outlawed, others proliferate”

It lists a pretty damning list of new fees and new ways of obfuscating them that have been created by banks to keep making money on the backs of consumers while circumventing the impending Credit CARD Act of 2009.

See also WalletPop for a good summary of what these new fees are.

OK, so I have been complaining about a lack of innovation in financial services in a prior post. Actually, I lamented the lack of innovation at the service of customers. It seems that there is plenty of innovation at the disservice of customers.

You have to love the cover illustration provided by Mark Fiore for the CRL report.

Illustration by MarkFiore.com

From the Huffington Post, Monday Nov 23, 2009.

Forget bailouts. Forget regulations. Forget stimulus packages and executive pay caps. If we want to see real recovery, we need to see real innovation.

Yet the traditional financiers of innovation, venture capitalists (VCs) are fiddling while Rome is burning. A recent survey of US venture capital activity shows that the three sectors with the least investment in the second quarter of 2009 are:

• healthcare
• retailing/distribution
• financial services

Quick, what are three sectors of the economy that the U.S. depends on for a sustainable recovery? You got it.

Read the full article here :  Patrice Peyret: Unhappy With Your Bank? Blame Silicon Valley.