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 first session of the 118th Congress.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new guidance on overdraft fees linked to ATM and one-time debit card transactions will help curtail predatory junk fees that obscure accurate pricing on bank services. The CFPB’s new guidelines can reduce the likelihood that overdraft services flout the law and prevent people from being charged illegal fees.
The Treasury Department released two new rules requiring the disclosure of real estate ownership transparency that will make it easier to identify corporate real estate backers and crack down on money laundering in the real estate sector. This announcement comes the week after the Department of Justice launched a lawsuit against RealPage for facilitating rent price fixing by corporate landlords, and together represent major back-to-back tenant victories against corporate landlords and their privately-funded financial backers
More than 160 consumer, labor, civil rights, faith-based, and community organizations submitted a comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in support of its proposed interpretive rule ensuring important legal protections for consumers who use earned wage advance (EWA) or other fintech cash advance products that need to be repaid with the borrower’s next paycheck. The letter calls for clearer cost and fee disclosures for these workplace payday loans.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a new standard from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) that clarifies the “General Responsibilities” of an auditor in conducting a public company audit. AFREF and Public Citizen submitted a comment to the PCAOB on the proposed standard.
Today, a coalition of public interest organizations filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit defending the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against challenges to its final rule requiring public companies to disclose climate-related risks to their businesses and plans to manage or mitigate them. The SEC rule aligns with the growing consensus among investors and financial regulators in the U.S. and around the world that climate change poses significant risks to financial systems, and that securities regulators have an important role to play in mitigating those risks.
Today, 35 community, civil rights, consumer, and advocacy organizations called on presidential candidates to confront junk fees as a part of any future economic agenda. As President Biden highlights the success of his crackdown on junk fees – especially credit card late fees – presidential candidates should promise to protect people from unfair, undisclosed fees. Junk fees cost families tens of billions yearly. They inhibit competition and hurt consumers, workers, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. Fighting them is immensely popular.
Today, over 100 consumer, civil rights, military, legal services, and community groups submitted comments in strong support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) proposed rule to ban medical debt from credit reports. The proposal would stop credit reporting companies from sharing medical debts with lenders and prohibit lenders from making lending decisions based on medical information. The proposed rule is part of the CFPB’s efforts to address the burden of medical debt and coercive credit reporting practices.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a critical interagency effort that aims to protect consumers from solar fraud and scams, clamp down on bad actors and practices in the industry, promote safe green lending that can benefit consumers and responsible solar businesses, and mitigate climate change. This move comes as more consumers are being marketed and offered loans and leases for green products and projects, due in part to new federal financial incentives that make them more affordable
Today, nearly 100 consumer advocacy, civil rights and community organizations and academics submitted a supportive comment on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Interpretive Rule. These groups strongly support the CFPB’s proposal, which simply clarifies that accounts used to access BNPL credit are credit cards that must comply with credit card rules governing disputes, errors, periodic statements and disclosures. Those protections will enhance the safety of BNPL credit and make it easier for consumers to manage their finances.