By: Amina Abdu, Antitrust Advocacy Associate, Consumer Federation of America Last week, the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google testified before the House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee as a part of the committee’s ongoing investigation into competition in the digital marketplace. The biggest takeaway from this hearing was a turning of the tides away … Continued
This year’s CFA survey of complaints to state and local consumer agencies revealed lots of interesting information about unfair and deceptive practices that harm consumers. One thing in particular that jumped out at me was how some scammers, and even some “legitimate” businesses, try to control consumers and make them do their bidding by not … Continued
Federal Regulators Weaken Payday Loan Rules As Americans struggle to cope with the devastating economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) took steps to weaken critically important consumer protections from high-cost, payday loans. The CFPB issued a new final payday loan rule earlier … Continued
Supreme Court Weakens the Independence of the CFPB Consumers were dealt a major blow late last month, but one that could have been a lot worse, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision weakening the independence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In a 5-4 decision in Seila Law LLC v The Consumer … Continued
Trump Nominee to Head CPSC Faces Strong, Bipartisan Opposition Following a massive advocacy campaign by over 100 groups, public outrage online, and numerous hard-hitting questions by senators at her confirmation hearing, the nomination of Nancy Beck, the former chemical industry executive put forward by the Trump Administration to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), … Continued
State Insurance Commissioners Urged to Ensure 30% Paybacks; Some Insurers Lead the way In a study issued last month, CFA and the Center for Economic Justice (CEJ) documented that the typical COVID-19 auto insurance premium relief provided by insurers to date was half what it should be based on a new analysis of driving and car … Continued
DOT Enables Carmakers to Bypass Safety Rules Under a change formalized last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will no longer require companies seeking federal safety standard exemptions to provide timely, complete information on their requests prior to posting them for public comment. This move comes on the heels of NHTSA’s denial of … Continued
A Consumer Federation of America (CFA) analysis of off highway vehicle (OHV) recalls found that over the past 10 years, there have been 115 OHV recalls, and the number of recalls has increased from two recalls in 2010 to 17 recalls in 2018, and 16 in 2019. In 2020 thus far, there have been eight … Continued
Insurance Companies Graded on $6.5 Billion COVID-19 Premium Relief Policies Spurred by pressure from consumer advocates and their customers who are driving less due to COVID-19 and the Stay At Home orders that have dramatically changed Americans’ daily lives, insurers representing well over 80% of the auto insurance market in America have announced that they … Continued
CFA has begun compiling resources for consumers dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic. You can find those resources, and future updates, on a special section of the CFA website. Below you’ll find information and infographics on avoiding scams, food safety, and to child-proofing your home. CFA Offers Coronavirus Tips to Avoid Scams and Price-Gouging With concerns … Continued
As CARES Act Passes, Important Consumer Protection Measures Unaddressed Congress passed sweeping legislation last week, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), to address the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. While necessary to provide desperately needed funding to the health care system, to provide unemployment insurance to displaced workers, and to … Continued
Scammers always take advantage of disasters and other alarming situations. With the CORVID-19 pandemic, it wasn’t long before we began to hear about people selling face masks online that they never deliver and false claims for products that can supposedly treat or even prevent the virus. We’ve also seen emails that look like they’re from … Continued
Check out CFA’s Brochure 1. Take Steps To Reduce The Spread Of The Disease Halting the spread of COVID-19 is a top priority, which must be front and center in any agenda to address the crisis. Create a comprehensive national paid sick leave policy. Lack of paid sick leave encourages tens of millions of workers, … Continued
Check out CFA’s Brochure 1. Take Steps To Reduce The Spread Of The Disease Halting the spread of COVID-19 is a top priority, which must be front and center in any agenda to address the crisis. Create a comprehensive national paid sick leave policy. Lack of paid sick leave encourages tens of millions of workers, … Continued
Advocates Urge Federal Government to Address Auto Insurance Unaffordability The market for auto insurance is not fair for low- and moderate-income Americans and drivers in communities of color, even if they have an unblemished driving history, CFA Insurance Expert Douglas Heller said in testimony before the U.S. House Financial Services’ Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development, … Continued
Hardly a week goes by without disturbing news about another invasion of our privacy. In the past six months alone consider: Facebook settling a $550 million lawsuit alleging that it collected facial recognition data of users without consent; location data companies tracking the precise movements of more than 12 million Americans via our cellphones; dating apps like Grindr and … Continued
CFPB Weakens Deterrence Against Abusive Financial Practices The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a policy statement late last month that attempts to narrow the scope of federal laws that prohibit abusive financial acts and practices by banks, debt collectors, payday lenders, and other consumer finance companies. CFA director of Financial Services and Senior Fellow, … Continued
A Consumer Federation of America (CFA) analysis of off highway vehicle (OHV) recalls found that over the past 10 years, there have been 110 OHV recalls, and the number of recalls has increased from two recalls in 2010 to 24 recalls in 2017, 17 in 2018, and 16 in 2019. In 2020 thus far, there … Continued
Popular Dating and Health Apps Violate Privacy Several popular dating and health apps are collecting and sharing user data with third-party advertisers without user consent or knowledge, according to a new report from the Norwegian Consumer Council. Citing the report’s findings, consumer groups in the U.S. have called on state and federal officials to investigate … Continued
House Passes Bill to Protect Infants and Toddlers from Dangerous Sleep Products Congress took an important step toward improving infant and toddler safety last month when the House gave voice vote approval to the Safe Sleep for Babies Act of 2019 (H.R. 3172), which would ban infant inclined sleep products and padded crib bumper pads, … Continued
Insurance Regulators Consider Anti-Consumer Annuity Sales Rule Amid reports that state insurance regulators are poised to move forward with a new industry-friendly, anti-consumer model rule, CFA and the Center for Economic Justice wrote to members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) earlier this month urging them to reject the current draft and continue … Continued
One of the arguments that some people make about privacy legislation is that individuals’ personal information should be treated as their property. At first blush, this may seem like an appealing idea. Why shouldn’t we be paid when companies use our data? But that’s the wrong approach to privacy. Privacy is a human right. This … Continued
Washington, D.C. – Leading national investor groups, including CFA, wrote to the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to voice concerns about PCAOB staff guidance, issued last year, that they said would both undermine auditor independence and deceive the investing public. The groups expressed particular concern that the staff guidance would permit firms … Continued
Trump’s Proposed Decision to Freeze Light Bulb Standards Will Cost Consumers almost $173 Billion Following a recent U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) decision to roll back efficiency standards for certain categories of lighting products, CFA submitted comments on the agency’s notice of proposed determination that no lighting standards are needed calling into question the analysis … Continued
SEC Urged to Halt Damaging Expansion of Private Securities Markets Pro-investor and public interest groups have called on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to halt any further expansion of private offering exemptions from the securities laws at least until it can conduct a careful analysis of the impact the proliferation and expansion of these … Continued