What does CPA stand for?

Other ideas, including derivatives reform and a consumer protection agency, resemble those in pending House legislation.

Frank's committee has drafted legislation that would set up an independent consumer protection agency, tighten rules for derivatives and mandate federal regulation of hedge funds, which currently are unregulated.

Up until the end, White House aides buttonholed individual members, fighting unsuccessfully against yet another exemption to the powers of the proposed consumer protection agency.

The proposed reforms advanced last month include extending oversight of the Federal Reserve Bank to major corporations; creating a new consumer protection agency to oversee industries that heretofore had little scrutiny, such as mortgage banks, hedge funds and insurance companies; and doing away with the Office of Thrift Supervision, which regulates the savings and loan industry.

The Department of Insurance is not only a regulatory agency; it is also a consumer protection agency.

A Japanese consumer protection agency, which at press time was about to be authorized at a special session of Parliament, won't have any enforcement powers, a cabinet minister admitted on the eve of the session.

Check with the state Attorney General''s office, consumer protection agency and the Better Business Bureau in your area and the area where the medical billing promoter is based to learn whether any unresolved complaints about them or the promoter are on file.

Your financial institution and your local consumer protection agency could also be good sources of information.