Obama backs uniform loan disclosure 

The Obama administration today released details of plans to combat "the worst abuses in mortgage markets" by creating a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to safeguard consumers from deceptive practices and provide them with concise information for comparing mortgages and other loans.

The agency would have the power to set standards protecting consumers and encouraging competition, and the authority to make sure consumer-protection regulations "are written fairly and enforced vigorously," the Treasury Department said in a press release.  more...