News

2022

February

02

• Serious about tackling inflation? Then address soaring housing costs. Home builders have been unable to keep up with demand for well over a decade, held back by restrictive zoning requirements, high permitting costs and often an inability to get affordable financing to buy land

01

• Free weekly credit report offer extended through 2022. Free weekly access to your credit reports will be available through the rest of 2022, according to an announcement from the three major credit-reporting companies. That means you can continue to access your credit reports from

• Rents are up more than 30 percent in some cities. Average rents rose 14 percent last year, to $1,877 a month, with cities like Austin, New York and Miami notching increases of as much as 40 percent, according to real estate firm Redfin. And Americans expect rents will

January

27

• Experian, Equifax, TransUnion rarely act on credit file complaints, report says. If you spot a mistake on your credit report and contact the credit bureau, there’s a good chance nothing will happen. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion together provided relief when alerted to errors less

06

• Credit bureaus drew more than half of consumer complaints. A new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reveals that more than half of the complaints the agency has received from the public from January 2020 to September 2021 were directed at Equifax, Experian or TransUnion,

• Here’s what pandemic aid remains available. There continues to be billions of dollars in federal rental assistance accessible to tenants who’ve fallen behind. The National Low Income Housing Coalition has a state-by-state list of the

03

• Consumer Action INSIDER - January 2022. Start 2022 right with Consumer Action's INSIDER newsletter. Learn about what we are up to with the goal of improving consumer protections and consumer rights.

2021

December

27

• Many home insurance premiums are rising. Across the country, homeowners renewing their policies are discovering that rising material costs, supply chain disruptions and climate change are combining to drive premiums up by an average 4 percent to an average annual premium of $1,398,

16

• The return of the 10-minute eviction. Nobody in Phoenix was better or more practiced at the business of eviction than Lennie, who had personally removed more than 20,000 Arizonans from their homes during the past two decades as the area’s

15

• Global investors gobbling up first-time homebuyer homes. Over the past six years, 19 of the 32 homes on Tammy Sue Lane have been purchased by a billion-dollar investment venture, part of an unprecedented flow of global finance into the American suburbs. The venture, Progress

08

• What you need to know if you’re being tracked down by a debt collector. What proof does a debt collector have to provide me that I owe the debt? This “debt collection validation notice” should include enough information to help you figure out if you owe the

01

• New rule will let debt collectors track you down on social media. Debt collection rules have expanded the ways debt collectors can chase down debtors. In practice, it may mean millions of consumers can now be bombarded with email and text messages and requests to connect on

November

30

• Consumer Action INSIDER - December 2021. This month's newsletter features articles on how to (attempt to) stop robocalls; a rundown on our recent 50th anniversary convening, looking at five decades of consumer protections (which you can now watch on YouTube); advice for safeguarding your financial data from a recent webinar; new class action settlements you can join; and more.

07

• Last chance to get advance child tax credit. It could be a financial lifeline just in time for the holidays — a child tax credit payment to cover food, rent or presents for children in households struggling to make ends meet. The American

01

• Consumer Action INSIDER - November 2021. The INSIDER rundown: Certificates of recognition for 10 allies, advocates and board members; Hotline Chronicles on how to address identity theft; the CFPB's new director; BofA settles class action lawsuit about auto-pay options; and more.

October

22

• Justice Department to expand redlining investigation efforts. The Justice Department announced Friday a cross-government effort to investigate and prosecute redlining, the practice of banks discriminating against racial minorities or certain neighborhoods. It is the first major expansion of redlining investigations since the

04

• Senate confirms Rohit Chopra to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Senate narrowly approved President Joe Biden's pick to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, giving the bureau a director* who is likely to embrace an aggressive "watchdog" role, similar to how

01

• Consumer Action INSIDER - October 2021. In this month's edition, we report on our upcoming 50th anniversary events, warn rental car customers about the often unexpected cost of tolls, highlight recent coalition efforts and CFPB activities, and alert readers to a class action suit against Wells Fargo for unrefunded GAP fees.

September

29

• Freddie Mac finds ‘pervasive’ bias in home appraisal industry. A study from the federal housing finance agency Freddie Mac adds to a growing body of research that finds racism in the appraisal industry is undervaluing the homes of Black and Latino Americans

13

• How you pay the rent may help your mortgage application. Later this month, a group of renters in the United States will get a new break when they try to become homeowners: Their history of consistently paying their landlords will count toward qualifying for a