Imposter scam complaints surpassed identity theft for the first time as the second most common category of consumer complaints received by the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network in 2016, according to the agency’s new Data Book. Although debt collection complaints declined slightly between 2015 and 2016, they remained the top consumer complaint category, comprising […]
Author Archives: Allison Zieve
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a report detailing the problems in the credit reporting industry that the CFPB uncovered and corrected through its oversight work. The report identifies significant issues with the quality of the credit information being provided by furnishers and maintained by credit reporting companies, and it outlines the actions that […]
The online publication FairWarning has this story today about OSHA enforcement since January 20: In November, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced fines against businesses with workers who were killed when they were pulled into a wood chipper, burned in a refinery fire and crushed in collapsing grain bins and construction trenches. In […]
Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary posts some questions and answers about the Department of Labor's "fiduciary rule." The rule is intended to ensure that financial professionals helping guide your retirement investments act in your best interest. The rule was finalized in 2016 and becomes applicable on April 10. The rule has been put on hold […]
The Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs, sent President Trump yesterday a list of rules it wants delayed, altered or repealed. Prominent among the rules listed are protections for workers and the environment, along with the net neutrality rule and some Affordable Care Act rules. The list is available here. USA Today has the story.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Maine Office of the Attorney General announced three settlements with dietary supplement marketers who allegedly used radio infomercials deceptively formatted as talk shows and print ads featuring fictitious endorsers to advertise supplements purporting to improve memory and to reduce back and joint pain. The three court orders resolving charges […]
The Washington Post reports today: Wells Fargo announced Tuesday that it had fired four executives as its board of directors nears completion of its investigations into sham accounts set up by employees to allegedly meet sales quotas. The four executives come from the megabank’s community banking division. They will not receive 2016 bonuses and will […]
The Wall Street Journal reports: President Donald Trump believes the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau makes the agency “unaccountable” to the American people, according to a White House spokesperson, weighing in for the first time in the debate about the future of the watchdog agency created under the Obama administration. The comment came […]
Washington Post columnist Christopher Elliott fills us in If you’re an experienced traveler, maybe you know about the Department of Transportation’s 24-hour rule for airline ticket purchases, or EU 261, the European consumer protection regulation for air travelers, or the Fair Credit Billing Act. But what about the cruise bill of rights? The flat-tire rule? […]
The New York Times reports: At a time when many Republicans are urging President Trump to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal judge has now upheld its authority to issue a subpoena in a housing finance investigation. Judge Nancy G. Edmunds of Federal District Court in Detroit has ruled that one of the […]