Table of Contents

Senate should enhance consumer credit protections for servicemembers and their families
Consumer Action joined in sending a letter of support for S. Amdt. 1294 to S. 1867, the Defense Authorization Bill, which would close legal loopholes that allow payday and auto title lenders to bilk military men and women.

Congress should close the unsafe rental car loophole
Advocates for consumer safety, including Consumer Action, ask Congress to enact a law that forbids rental car companies from renting or selling cards that have been recalled. The letter was prompted in part by the tragic death of two sisters who were driving a recalled Chrysler PT Cruiser.

Essential elements of effective postal reform
Consumer and policy groups call for five essential elements of effective postal reform.

Congress should pass law helping ease pain of private student loans
Consumer organizations sent a letter to Senator Dick Durbin, asking for his support of legislation giving private student loans borrowers access to key financial remedies and relief.

Don’t handcuff the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Organizations, including Consumer Action, signed onto a letter opposing two separate bills in the House of Representatives that would greatly limit the effectiveness of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) by giving discredited banking regulators power to block certain protections.

FTC should swiftly conclude its review of children’s online privacy law
Consumer groups asked Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz to wrap up its review of the Children's Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) legislation, as more and more websites aimed at children are installing and using tracking technologies.

Old exceptions to risk-based pricing rule must be removed before Dodd-Frank can work
Consumer Action signed onto comments that point out problems with provisions proposed by the Federal Reserve and the FTC that would fail to remove currently-existing exceptions to the risk-based pricing rule (if the creditor makes a credit scoring disclosure) in the Dodd-Frank bill.

Amendment would eliminate protections for students in college career education programs
A letter to the Honorable Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, Consumer Action joined in asking him to oppose an amendment that would seek to weaken regulation over career education programs at colleges.

Agencies need adequate funds to fufill financial reform legislation
In coalition with an extensive list of organizations, Consumer Action asked Congress to ensure that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are adequately funded so that they can meet the mandates of the financial reform legislation that passed this year.

Congress should enact legislation to ban tax strategy patents
In a letter to the heads of key Congressional committees, Consumer Action and its coalition partners urged lawmakers to pass legislation banning tax strategy patents, arguing that they are a costly and burdensome problem for Americans.