Financial reforms

After more than a year of wrangling by Congress to craft legislation, President Obama signed the Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act into law Wednesday. The new regulations are the most sweeping reforms to hit the financial industry in more than half a century.

Now that President Barack Obama has signed into law the biggest overhaul of the banking industry since the Great Depression, many Americans are wondering exactly how financial reform will impact them. Officially called The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the far-reaching...