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Steven John
St. Paul, Minn.

Financial reform could reshape banking in low-income areas

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President Obama will sign sweeping new regulations of U.S. financial institutions into law later this week. The bill creates more oversight of banks, insurers and brokerage houses. It also creates a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

That bureau will have oversight of institutions large and small.

Minnesota consumer advocate Ron Elwood represents many low-income residents as the staff attorney for the Legal Services Advocacy Project in St. Paul.

Elwood told Minnesota Public Radio's Steven John that the new law will regulate predatory lenders who charge interest rates as high as 800 percent on short-term loans. He hopes it will also start to reshape the financial landscape in poor communities.