Unintended consequences hurt too

The Law of Unintended Consequences: I’m not sure it’s actually a law, but it probably should be.

Just like Murphy’s Law, it seems to present itself frequently. Especially in post-Dodd-Frank banking, but not exclusively.

When you read news reports about employed people getting notices of losing their healthcare coverage and they were supposed to be able to keep the insurance they had …

Or you hear stories of friends who have part-time jobs who have been notified that health insurance is no longer an option for them at the company…

You wonder about the law of unintended consequences.

When you hear of examples of people whose flood insurance premiums have increased so drastically in the past year that they are forced to walk away from their home …

When you live in a state that legalized marijuana in a country where using and possessing it is still a crime …

You worry about unintended consequences.

Are you beginning to get the picture? If you work in Compliance, I’m telling you your life, I suspect.

For instance, the past year has been filled with much talk about predicted unintended consequences from the new mortgage regulations that became effective in January (and prior).

Many of us in the compliance world have been talking about small community banks discontinuing making mortgage loans altogether or severely curtailing mortgage lending in certain communities. That was not one of the intended consequences of the Dodd-Frank reforms. Dodd-Frank was intended to eliminate the abusive, predatory mortgage lending practices.

What unintended consequences are you seeing?

Maybe it is too early to know what all of the unintended consequences, if any, the new mortgage (and other) rules have precipitated.

But, I’d like to start the list.

What unintended consequences have you seen? 

Not just with the Dodd-Frank law, but also with other compliance regulations?  

Please post these in the comment section below, rather than emailing them to me or the site’s editors.