The move stemmed from an unintended consequence of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, which, when it became law in 2009, required card issuers to evaluate a consumer’s ability to pay before issuing a credit card.

The Federal Reserve, which was first charged with implementing the law, amended the regulations to specify that when a consumer applies for a credit card, the issuer must consider the applicant’s “independent ability” to make the payments.

Critics of the provision said it effectively shut out from credit stay-at-home spouses or partners who want to open an individual account.

The amendment by the consumer bureau allows credit card issuers to consider income that a stay-at-home applicant, who is 21 or older, shares with a spouse or partner when evaluating the applicant for a new account or increased credit limit.

“Stay-at-home spouses or partners who have access to resources that allow them to make payments on a credit card can now get their own cards,” said bureau Director Richard Cordray.

A Public Forum letter on April 29 (More regulation not the answer) illustrates my point. The writer argues against government regulations and concludes, Government regulation does not make America stronger. In other words, regulations are bad.

Of course not all government regulations serve us well, just as not all the people we elect to office serve us well. But can we honestly say that giving government the authority to regulate is, in itself, bad?

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I do like how Gomezs taking the deduction is a tacit endorsement of government regulation. Apparently his being a teabagger ends where it means money in his own pocket.

The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday that it will consider limitations on payday and deposit advance loans to curb sustained use

It was a complicated case, Carmine Costa, State Banking Department director of consumer credit, said Tuesday. It sounds worse than it is.

Banking found after an investigation that PHH used 24 originators to do work for multiple subsidiaries and affiliated companies over the course of nearly two years, a violation of Connecticut regulations, which state that originators can only work for a single firm. Those who work for multiple companies have to be licensed as brokers, he said.

The laws are clearly written, he added.

PHH agreed to pay $29,000 to settle the allegations last month, about three years after it settled similar allegations related to the use of unregistered originators.

In 2009, the company agreed to pay $6,000 for using six unregistered originators who worked on loans between February 2006 and October 2007.

Costa said hes not sure if PHH realized it was violating regulations at the time and they probably just did not think it through.

A PHH spokesman said the situation has been corrected and maintains the alleged violations are unrelated.

The current settlement agreement is related to different facts from the settlement entered into in 2009, Dico Akseraylian, a PHH spokesman, said. Controls were implemented in June 2011, which were designed to prevent the situation from recurring.

PHH, one of the nations most successful mortgage companies, closed on $55.6 billion in mortgages last year, a 7 percent gain over 2011, and was servicing $183.7 billion in loans. Net income at the company was $34 million for the year, it reported in February.

PHH wasnt the only mortgage company that allegedly failed to understand the intricacies of Connecticut banking regulations.

The department issued 13 cease-and-desist orders and threatened fines against mortgage companies that failed to file quarterly and annual reports required by law.

rvarnon@ctpost.com; or get updates at http://twitter.com/financialmines.

Crawford, a Bloomberg contributor and former White House Technology Adviser, claimed that this regulatory ideal unleashes human ingenuity; its pro-competition, pro-growth, pro-innovation. (Government is there anything it cant do?)

Crawford seems to think that she is the best hope for the FCC in standing up to the specter of unregulated free enterprise, and used this speech to promote her bid for FCC chair. Several liberal groups have been urging her nomination, but so far, the White House is not considering her name. She blamed that on the administration being afraid of internet providers. They have to worry about what the telecom industry would think of me, she said.

According to Crawford, Americas deregulated internet has made it a laughingstock in abroad. Globally, were also in a hole. Were in the middle of the pack at best, meanwhile, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, theyve all got policies making sure that reasonably priced fiber to the home reaches every single one of their citizens, for 30 or 40 bucks a month. America is laughed at,laughed at, in these broadband utopias, according to Crawford. In South Korea they treat coming to America like taking a rural vacation. Life is sweet and slow here, because connectivity is so slow and so expensive.

The fix, of course, is government regulation of the internet. But heres the problem:the internet isnt unregulated. And theres even aNational Broadband Planto provide more affordable access.

Crawford went on to claim that the lack of regulation in this country was hurting people. This country is supposed to be the land of opportunity. But we are being left behind, and a time when information is power, when our intellect as a country is our source of strength. Internet access is like oxygen, its necessary for life. But some people are breathing clean air and others in our country are deprived. They dont even realize how deprived they are. Were harming schoolchildren; were causing suffering for future generations.

Crawford finished up her speech with the very Orwellian statement that it is governments role to stand up against the ethic that might makes right.

The Orange County Register (http://bit.ly/138ribo ) says fines are being proposed by the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health. The penalties stem from a November accident when a contract worker slipped and suffered broken bones while cleaning the exterior of Space Mountain at Disneyland.

The agency says Disneyland Resort willfully violated safety regulations. Disney says it hasnt decided whether to appeal the penalties.

Three rides were closed over the weekend as the company reviewed its safety protocols. Two of them — Space Mountain and Soarin Over California in Disney California Adventure — remain closed.