News

2019

June

23

• No espere que los tiempos compartidos aumenten de valor. Estoy tratando de deshacerme de mi tiempo compartido. ¿Tiene alguna sugerencia para mí, como madre soltera, cómo puedo ganar dinero con esto? Una buena cantidad sería agradable (y s

20

• ThinkFinance to pay back $39.7 million on payday loans. A Fort Worth financial firm will cancel its outstanding loans and pay nearly $40 million to consumers after engaging in an alleged payday lending operation that used Native American tribes as shields from state laws. Think

• Wells Fargo's mistakes cost people their homes. About nine years ago, Zsa Zsa Monique Conyers begged Wells Fargo to keep working with her to lower her mortgage payments. She had just lost her job, and the single mom was struggling to pay

19

• How states can step in when Trump doesn’t enforce laws. It’s no secret that the Trump administration wants to “deconstruct” the administrative state, in part by refusing to enforce federal laws designed to protect workers and the environment. This is happening

17

• CFPB celebrates achievements, despite departure from mission. Kathleen Kraninger marked her first six months as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week, and the agency celebrated by releasing a scorecard of her accomplishments. The listed achievements highlight Kraninger’s

12

• Landmark deal reached on NY rent protections. Newly empowered Democratic leaders in Albany announced a landmark agreement on Tuesday to strengthen New York’s rent laws and tenant protections, seeking to address concern about housing costs that is helping drive the

• Preparing your vacation home for renters. If you’re one of the lucky ones who own a vacation home—and you plan to rent it this summer or next year—here are some ideas to make it 

11

• SU BOLSILLO: ¿Tiene un familiar en un hogar de ancianos? Hay nuevos motivos de preocupación. Todos los estadounidenses deben sentirse alarmados ante las noticias de que cientos de hogares de ancianos con un "registro persistente de atención deficiente" fueron mantenidos en secreto por las autoridades gubernamentales.

10

• 16.000 personas en L.A viven en su auto, pero los estacionamientos seguros siguen siendo escasos. Hace dos años, Los Ángeles comenzó a probar una alternativa a los refugios para personas sin hogar, llamada estacionamiento seguro, que les da a quienes viven en sus automóviles

07

• Maine's strict new internet privacy protection. The new law, which goes into effect on July 1, 2020, would require internet service providers to ask for permission before they sell or share any of their customers’ data to a third party. The law

06

• Chase: Arbitration's ‘better' for consumers. Nope, say researchers. JPMorgan Chase is notifying more than 40 million credit card holders that from now on they’ll have to arbitrate any disputes, forgoing the option of filing a lawsuit or joining class-action suits. Although an

• Senators say debt collection proposal puts industry ahead of consumers. More than 20 U.S. Senators are calling on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to reconsider a proposal  that would allow debt collectors to send unlimited texts and emails to consumers, as well as call

• Who actually beneifts from tax breaks for distressed neighborhoods?. Part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was a provision known as Opportunity Zones that was designed to significantly boost the fortunes of low-income communities. Like many previous government tax-incentive efforts to spark

• A watchdog whitewashed its oversight of FEMA’s disaster response. After catastrophic floodwaters submerged wide stretches of southern Louisiana in 2016, displaced homeowners and officials criticized the federal recovery effort as dangerously slow, leaving thousands of people homeless for months. The watchdog concluded that FEMA&rsquo

May

30

• Mired In medical debt? Federal rule changes proposed for bill collectors. This month, the CFPB proposed a rule to frame what debt collectors are allowed to do when pursuing many types of overdue bills. The proposed rule specifies that debt collectors can make no more than

• CFPB settles with BSI Financial Services over mortgage servicing issues. A CFPB investigation found that BSI improperly handled mortgage servicing transfers, including failing to recognize that certain loans were already in loss mitigation proceedings, in the process of receiving a loan modification, or had already

• N.Y. regulator to investigate exposure of mortage documents. A New York State financial regulator is investigating a security vulnerability at First American Financial Corporation, a title insurance company, that exposed an estimated 885 million records related to mortgage deals. The inquiry, by the Department

28

• The Robocall Scourge (Spring 2019). Robocalling is a huge and growing problem. In this issue of Consumer Action News, we report on why the problem is so pervasive and explain new ways companies, regulators and Congress are trying to address the problem. We also name some services and apps that might help you control the calls.

• When a traffic ticket costs $13,000. Suspending driver’s licenses for unpaid fees buries poor people in debt.

24

• 40% of Americans would struggle to cover a $400 emergency. Many U.S. households find themselves in a fragile position financially, even in an economy with an unemployment rate near a 50-year low, according to a Federal Reserve survey.