News

2018

August

14

• Next steps for homeowners mistakenly foreclosed by Wells Fargo. One thing worse than going through a foreclosure is finding out you never should’ve lost your home in the first place. In a regulatory filing, Wells Fargo revealed that a technical error kept

13

• In U.S., wage growth is being wiped out by inflation. Rising prices have erased U.S. workers’ meager wage gains, the latest sign strong economic growth has not translated into greater prosperity for the middle and working classes.

10

• A new twist on rent-to-own housing. The idea of any of these alternatives is they're premised on the idea that you will eventually qualify for a mortgage to buy this house, but if you can't qualify for a mortgage

09

• CFPB no place for Donald Trump's neophyte nominee. You wouldn't send in a relief pitcher who never pitched an inning. Or take your car to an auto mechanic who never repaired one. You certainly wouldn't get surgery from someone who

• Wells Fargo accidentally foreclosed on more homes—what you should do. 625 qualified customers were denied a loan modification, causing at least 400 to lose their homes. A spokesman for Wells Fargo said the people whose homes were lost after being denied a modification may have been foreclosed

• Millennials are raiding 401(k)s for a down payment—there's a better way. Rising prices are making it difficult, if not impossible, for some first-time home buyers — especially millennials — to come up with enough cash to cover the down payment. To get in the game, some

08

• One in 8 divorces is caused by student loans. In general, finances are the leading cause of stress in a relationship, according to a study by SunTrust Bank, and student debt takes a particularly hard toll on a marriage. And more than one-third of

06

• In expensive cities, rents fall for the rich, rise for the poor. Since last summer, rents have fallen for the highest earners while increasing for the poorest in San Francisco, Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver, Pittsburgh, Portland and Washington, D.C., among other cities.

• Wells Fargo faces new problems with mortgage borrowers. Wells Fargo is facing government probes into its use of low-income housing tax credits, and has also set aside $8 million to compensate borrowers who were incorrectly denied mortgage modifications under a federal assistance program, the

• Bankruptcy booms among older Americans. For a rapidly growing share of older Americans, traditional ideas about life in retirement are being upended by a dismal reality: bankruptcy. he signs of potential trouble—vanishing pensions, soaring medical expenses, inadequate savings

• Upward mobility is a myth. It’s an axiom among many Americans that each future generation will live better than its predecessor. Among many young Americans, however, there is downward mobility. The children aren’t achieving what they

02

• Wells Fargo to pay $2.09 billion to settle probe into mortgage abuses. Ten years after faulty mortgages upended the global financial system, Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to pay $2.09 billion to settle a U.S. investigation into its creation and sale of loans that contributed to the

• The 'Mulvaney discount': Shrinking fines for law-breaking companies. There’s a hot new trend in Donald Trump’s Washington: the “Mulvaney discount.” After pausing enforcement work when Acting Director Mick Mulvaney took over, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has

• As affordable housing crisis grows, HUD sits on the sidelines. The country is in the grips of an escalating housing affordability crisis. Millions of low-income Americans are paying 70 percent or more of their incomes for shelter, while rents continue to rise and construction of affordable

01

• Consumer Action INSIDER - August 2018. This month's INSIDER updates readers on recent events (including Public Citizen's Affordable Medicines Now conference, the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue’s annual meeting on the impact of technology on consumers, and the Credit Builders Alliance Training Institute); breaks down the pros and cons of a new California data protection law; tells the tale of a consumer who was charged too much for her out-of-country car rental due to "currency conversion" issues; updates readers on the latest happenings at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (which is currently under assault by its own director); gives information on our "coalition efforts" and lists the latest lawsuit settlements from our Class Action Database.

• The top 10 things consumers complained about in 2017. False advertising of new and used cars, shoddy home improvement work, and deceptive retail sales tactics lead the towering list of complaints that consumers submitted last year. A new annual Consumer Federation of America (CFA)

July

26

• FICO, VantageScore stand against FHFA’s delay of new credit score model. The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Monday it is postponing its search for alternative credit scoring models, but both FICO and VantageScore expressed their disappointment with the agency’s decision. Depending on how the

25

• More than 43% of renters are victims of rent fraud $5.2M lost (Chinese). 近幾年全國租金上漲，有數以百萬房客租房時曾遭詐騙。根據房產網站Apartment List於6月份所做調查，估計有43.1%租客在找房時，遇到可疑的租房廣告，其中超過半數人表示，他們聯繫租房聯絡人，才知道是騙局。

• Closing costs can add considerably to the price of buying a house. In the emotional rush that precedes buying a home—negotiating contract details and price, beating away rival bidders, searching for the best mortgage deal—closing costs often aren’t a pressing concern.

24

• Nebraska: somete a votación problema de inmigrantes. El concejo municipal de una localidad del este de Nebraska ha resuelto que los votantes decidan si permiten emplear y alquilar viviendas a personas que residen sin autorización en Estados Unidos.