The 2008 Global Financial Crisis: Can Dodd-Frank Help? The financial crisis of 2008 has become an experience that the American people will not soon forget. The country took a direct hit to the financial sector during the crisis due to the many changes that occurred. Banks and financial investment companies were two of the many types of businesses that suffered. Consumers became fearful when it came to working with banks and financial investment companies. Following the crisis, new regulations were introduced to keep everything regulated. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act regulations were created to monitor and monitor financial companies and enforce regulations to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. The main goal of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and the Consumer Protection Act is to put in place new rules to monitor the financial sector more rigorously to help prevent another crisis from occurring. Mortgage Standards Several changes have been made to mortgage standards to make it easier for homeowners to potentially own their own home. This became the first problem that ultimately led to the crisis. Lending standards have been changed to promote homeownership. This made it easy for first-time homeowners and homeowners in general to borrow money at a very low interest rate. The homeowner could go to the bank and almost always get approved for a loan without any questions. The homeowner was also able to get approved for the loan with little to no down payment (Conners and Gwartney 63). U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines required Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to accept a smaller down payment...... .middle of paper......-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the economy appears to be recovering from its decline. Interest rates are starting to rise. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit its all-time high following the market crash. The auto and real estate industries are starting to recover from their terrible decline. Consumers are also starting to place their trust in investment companies and financial banks. During the crisis, consumers began to withdraw all their money from their investments because they feared losing everything they had. They also did not want to leave anything in their bank accounts for fear of the collapse of the banking system. Once implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 began. Consumers began to step forward with the help of their bankers and investment advisors.