Wallet Watch

In lamenting the state of the consumer financial services movement in the United States, Rep. Barney Frank called the consumer movement a “horseless headman” — great representation in Washington, but no grassroots support. For consumers, this lamentation is particularly harsh — Barney Frank chairs the House Financial Services Commitee, and any legislation that would make financial services more fair must be part of his agenda.

The folks at Americans for Fairness in Lending are working hard to — as they say in their blog, “match up the horse with the head” — that is, create a serious movement of concerned Americans who have had it with credit card tricks and traps. They are working hard to make the consumer financial services movement more like the environmental movement, for example — a concerned group of citizens who write letters, make calls, and give support to efforts on Capitol HIll to make financial services more fair. AFFIL’s great public ad campaign has recently been placed in a number of magazines recently, and they’ve recently started radio ads as well.

Check out their website to stay more involved with their campaign. Or take a look at their great viral video.