Poultry Slaughter Proposal Threatens Food and Worker Safety A coalition of 24 consumer, labor, public health, and civil rights groups and 16 individuals have called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to withdraw a proposal that would increase poultry processing line speeds and remove hundreds of federal inspectors from poultry processing plants.  The coalition criticized … Continued

Obama Administration Raises Fuel Economy Standard The Obama Administration announced last week that it would adopt a federal fuel economy standard of 54.5 mpg for passenger vehicles by the year 2025.  “This is not only a big win for consumers, it is vital to the U.S. auto industry and the single most important thing we … Continued

SEC Reverses Course on JOBS Act Rulemaking In a victory for investors and the integrity of the rulemaking process, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Mary Schapiro has decided to follow standard rulemaking procedures in adopting its first major rule implementing the controversial, anti-investor JOBS Act.  The Commission had planned to implement the law’s provision … Continued

House Votes to Prevent Federal Agencies from Protecting Consumers The U.S. House of Representatives adopted H.R. 4078, the so-called “Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act” on a largely partisan 245 to 172 vote last week.  Two Republicans voted against the bill, while 13 Democrats voted for it.  The legislation consists of seven … Continued

House and Senate Bills on Financial Regulatory Funding Differ Starkly Appropriations bills covering key regulatory agencies involved in implementing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act advanced in both the House and the Senate last month.  While the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the President’s proposed funding increases for both the Securities and Exchange … Continued

CFPB Reopens Comment Period on “Qualified Mortgage” Proposal With approximately 1,800 comments already filed in response to a proposed rulemaking, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has reopened the comment period on the controversial “Qualified Mortgage” and “Ability to Repay” regulation for 30 days.  Citing extensive public interest in the proposed rulemaking, the Bureau has … Continued

Insurers Can Manipulate Computer Systems to Underpay Claims Computerized claims systems used by most of the nation’s largest insurance companies can easily be adjusted to make broad-scale “lowball” claims payments to injured consumers, payments that are less than what they should receive under their insurance policies, according to a new study released by CFA last … Continued

Proposed Poultry Inspection Inadequate to Protect Consumers In comments submitted last week to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS), CFA raised serious concerns about the department’s proposal to modernize poultry slaughter inspection.  “The proposal will replace federal inspectors sworn to protect the public health with plant employees who answer … Continued

FSIS Traceback Policy Proposal Would Improve Food Safety In an important step forward for food safety, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a proposal earlier this month to implement new procedures when raw ground meat tests presumptive positive for E. coli O157:H7 to trace the contaminated meat back to … Continued

Consumer, Lender Groups Offer Recommendations on Mortgage Underwriting With the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reportedly nearing a decision on new rules under Dodd-Frank for underwriting mortgages, CFA, the Center for Responsible Lending, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and the Clearing House Association (an association of the largest banks that currently account for … Continued

President Obama Announces Initiatives to End Excessive Oil Speculation Responding to high gasoline prices, President Obama outlined a plan last week to reduce the excessive oil speculation that is a key contributor to high prices. Earlier this month, CFA Research Director Mark Cooper participated in a press briefing with Americans for Financial Reform in which … Continued

Congress Approves Anti-Investor JOBS Act Despite strong opposition from current and former securities regulators, capital markets experts, institutional investors, securities law experts, and public interest organizations, the House gave final approval last week to H.R. 3606, the JOBS Act, legislation that rolls back investor protections in the name of creating jobs.  The administration actively pushed … Continued

House Passes Anti-Investor JOBS Act As expected, the House of Representatives approved the JOBS Act (H.R. 3606) last week with strong bipartisan support despite growing expressions of opposition from investors, seniors, unions, and securities law experts.  Backed by the Administration, the bill packages together a number of measures that purport to ease access to capital … Continued

Consumer Groups Support Fuel Economy Standard Increase CFA and 23 consumer groups filed comments with the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week in support of the Administration’s proposal to increase fuel economy standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.  The submission included an analysis by CFA Research Director … Continued

“Robo-Signing” Settlement Announced The Department of Justice, HUD and nearly all the state attorneys general announced last week that they have reached an agreement in principle to settle a more than year-long investigation into so-called “robo-signing” and other servicer violations of their responsibilities to homeowners.  Since the financial crisis began, an estimated 4 million owners … Continued

Auto Insurance Practices Deny Economic Opportunities to LMI Households The auto insurance marketplace denies important economic opportunities, especially those related to employment, to low- and moderate-income (LMI) households, according to a study released yesterday by CFA.  The study, which was undertaken by CFA Executive Director Stephen Brobeck and Director of Insurance J. Robert Hunter with support from … Continued

With Cordray Appointment, CFPB Gains Expanded Authority In a move that won enthusiastic cheers from the consumer community, President Obama used his recess authority to appoint former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).  Senate Republicans had kept the nomination on hold for months by refusing to consider … Continued

Guide Helps Consumers Get the Auto Insurance Settlement They Deserve Filing an insurance claim can involve lots of paperwork and procedures.  Knowing what steps to take (and keeping good records) is the best way to insure that your claim is settled fairly.  To help consumers through that often intimidating process, CFA has released a new … Continued

House Advances Bills that Would Undermine Federal Consumer Protections The House passed two bills last week and has begun consideration of a third to impose new burdens of federal regulators that seek to protect consumers from unsafe food, predatory financial products and schemes, and dangerous consumer products.  In a letter to the House prior to … Continued

Military Families Need Fully Operational Consumer Financial Protection Bureau With abusive practices that affect military families continuing to mount, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing earlier this month to highlight the problem.  CFA released information in conjunction with the hearing on a number of financial practices that harm military families and that the Consumer … Continued

CPSC Votes to Implement Independent Safety Testing of Children’s Products The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted 3-2 last month to adopt independent third-party testing rules for domestic manufacturers, importers and private labelers of children’s products.  Under the rules, which include a framework regarding periodic testing to ensure continued compliance, firms will be required to test … Continued

Wall Street’s Oil Speculation Clobbers Main Street’s Consumers The oil price spike of the past year, which saw gasoline prices increase by over a dollar from the summer of 2010 to the summer of 2011, will drive household expenditures on gasoline to a record average of $2900 this year, according to a new analysis released … Continued

CFPB Seeks Information on Financial Products Targeted at Military Personnel Earlier this month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a call for information regarding financial products and services that are offered to and used by military servicemembers and their families.  In a comment letter filed with the agency last week, CFA described findings of its … Continued