Financial reform bill brings sweeping changes for consumers.

Consumers that have found themselves deeply in debt thanks to the recession are about to receive some help from the federal government.

Thanks to the new financial reform bill, which passed the Senate with a 60-39 vote and only awaits the signature of President Barack Obama to make it law, Americans are going to get more safety from the predatory practices of lenders in the form of a new body which will oversee these banks.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which will operate as part of the Federal Reserve System, will have unprecedented power to govern the rates and fees lenders issue on everything from credit cards to mortgages. Its goal is to ensure that the practices from big banks that helped sink the country into its recent recession will never be enacted again.

“[Wall Street] put our money on the table,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. “When they won, they won big. The jackpots they took home were in the billions. But when they lost – and boy, did they lose big – they came crying to the taxpayers for help. We want to make sure this disaster never happens again. The solution has to start here.”

The legislation also grants the government the power to seize or shut down big, troubled financial institutions and creates a new group of regulators whose job is to keep an eye out for danger in the financial system.

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