Press Release Archive

2020

August

11

• Consumer Action launches COVID-19 Educational Project (Free resource guide, webinars and multilingual fact sheets help consumers cope with pandemic fallout). Consumer Action, a national consumer education and advocacy nonprofit, has launched a new project aimed at providing consumers—particularly low- and moderate-income workers, limited-English speakers and other hard-hit communities—with essential information and valuable resources that can help them cope with the financial fallout of the pandemic.

July

09

• How to get help with your mortgage during COVID-19. During the COVID pandemic, most homeowners are eligible for help from their mortgage companies, but they have to ask for such help. This multilingual press release explains how.

• How to get help with your mortgage during COVID-19 (Spanish). Para muchos dueños de casa que están pasando dificultades financieras a causa de la pandemia de COVID-19 se les podrí

• How to get help with your mortgage during COVID-19 (Chinese). 目前有許多因COVID-19新冠肺炎疫情影響而遭受財務損失的房屋業主可能將難以支付房屋抵押貸款。大多數房屋業主都有資格從貸款公司獲得幫助，但是他們必需先提出求助要求。大多數房屋貸款人可以要求一般所謂的“寬限期”，而將房屋抵押貸款的還款時限最多延長至十二個月。因寬限期而推遲繳付的貸款可以在日後將其附加到整筆貸款之尾期，或可另外設定一項協議來逐步償還。在大多數情況下，所欠款項不必一次全部償還。而如果在寬限期截止後，貸款人若還是無法負擔其定期房屋抵押貸款還款額，則可以要求貸款公司進行覆查，而讓他們獲得比較能夠負擔的還款方式。 根據聯邦CARES (新冠病毒疫情援助救難經濟安全法案) 規定，當房屋業主提出要求時，就應得到這項緊急援助。此一法規適用於業主的房屋抵押貸款是由Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Veterans Administration, Rural Housing, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac（聯邦住屋行政管理局、退伍軍人行政管理局、鄉村住屋管理機構、房利美、房地美）等聯邦機構擔保或擁有的房屋抵押貸款。而選用私營房屋抵押貸款公司的貸款人也可以從他們的貸款公司獲得援助。 英語能力有限的貸款人如果需要協助，以便了解自己可選擇哪些援助，或希望與房屋抵押貸款公司進行溝通，應該聯繫由聯邦住屋和都市發展局(HUD)核准的住屋諮詢機構。這些機構的認證住屋諮詢顧問可為您提供免費服務。貸款人可以在此查找聯邦住屋和都市發展局(HUD)所批准的諮詢機構，他們用中文及其他多元語言提供諮詢服務：https://apps.hud.gov/offices/hsg

May

05

• White House must protect privacy in response to COVID-19. Groups Tell Pence to Set Standards to Guide Government and Public-Private Partnership Data Practices and Technology Use Washington, D.C. – Today, 15 leading consumer, privacy,

2019

December

19

• Class actions: A vital consumer tool not fully understood by those who stand to benefit (Consumer Action devotes its latest issue of Consumer Action News to explaining the power and value of class action claims). While class action lawsuits are designed to help right some of society’s wrongs and to compensate those who’ve been harmed, it

September

20

• House approves bill to allow you to sue companies (An uphill battle still awaits the FAIR Act in the Senate). Today, in a 225-186 vote, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill that would end forced arbitration requirements in consumer contracts. However, the Forced

August

09

• FHFA decision harms limited English consumers, advocates warn. For Immediate Release:  The Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) Language Access Task Force strongly opposes the decision announced by the Federal Housing

March

07

• CFPB must live up to its name (Protecting consumers should not be a sideline but a full-time job for the regulator tasked with consumer protection). As the U.S. House Financial Services Committee hears the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's semi-annual report, Consumer Action calls on the Bureau's new director to stick with protecting consumers, not enabling companies predatory practices.

January

17

• Consumer groups urge action on bill to stop “spoofed” robocalls. For Immediate Release WASHINGTON, DC — A bipartisan bill reintroduced today in the Senate will address the growing problem of “spoofed” robocalls that

15

• Consumers prefer a paper trail (Survey says consumers choose paper statements over electronic notices). The message is clear: Consumers overwhelmingly prefer to receive bills and statements on paper rather than electronically, according to a new survey of more than 2,600

2018

October

16

• Consumer groups applaud expanded resources for LEP borrowers. WASHINGTON, D.C.- Today, consumer advocacy and civil rights groups, including Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, the Center for Responsible Lending, Connecticut Fair

July

• Protect the CFPB’s critical complaint process. Groups representing consumers, students, seniors, servicemembers, homeowners and underserved Americans joined forces today to tell the temporary leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

June

04

• Groups tell temporary CFPB director: Hands off the public database!. Keep the public consumer complaint database open was the clear message sent by scores of groups to the temporary acting director of the Consumer Financial

May

24

• If companies can protect user data in Europe, they can protect it everywhere (Advocates release letter urging companies to adopt Europe’s new data protection rules worldwide). Washington, D.C. – U.S. companies should adopt essentially the same data protection rules that are poised to go into effect in the European

April

30

• Consumer groups stand up to threats to take complaint database dark (Groups tell acting CFPB director to react after he collects all the facts). Consumer, privacy, civil rights and fair lending groups from across the nation called on temporary, Acting Director Mick Mulvaney today to retain availability of the

February

27

• Data insecurity and data protection (Consumer Action examines whether U.S. consumers stand to benefit from new EU data protection laws). As consumers do and store more and more online, the threat of data breaches and privacy lapses is ever-present. Americans’ privacy rights are dictated

06

• Consumer advocates argue for a strong, independent CFPB (Agency’s independence is necessary to its mission, groups tell Appellate court). For Immediate Release: Feb. 6, 2018 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) independence from external political influence is crucial

01

• Transfer of CFPB consumer complaints unit offers no clear benefit. The following statement can be attributed jointly to Americans for Financial Reform, Consumer Action and U.S. PIRG: This week, Office of Management and Budget

January

31

• Consumers win appeal for CFPB independence. Consumers scored a big win today when an appeals court ruled that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) structure as an independent agency

2017

December

08

• Consumer advocates file in support of acting CFPB director (Agency’s independence is necessary to its mission). The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) independence from external political influence is crucial to the agency’s mission of protecting

November

14

• Groups fight FCC Chair's plan to 'effectively destroy' low-income LIfeline (Consumer, rural and Native American voices sound the alarm). Groups push back at a plan by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to bar "non-facilities providers"—wireless resellers—from the low-income Lifeline phone subsidy program. In doing so, the FCC would knock out four of the five biggest Lifeline wireless providers providing an estimated 75 percent of wireless Lifeline accounts.

July

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

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

May

31

• Poll highlights attitudes about data usage for financial inclusion. Consumer Action finds most agree that rent and utility records could be useful in widening availability of credit, but 96 percent oppose using social media or