The Republican-led House Financial Services Committee is devoting its first hearing of the new Congress to destroying a CFPB final rule that would slash a particularly abusive big-bank junk fee – overdraft charges – from $35 down to $5, which would save people $5 billion each year, or $225 per household.
The Private Equity Climate Risks project unveiled an update to its public database of the energy holdings of 20 of the world’s largest private equity firms, the Private Equity Energy Tracker, bringing into focus the latest state of private equity investments in the energy sector.
Dozens of consumer protection, community development, environmental, climate, and racial justice advocates have joined together to form the Equitable & Just Insurance Initiative, a coalition that aims to develop solutions that can guide community leaders and policy advocates working to address the climate-driven insurance crisis.
Last week, newly confirmed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent granted billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team access to all of the federal government payments data. Musk’s team of tech bros are currently upending and disrupting the entire federal government without clear statutory authority or congressional approval.
President Donald Trump today caved in to pressure from Wall Street and Big Tech and fired Rohit Chopra, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. During the campaign, Trump dangled measures like caps on credit card interest rates, Trump is now sacking someone whose years of work on behalf of consumers benefited families across the country.
Days before taking the oath of office, Donald Trump and his family launched a new cryptocurrency token — known informally as a meme coin — called $TRUMP, as the crypto industry held an inaugural ball. Despite scant details about the coin’s value, use, or risks, trading took off, sending the coin’s price skyrocketing.
Christine Chen Zinner, a senior lawyer for Americans for Financial Reform, a progressive consumer advocacy group, said: “Those billions that Chopra got back for consumers meant less profit for the industry. If Trump really cared about everyday people, he’d keep Chopra around.”
The combination of Big Banks, Big Tech, and Big Data have converged to rampantly collect and commodify people’s most private information and financial data. These companies are surveilling every bank transaction, mouse click, cell phone tap, and online purchase.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has finalized a rule allowing it to supervise larger nonbank companies that offer services like digital wallets and payment apps, also known as peer-to-peer or P2P apps. Supervision of these companies will make sure they comply with the law and do not facilitate fraud. Banks are already supervised for these same reasons, and this rule will level the playing field to make sure all payments are safe, whether offered by a bank or a nonbank company.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new overdraft fee rule closes a paper-check era loophole that has promoted abusive practices and allowed the biggest banks to earn billions in profits off of the most vulnerable families. The rule will help everyone, but especially families that are struggling with high prices and making ends meet.