Terrier: Obama's watchdog needs some teeth

By: Daisy

Listening to President Barack Obama give his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, my ears perked up when he mentioned the word "watchdog."
"Today, American consumers finally have a watchdog in Richard Cordray with one job: To look out for them," Obama said.
Cordray is not an actual dog, but the head of a new agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB guards consumers the same way a Doberman pinscher wards off intruders behind a chain-link fence.
One of the CFPB's pet projects is monitoring student loans. Earlier this month, the New York Times reported, the agency "is stepping up its scrutiny of nontraditional lenders to students at profit-making colleges and trade schools that have high rates of default."
Cordray slammed the state of student loans in general, telling the Times: "One of the things we see and have seen is lenders who market loans for borrowers knowing that those borrowers are unlikely to be able to pay those loans."
As a dog who has not even taken a single doggie-obedience class (my behavior on the leash proves this), I am impressed with how diligently humans seek out an education. Ideally, it helps them get better jobs, earn higher incomes, and live happier lives ... and maybe this trickles down to their pets in terms of, perhaps, more and varied doggie treats.
The trouble is, higher ed has a killer cost: Student loans. The student-loan crisis makes me get up on my hind legs and bare my teeth in anger. For instance, if you go bankrupt, the only way you can discharge your student loans is if you can convince a judge you have an "undue hardship." (Thank the Congresses of 1998 and 2005.) Also, our very own "watchdog" government affects how much interest rates will change. In a bad economy like the one we're in now, these problems loom larger.
Obama is trying to help. "At a time when Americans owe more in tuition debt than credit card debt, this Congress needs to stop the interest rates on student loans from doubling in July," he said in his State of the Union address.
Yet if Obama really wants a watchdog here, then the CFPB ought to be equipped with incisors fit for a Doberman, a Rottweiler or a pit bull. It needs to financially educate the college students of tomorrow, and their families. The CFPB must help them see the big-picture aspect of loans, even when a prestigious yet pricey college / graduate school seems as appetizing as a nice, juicy squirrel does to me. And hey, Americans ... you also need to be your own watchdogs on this. I mean, I'm only a dog and even I know this financial stuff.
For alumni struggling with debt, the CFPB should press Congress to reverse its 1998 and 2005 student-loan decisions (some lawmakers have tried to do this) and post up-to-date information on its website on the variety of repayment plans and forgiveness options.
I like hearing Cordray give a low, menacing growl to lenders who have long done the same to college students and alumni. I'd like it even more if the CFPB can develop some muscle to back up its moxie.

Daisy is a 9-year-old West Highland white terrier living in Cambridge, Mass. Her column appears regularly.