Administration Urged to Improve Fuel Efficiency of Heavy Duty Trucks

Nearly three quarters of Americans favor requiring manufacturers to increase the fuel economy of large trucks to reduce their fuel costs, according to a recent survey commissioned by CFA.  Of the surveyed respondents, 74 percent favored the standards, while only 25 percent opposed. However, only 56 percent of respondents are aware of the fuel costs savings, the survey revealed.

“Consumer support for big truck fuel economy is already substantial, and as consumers better understand the impact these policies have on their pocketbooks, public support for these policies will become even stronger,” said CFA Director of Public Affairs Jack Gillis in a press statement.

Earlier this month, CFA submitted comments urging the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to recognize consumers as major stakeholders in the rulemaking and to further recognize that consumer pocketbook savings, and increased consumer disposable income, should be recognized in calculating costs and benefits.

The comments summarized findings from a recent CFA report, “Paying the Freight,” which estimated fuel costs borne by consumers equal $1,100 per year and will most likely continue to grow if fuel economy standards are not raised. On the other hand, truck fuel costs could be cut by as much as 50 percent if performance standards were designed with principles similar to those for light duty trucks, CFA found.

Groups Pushing White House for Stronger Privacy and Data Protections

Consumer, privacy, and civil rights groups are pushing for a stronger Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights (CPBR), a message they conveyed in  comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) earlier this month. The groups praised the Obama Administration for taking positive steps in addressing the need for public policy change on privacy and big data, but recommended baseline online privacy legislation that implements the CPBR, which at this point is simply a statement of high-level principles.

“Americans now face a formidable commercial surveillance infrastructure over which they have little control. Data collection and sharing is ubiquitous, invisible, intrusive and largely unregulated,” the groups wrote. “Consumers have repeatedly made it clear that their confidence in the online ecosystem is eroding which each data breach, whistleblower report, media article and change in ‘Terms of Service.’”

CFA also signed onto another set of comments to the NTIA urging the Obama Administration to clarify the section of the CPBR that addresses metadata. The groups argued that since metadata reveals an enormous amount of sensitive information about individuals, stronger privacy protections should be called for.

“If the Administration is serious about privacy, it needs to turn the CPBR into legislation that would actually protect individuals’ privacy,” said CFA Director of Consumer Protection Susan Grant.

DOJ Will Revisit Consent Decrees Governing Music Industry

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that it will revisit the consent decrees governing Professional Rights Organizations (PROs) in the music sector. In a comment filed with the DOJ earlier this month, CFA argued that the review of the consent decree is needed to address the anti-competitive, anti-consumer conduct of these organizations.

Despite music rights holders’ effort to expand enforcement based on claims of rampant piracy, CFA argued that digital disintermediation has created a much more efficient, consumer-friendly music sector that has eliminated anti-consumer and anti-competitive practices, wrung out excess profits created by the abuse of market power of a highly concentrated music sector, and replaced it with a more efficient, consumer and artist friendly ecology.

“Above all, the ongoing efforts of music rights holders to control, limit or undermine the development of Internet-radio music distribution by strangling Internet-radio with excessive royalties must be stopped,” wrote CFA’s Director of Research Mark Cooper in the comments. “The Department of Justice should reaffirm its commitment to an open, competitive mass market in music by strengthening the consent decrees.”

Bill Aims to Rein in Payday Loan Costs

Reps. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) and Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced legislation last month, the “Protecting Consumers from Unreasonable Credit Rates Act,” to reduce the cost of payday loans and other high-cost credit products.  The legislation would cap interest rates for all consumer credit transactions at 36 percent, the level set by Congress in 2006 for certain credit products marketed to servicemembers and their families.

“A safe and sustainable loan is one that consumers can repay in full and on time without additional borrowing,” said CFA Director of Financial Services Tom Feltner in a press statement.  “Capping rates at 36 percent will protect consumers from the abusive practices common in payday loans, auto title loans and other high-cost credit products that often top 400 percent APR.”

Supported by more than 30 consumer, community and civil rights organizations, the bill also would allow states to keep existing caps at or below the 36 percent level or set a lower rate.  And it would encourage the creation of responsible alternatives to short-term lending by allowing some initial application fees.

In a related development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and 13 state attorneys general recently took action against payday lender Rome Finance for targeting servicemembers and consumers with expensive debt that was not properly disclosed and for attempting to collect illegal fees. In a press statement, CFA and other consumer groups applauded the action, which permanently barred Rome Finance from further lending activity, required it to provide $92 million in debt relief to approximately 17,000 consumers with outstanding loans and to compensate servicemembers and consumers for hidden, inflated interest charges.

The groups also urged the Department of Defense to move forward with much-needed improvements to the Military Lending Act to protect servicemembers from triple-digit interest rates and to establish guidelines to prevent the misuse of the military allotment system.

Telemarketing Abuses Were Fastest-Growing Complaints in 2013

Do-not-call violations and other telemarketing abuses were the fastest growing complaints in 2013, according to the latest survey of state and local consumer protection agencies conducted by CFA and the North American Consumer Protection Investigators (NACPI). “Despite the national do-not-call registry, strict rules concerning robocalls, and other protections, unwanted and fraudulent phone calls are still plaguing American consumers,” said CFA Director of Consumer Protection Susan Grant in a press statement.

Forty agencies from twenty-three states responded about the top, worst, and fastest-growing complaints in 2013. The survey also asked about new kinds of problems that consumers reported, the agencies’ biggest achievements and challenges, and new laws needed to better protect consumers.

Technologies used to mask callers’ real identities and locations make telemarketing fraud and abuse particularly challenging for state and local consumer protection agencies to deal with, especially when the culprits are overseas.

Complaints related to automobiles, home improvement and construction, credit and debit, retail sales and service were the most common subjects of complaints to these general-purpose state and local agencies last year. When asked about the worst complaints they received based on the number of consumers involved, the dollar amounts, the particular vulnerability of the consumers, or the outrageousness of the situations, scams against the elderly topped the lists.

“State and local consumer agencies work hard to educate the public, resolve individual complaints, and keep the marketplace fair for all,” Grant said. “Their actions demonstrate the positive role that government can play in people’s lives and they deserve public support.”