Venable partner Suzanne Garwood was quoted in the January 25, 2012 issue of Bloomberg BNA on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) recently launched “Know Before You Owe Initiatives.” The CFPB published model forms aimed at helping consumers better understand student aid packages and mortgage loan terms,. The CFPB is planning a similar initiative for credit cards.

Commenting on CFPB’s “Know Before You Owe” initiatives, Garwood said, “I think they are using their website as a supervisory tool… It is an interesting approach for a federal agency.” Garwood added, “There is a perception that once they start publishing these model forms, they [CFPB] can start trying to steer and direct an industry toward a standard they like… They feel that perhaps they can get 75 percent of the industry to where they want them to be. They have regulations to do the remaining 25 percent.”