News

2017

August

05

• Wells Fargo says number of unauthorized accounts could rise. Wells Fargo & Co.’s troubles continue to mount, with a bevvy of new disclosures last Friday: The bank may have created more unauthorized accounts than first thought, it is the subject of a new federal…

03

• Congress should jump at chance to side with consumers. Fine print has never been the friend of consumers, and in recent years the perils have escalated as financial institutions have drawn up clauses that deny customers effective redress in disputes. To counteract that, the…

• Can 3% down payments compete in today's tight mortgage market?. Housing supply is devastatingly low for first-time homeowners. So will a low down payment hurt their chances against another borrower who puts 20% down?  The short answer: no. “It doesn’t matter if it’s $3,000 down…

• There's money to be made in taking complaints. A new breed of human resources start-ups is cropping up to help companies figure out how their employees feel. Like Glint, Convercent lets companies send customized “pulse” surveys, gather confidential responses in real time, and…

• Many homeowners are guilty of financing renovations on credit cards. A May study by Hearth, a financial technology start-up that provides support for homeowners making renovation decisions, found that 12 percent of Americans planned to finance their renovation with a credit card, which is one…

01

• Thousands of college students may be homeless or precariously housed. Studies suggest that thousands of students at community colleges nationwide could be considered homeless or precariously housed, either because they have been thrown out of a home, evicted, or sleep in a shelter, car or…

• Consumer Action INSIDER - August 2017. The August 2017 issue of Consumer Action's monthly newsletter updates readers on a recent national net neutrality "day of action"; describes our congressional testimony in support of defrauded student loan borrowers; cautions against investing in settlements; describes our updated California LifeLine phone program publication; and more.

July

31

• White economic privilege is alive and well. Is the white working class losing economic ground because of policies intended to improve the lives of black people? Anxiety and resentment among some white voters about those policies certainly seemed to benefit Donald Trump’s…

27

• New York Chinese renters lost thousands to fake landlords (Chinese). （星島日報李志宏紐約報道）紐約市警發布消息稱，有3名嫌犯在法拉盛、積臣泰（Jackson Heights）、東艾姆赫斯特地區涉嫌詐騙，他們在臉書上發布出租公寓的消息，假冒房東與受害者交易，騙取數千元現金。 據警方消息，這3名嫌犯都是與受害者相約在路邊，嫌犯將鑰匙和押金收據給受害者，並以現金形式收取受害者押金，受害者達到公寓時才發現公寓早已被租出去了。4月1日，一名嫌犯與一名40歲的受害者約在積臣泰31大道77-01號前，受害者支付了嫌犯1400元租房押金；4月21日，一名25歲的受害者在積臣泰70街41-62號前與嫌犯見面，交給嫌犯1800元押金；2日後，另一名受害者與嫌犯相約在東艾姆赫斯特Jackson Mill路94-22號，受害者被騙1800元；6月6日，一名受害者在法拉盛北方大道137-58號前與一名嫌犯見面，並給其押金1500元。警方已公布3名嫌犯的照片，呼籲知情者能夠撥打止罪熱線1(800)577-TIPS (8477)、登錄止罪網站www.nypdcrimestoppers.com 或發送短信 TIP577 至 274637(CRIMES)提供線索，警方絕對保密報警消息之來源。

• ‘Honey, you’ve been scammed.’ She lost her home of 30 years. Barbara Barkley lost her house and her savings to a group of California scam artists who stole $11 million from thousands of struggling homeowners looking for help with their mortgages. While the court case is…

26

• Republicans introduce bills to scrap new bank arbitration rule. Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate have introduced bills calling for the repeal of a just-announced regulation that would make it easier for consumers to bring class-action lawsuits against banks. The rule unveiled last…

25

• Consumer Action condemns the House's vote to repeal class actions. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution (H.J. Res. 111) today to repeal the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule to restore consumers’ right to band together to hold banks and lenders accountable…

24

• Let consumers sue banks. In a dispute with your bank or credit card issuer, don’t assume you can seek justice by joining other aggrieved customers in a class action lawsuit. You probably surrendered your right to join a group suit when…

• Mini-CFPB? Pennsylvania attorney general launches consumer unit. While there is a serious push in Washington, D.C. to blunt, if not do away with the CFPB, Pennsylvania’s Consumer Financial Protection Unit will be led by one of the attorneys that helped found the agency. Pennsylvania Attorney…

22

• N.Y. City guarantees representation to low-income residents facing eviction. New York City is taking its fight against evictions to another level by becoming the first city in the country to guarantee legal representation to low-income tenants who are facing eviction.    

21

• Trump administration cancels hundreds of Obama-era regulations. The White House has frozen or withdrawn hundreds of planned rules, a move aimed at bolstering the economy but that scraps proposed protections for workers and the environment.

20

• Consumer Action opposes Congress's attack on class actions. Members of both the U.S. House and Senate took a hatchet to consumer protection today by introducing Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) recent arbitration rule. The rule restores…

• Hiring a bank lawyer to attack CFPB bank rules. President Trump and Republicans in Congress have broadcast their every intention to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The president’s budget attempted to defund it and leading Republicans have called for its director to be…

• Voters support CFPB, strict financial regulation. As Republicans push to overhaul Dodd-Frank, a new poll shows that voters favor strict regulation of financial institutions and the goals of the controversial CFPB. “By wide margins, voters want to see tough oversight of…

19

• Progressives revive attacks on Wall Street in health care's wake. When it comes to Wall Street regulations, congressional Democrats have spent the year playing defense. But as the seventh anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act approaches Friday, a coalition of progressive groups is pushing the party…