National Consumer Law Center

“The Trump Administration is attempting to illegally shut down the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which does critical work protecting people across the country, and we are gratified that Judge Jackson is not going to tolerate violation of her orders,” said Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center. “The courts are the last line of defense against this Administration’s repeated efforts to dismantle the CFPB and clear the way for unscrupulous companies to violate the law and exploit servicemembers, veterans, and their families.” “The Administration’s claim that the CFPB is refocusing its priorities is a sham – the firings are an effort to completely dismantle the CFPB and to violate Congress’s mandate to create a consumer watchdog and fix the gaps that led to the devastating 2007 financial crisis,” said Saunders. #ProtectConsumers #HandsOffCFPB

“The Administration cannot simply ignore congressional mandates and slash the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has spent more than 15 years as an essential financial watchdog, returning $21 billion to over 200 million consumers and protecting people and honest businesses when companies deceive and abuse consumers,” said Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center. “Nonbanks’ shoddy business practices were a significant driver of the financial crisis of 2007, causing millions of people to lose their homes, jobs and savings. By focusing solely on large banks, and ignoring the statutory mandate to supervise nonbanks and enforce the law across its entire jurisdiction, this Administration is clearing the way for unscrupulous companies to once again violate the law and take advantage of ordinary people.” #ProtectConsumers

The New York Attorney General yesterday filed lawsuits against fintech payday lenders DailyPay and MoneyLion for violating the state’s usury rate laws and engaging in deceptive practices. The lawsuits reveal details of the lenders’ operations that show the danger of pending state legislation carving so-called “earned wage” advances out of state lending laws and interest rate caps.  “The current earned wage advance bills pending in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and other states, and awaiting the Governor’s signature in Maryland, impose no limits on the number of fees workers could pay for new forms of payday loans and could permit abuses like New York found, resulting in people paying nearly $1,400 in fees over two years,” said Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center. https://lnkd.in/eF2Jffrh

Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) dealt a  blow to struggling consumers by seeking to remove the cap on credit card late fees. The CFPB filed a joint agreement with the Chamber of Commerce and the banking industry asking a Texas court to vacate a March 2024 regulation that set the default or “safe harbor” amount for credit card late fees at $8. “This decision will allow big banks to exploit consumers to the tune of $10 billion annually by charging inflated late fees that far exceed what late payments cost them to collect,” said Chi Chi Wu, senior attorney with the National Consumer Law Center. “This is yet another way that the current Administration’s actions are increasing costs and straining the budgets of hard-working families while lining the pockets of wealthy corporations.” https://lnkd.in/dtppXNcF

Sick or injured people may be more likely to be confronted by debt collectors attempting to collect medical bills they do not owe in the near future. Despite significant research about the problems caused by medical debt, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced in a court filing on Friday that it was planning to abandon its recent guidance to debt collectors about how deceptive and unfair collection of medical debt may violate the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). “Instead of ensuring that debt collectors comply with the law, the CFPB is ready to walk away from guidance protecting consumers from the collection of medical debts that are not owed,” said April Kuehnhoff, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. https://lnkd.in/e2uvAR4F

CFA is pleased to announce our 53rd Annual Awards Celebration Awardees!  Rohit Chopra, Lauren Saunders, Ed Mierzwinski, & Liz Coyle The Awards Celebration honors extraordinary individuals whose commitment, leadership, and effective advocacy on behalf of consumers is deserving of special recognition. Purchase your tickets for our 53rd Annual Awards Celebration today! ↩️ https://lnkd.in/evjZgHB3

“Congress just voted to block the oversight needed to ensure that big tech companies comply with fraud and privacy laws. Without this protection, millions of people who use payment apps every day are at risk of losing their money to fraud schemes and having Big Tech companies harvest their private data,” said Carla Leticia Sanchez-Adams Sanchez-Adams, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. #ProtectConsumers #HandsOffCFPB

“Breaking the promise that all borrowers can become debt-free by making income-based payments for a set number of years would increase the number of older adults still struggling with loans taken out decades ago for school or job training and leave low-income older adults living on Social Security Disability and Retirement benefits with no way out of their student debt burden. It would also increase their likelihood of default, worsening the default crisis among older adults and putting them at risk of having their Social Security benefits seized,” said Alpha Taylor, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “Under this proposal, many of these borrowers would struggle for decades and die trying to pay off their student loan debt.” #ProtectBorrowers #DefendStudents

“For many borrowers, the borrower defense program is the only safety valve to escape a lifetime of debt after schools lied or engaged in other misconduct to get students to enroll or borrow federal student loans,” said Kyra Taylor, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “The borrower defense program empowers students to sound the alarm, alerting the Department of Education when their school is engaged in misconduct that wastes taxpayer dollars.” #ProtectBorrowers #DefendStudents

“Military families will be especially hard hit if Congress blocks the new rule lowering overdraft fees, as Navy Federal caters to the servicemembers and veterans, and Wells Fargo and Chase both offer military banking. Chase, Wells Fargo, and Navy Federal extract more overdraft fees from struggling military and civilian families than any of the other 10 biggest banks,” said Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center. “Congress needs to decide if it will stand with military and civilian families struggling with high prices, or if it will vote to preserve the abusive junk fee profits of overdraft offenders like Wells Fargo, Chase and Navy Federal. Other big banks like Citibank, Capital One and Ally have no overdraft fees, yet still offer overdraft protection." #ProtectConsumers #ProtectServicemembers #Veterans #HandsOffCFPB