President Biden yesterday seized the moment of his State of the Union Address to reiterate his administration’s determination to crack down on junk fees – and especially credit card late fees – that companies use to rip off vulnerable consumers.
AFREF and partners led a letter to the FTC urging it to use its rulemaking authority to protect American consumers from junk fees and put money back into our pockets. Millions of consumers have expressed outrage at the imposition of service fees for live event tickets, “amenity” or “resort” fees charged by hotels, endless surprise rental car fees, hidden internet and cell phone charges, junk fees in the financial sector, and more. The federal government has taken a holistic approach to this problem, including the White House Competition Council, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Department of Transportation (DOT) and now the FTC.
AFREF joined a letter to the White House Task Force on New Americans Financial Access and Education Subcommittee urging them to incorporate policies that would explicitly expand language access within the financial services sector.
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF) submitted letters to the Federal Reserve Board on its recent climate guidance for large banks. A coalition letter signed by 24 organizations urged the Fed to include enhanced safeguards and monitoring around fair lending violations, racial and economic
A 1% threshold for all line-items in companies’ financial statements is “not the hill I would die on,” said Alex Martin, a senior policy analyst for climate at Americans for Financial Reform, which advocates for tougher financial regulation.
Washington, D.C. – A new plan from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced today should save real people real money – $9 billion each year – by capping the late charges that credit card companies impose on customers. But the consumer agency also faces an existential threat that the Supreme Court may soon address.
A new report providing a snapshot of how every member of Congress voted on consumer protections, climate financial regulation, Wall Street, and financial industry legislative measures during the 117th Congress.
House Republicans rang in the New Year with a craven attempt to pander to their corporate cronies, making the 118th Congress’ very first vote one to defund the IRS and protect tax evaders. This comes after the agency finally received much-needed funding in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act after years of being under-resourced.
During a virtual event this week with the American Economic Liberties Project and Americans for Financial Reform, Warren came down hard on crypto once more, after an unprecedented year of failure that has left a black mark on the industry as a whole.
Washington, D.C. – The announcement that Chevron will spend $75 billion on stock buybacks underscores the urgency of reinforcing a measure Congress created last year to penalize companies that engage in a financial practice that amplifies rampant wealth inequality, and in this case boosts the bottom line of a climate-harming industry.