One of my favorite Washington Post columnists, Alexandra Petri, whose pieces I find both topical and funny, has this insightful column today about a group whose perspective often gets lost in debates over the economy and initiatives to improve it. The takeaway: the "millennial" generation is in trouble, and has been for some time — […]
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Earlier, we posted on the "60 Minutes" report concerning the error-prone, law-breaking credit reporting industry. U.S. PIRG's Ed Mierzwinki has this post on what needs to be done to reform the system.
by Brian Wolfman The CFPB cop appears to be on the beat. Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a bulletin advising mortgage companies about their legal obligations to protect consumers during loan transfers between mortgage servicers. CFPB is telling mortgage companies that, when handing off the processing of loans, mortgage servicers should not lose […]
A couple weeks ago, the editors of The Nation published this essay urging President Obama to use his executive authority to "push a progressive agenda." The essay discussed 20 policies on the environment, the economy, civil rights, workers' rights, and other topics both domestic and international that the authors believe that the President can, and […]
We have reported many times on the error-prone credit reporting industry and the industry's violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Go, for example, here, here, and here. Today, the Federal Trade Commission issues a eight-year study of the industry showing that up to 40 million Americans have a mistake on their credit report. Twenty […]
Here, but behind a paywall, unfortunately. Everyone agrees that the Credit CARD Act reduced some fees, but there is disagreement about whether it has increased the cost of and restricted access to credit. As you might expect, the industry still says yes and the consumer advocates still say no. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is doing […]
In letters to President Obama and the congressional leadership, a coalition of consumer advocacy groups — such as the Consumer Federation of America, the National Consumer Law Center, Consumers Union, Public Citizen, and U.S. PIRG — have called for the implementation of a consumer-protection agenda during the President's second term. The agenda is quite detailed and […]
See here for this new report on banking shenanigans. Here's the gist: When an outside analysis uncovered serious flaws with thousands of home loans, JPMorgan Chase executives found an easy fix. Rather than disclosing the full extent of problems like fraudulent home appraisals and overextended borrowers, the bank adjusted the critical reviews, according to documents […]
by Brian Wolfman It's nice to see the FTC shutting down unscrupulous, outrageous debt collectors. In this complaint filed last month, the FTC charged a debt collection company called Goldman Schwartz and related defendants with a variety of violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act. As explained in […]
by Brian Wolfman California legislators are considering requiring used car sellers to fix cars subject to government safety recalls before they re-sell those cars to unsuspecting customers. The idea is that consumers should not be buying used cars that the government says have bad brakes or faulty, fire-prone wiring. Legislation on the topic could affect […]