That's the title of this essay by Christopher Ingraham, which focuses on a new Brookings study on race and wealth. Here's how the essay starts: There are a lot of reasons that home prices tend to be lower in black neighborhoods than in white ones. Decades of racist policies put in place by governments and private […]

The Trump administration is proposing to eliminate the requirement of professional appraisals for many home sales — "a move that critics say could push the country back toward the see-no-evil days of mortgage lending that preceded the housing crash,"reports the Washington Post. Just before Thanksgiving, the administration’s top financial regulators — the Federal Deposit Insurance […]

A  bill to give the federal government authority to collect civil penalties if a company misuses online consumer data or allows it to be stolen may be drafted early next year, the New York Times reports. "A subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee discussed elements of the bill on Tuesday, including the […]

The Hill reports that the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue, a coalition of more than 75 consumer groups, is urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google for allegedly manipulating Android users into having their location tracked at all times. In a letter sen today, the groups argued that Google "nudges" mobile phone users with Android operating […]

The Wall Street Journal reports: "Mick Mulvaney, as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has softened the agency’s hard-charging approach that financial companies had long complained about. One year after his appointment, the industry is pleased, but not fully satisfied. Mr. Mulvaney, appointed by President Trump last November, over the past year has […]

I missed this last week: The Associated Press reported last Tuesday on a Department of Education audit of Navient, the nation’s third largest student loan servicing companies. The audit found that Navient may have driven tens of thousands of borrowers struggling with their debts into higher-cost repayment plans. "The conclusions of the 2017 audit, which […]

by Jeff Sovern With the Democrats' capture of the House, Maxine ("Auntie Maxine") Waters is expected to chair the House Financial Service Committee in the new Congress.  South Carolina's Patrick McHenry has tossed his hat in the ring to be the ranking member of the Committee, and has drawn support from others who were rumored […]

The Hill reports: Two senators are pushing a new bipartisan bill to crack down on illegal robocall scams, raising the maximum civil fine for violators to $10,000 per call. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), the current chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on Friday unveiled their Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and […]

Consumer Union, the non-profit consumer-advocacy organization founded in 1936, has changed its name to Consumer Reports Advocacy. The new website is here. The well-known Consumer Reports magazine is the work of Consumers Union, and now the organization and the magazine will be more closely linked by name.