American for Financial Reform, the Consumer Federation of America, the National Consumer Law Center, U.S. PIRG, and other nonprofit advocacy groups wrote a letter to the CEOs of all three companies asking for detailed information on how the data breach might be leading to higher revenues in credit freeze fees and credit monitoring services.
American consumers deserve to know how much money the big three credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — will make due to the devastating data breach at Equifax.
At a Nov. 16 forum co-hosted by AFR and the AFL-CIO, Sheelah Kolhatkar, author of the New York Times bestseller “Black Edge,” discusses the rise of a powerful new class of billionaire financiers who have used their vast reserves of concentrated wealth to rewrite the rules of capitalism and public policy.
The Take on Wall Street campaign denounces the passage of a tax bill in the House of Representatives that would give Wall Street and the 1% over $1 trillion in tax breaks while leaving many middle-income Americans paying higher taxes, increasing the public deficit, and leading to deep cuts in important public services.
“The package includes legislation that would release the nation’s largest banks from measures to prevent a financial crisis, saving them billions of dollars in expenses,” AFR’s Lisa Donner said. “It would also allow banks and fintech firms to cooperate in new forms of payday lending, and make investment products riskier for mom-and-pop savers. And it’s all happening against the backdrop of a big proposed tax cut for Wall Street.”
“Trump and Republican lawmakers have long characterized Cordray as an enemy of the people — a bureaucrat run amok, imposing his autocratic will on gentle, kindhearted businesses that only want to compete freely and fairly for people’s patronage… ‘And people who don’t understand what the bureau does might believe that,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform. ‘But if you describe the bureau’s work to people… they overwhelmingly support it.'”
At the Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking on Borrower Defense, Alexis Goldstein gave public comment imploring the Department to finally discharge the debt of students defrauded by for-profit colleges.
“Following a Wall Street-induced financial crisis that cost millions of people their homes and jobs, the CFPB began its work as the first federal body with the mission and capacity to stand up for everyday Americans in their dealings with the financial services companies who have such an impact on our lives each and every day. Obtaining $12 billion in relief for over 29 million Americans is a great accompishment.”
“[T]he Senate cabal has masked their handout by claiming to focus on relief for small community banks… [But] the proposal ‘includes over a dozen measures that would ease rules on banks, and a few minor changes for consumers that ought to be a given,’ said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, the main pro-regulatory advocacy group in D.C.”
AFR sent a letter opposing a dozen different deregulatory bills being marked up by the House Financial Services Committee. AFR Letter Re HFSC 11-14 Markup