The current congressional debate over financial regulatory reform is important to all consumers, but especially unmarried women since they are among the hardest hit by the deception, usury and other predatory lending practices that were a key part of the recent credit crisis.

The most important proposal for unmarried women is the creation of a federal Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which would aim to prevent predatory lending and the targeting of vulnerable borrowers, among them unmarried women, by overseeing banking and other financial products sold to consumers.

What else can be done?