National Consumer Law Center

The National Consumer Law Center applauded the lawsuit, contending Experian is not the only credit bureau that has harmed consumers. “It’s about time a credit bureau was held accountable for their deliberately designed biased and inadequate dispute systems,” said Chi Chi Wu, a senior attorney at the consumer group. via Los Angeles Times #ProtectConsumers #DefendCFPB

The latest article from NCLC's Digital Library lists federal and state consumer law rights scheduled to go into effect or expire during the period from December 1, 2024, through January 1, 2026. #ConsumerLaw #ProtectConsumers #DigitalLibrary

“The credit reporting dispute system is as biased as it is broken,” said Ariel C. Nelson, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “Experian and other credit bureaus not only engage in sham investigations, they always defer to the creditor or debt collector that supplied the erroneous information, a practice we call ‘parroting.’ It’s like a judge who always rules for the defendants.” #ProtectConsumers #DefendCFPB cc: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

“Medical debt has damaged the financial record of tens of millions for far too long, causing credit rejections and pushing costs even higher for Americans struggling financially,” said Chi Chi Wu, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues with its impressive record of protecting consumers, providing critical relief to the 15 million Americans with unjustly lowered credit scores due to medical debt.” #ProtectConsumers #MedicalDebt #DefendCFPB

Attorney and publishing professional Tatia Gordon-Troy, Esq. has joined the National Consumer Law Center as its Chief Publishing Officer, overseeing the organization’s 21 printed legal treatises, Digital Library, and extensive catalog of consumer law materials. “Tatia brings an extraordinary combination of legal publishing talent and management expertise to NCLC’s publications team,” said Richard Dubois, executive director of NCLC. “Our Digital Library provides unparalleled resources for lawyers in every area of consumer law, and I’m excited by Tatia’s interest in expanding the reach and influence of these materials to help more people achieve economic justice.” #ProtectConsumers #DigitalLibrary

New Jersey has so few protections for indebted residents that the National Consumer Law Center has given the state an 𝐅 grade for years on its annual evaluations of states’ exemption laws, which safeguard property and income from creditors who would otherwise seize everything. Beverly Brown Ruggia, financial justice program director for New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA), said such protections are especially important now, a time when soaring home costs, inflation, high interest rates, burdensome student loans, and medical and consumer debt have left many families struggling. “No one should be debt-collected into the street,” Ruggia said. “If you end up with zero money in your account because of debt collection, you can’t get to work, can’t feed your family, can’t pay for transportation. So then how are you going to pay the rest of the debt? From a practical and just an ethical human-decency standpoint here, people should be able to do those things.” #ProtectConsumers #FairDebt via PhillyVoice.com

"I took on student loans to get a job that could provide for my family and myself in my older years, but the reverse has happened. I’ve taken money out of my retirement account to lower my student debt payments, which exceed my mortgage payments." The number of adults age 60 or older with student loan debt has grown sixfold over the past two decades, and the amount of debt they carry has multiplied nearly 20 times, according to the National Consumer Law Center and the New America Foundation. Today, 9 million debtors 50 and older hold more than $400 billion in student loans, according to the Education Data Initiative. #ProtectBorrowers #DefendStudents #CancelStudentDebt Debt Collective via USA TODAY

Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center, said companies like MoneyLion are a "new breed" of #fintech payday loan companies. A payday loan is a short-term, high-interest loan that is typically due on the borrower's next payday. "We see a lot of these predatory lenders that offer loans that can be the equivalent of 300% APR, but they wrap themselves in all sort of sugarcoating," Saunders said of MoneyLion. "Offering the sweepstakes and something like that to get the excitement of young people is just a way of drawing people into debt-trap loans that increase overdraft fees and put them behind in their financial goals." #ProtectConsumers #StopTheDebtTrap via USA TODAY

“Payment fraud impacts all Americans across many communities, young and old,” said Carla Leticia Sanchez-Adams, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is standing up for people who weren’t able to get the big banks to take their claims of fraud seriously and return their hard-earned money.” #ProtectConsumers #DefendCFPB via Detroit Free Press

Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued the owner of the bank payment app Zelle and three of the nation’s largest banks for failing to protect consumers from fraud in the peer-to-peer payment network. The CFPB alleges that hundreds of thousands of customers lost more than $870 million using Zelle, which is used by hundreds of banks and operated by Early Warning Services (EWS). EWS is owned by seven large banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. “Payment fraud impacts all Americans across many communities, young and old,” said Carla Leticia Sanchez-Adams, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “The CFPB is standing up for people who weren’t able to get the big banks to take their claims of fraud seriously and return their hard-earned money. The CFPB helps ordinary people who’ve been hurt by big banks.” #ProtectConsumers #P2P #PaymentFraud #DefendCFPB