Consumer Protection

Keeping Our Children Safe this Holiday Season

Inez Moore Tenenbaum | Posted 11.20.2009 | Business


Inez Moore Tenenbaum

Fortunately, this year, you can holiday shop for your child or grandchild with more confidence than ever before. That's because there are new rules on your side and the side of America's children.

Marketing in Disguise

Sarah O'Leary | Posted 11.16.2009 | Business


Sarah O'Leary

When marketers knowingly play in the darker parts of the gray to drive sales, they're doing a disservice to the consumer and the industry. A good deal not a good deal when it misinforms consumers.

Overdraft Fees Require Customer Consent, Says The Federal Reserve

AP | CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER | Posted 11.13.2009 | Business


WASHINGTON — Banks will have to secure their customers' consent before charging large overdraft fees on ATM and debit card transactions, according t...

Shahien Nasiripour

JPMorgan Chase Says New Credit Card Law To Cost Firm At Least Half A Billion Dollars A Year

HuffingtonPost.com | Shahien Nasiripour | Posted 11.10.2009 | Business


The nation's second-largest bank said a new law that limits unfair rate hikes and hidden fees will cost it as much as $750 million a year. JPMorgan...

Gaming the System

Sen. Mark Udall | Posted 11.06.2009 | Politics


Sen. Mark Udall

Families and small businesses are hurting during these tough times, and I find it unconscionable for credit card companies to game the system and jack up already high interest rates even higher.

Jason Linkins

Bank Lobby Bloodied But Unbowed In Fight Against Consumer Protection

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 11.05.2009 | Business


Bloomberg's Yalman Onaran takes a glance at the state of play on the consumer protection front, and sizes up the influence that the banking lobby has ...

Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Amendment To Exempt Small Firms Passes House Committee

Rolfe Winkler | Posted 11.04.2009 | Business


An amendment that would permanently exempt small public companies from complying with a key provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act advanced in Congress t...

FTC Takes On Ads From Credit Monitoring Service Freecreditreport.com

New York Times | RON LIEBER | Posted 11.02.2009 | Business


The Federal Trade Commission is not amused. It has long believed that the company that owns freecreditreport.com is deliberately diverting people from...

AP: Obama's New Consumer Agency Is Far From A Sure Deal

AP | JIM KUHNHENN | Posted 10.24.2009 | Business


WASHINGTON — Take a hard look now. A new agency that consumers were promised would make bankers, credit card companies and mortgage lenders trea...

Congressional Fail: Don't Let Congress Take Credit

Harry Moroz | Posted 10.23.2009 | Politics


Harry Moroz

Even as consumers suffer the housing crisis and an abysmal job market, they face the prospect of hundreds or even thousands more dollars of credit card debt because of Congress.

Jason Linkins

GOP Rep. Tells House Finance Committee That Banks Should "Trump" Consumers

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 10.21.2009 | Business


Over at the Wonk Room, Pat Garofalo pulls video of Representative Jeb Hansarling (R-Tex.) sitting on the House Financial Services Committee as they ma...

House Panel Exempts Over 8,000 Banks From Oversight

New York Times | Stephen Labaton | Posted 10.15.2009 | Business


Bowing to political pressure from community bankers, the House Financial Services Committee approved an exemption on Thursday for more than 98 percen...

Will Obama Save America From Capitalism?

David A. Love | Posted 10.15.2009 | Politics


David A. Love

American-style capitalism is the system that gives you pilots buying groceries with food stamps and sheriffs throwing families out of their homes. President Obama, it's time for a "new" New Deal.

Invite Regular Folks to the White House

Trey Ellis | Posted 10.15.2009 | Politics


Trey Ellis

To re-energize the angry many that elected him, Obama needs to publicly bar representatives of the powerful few from the White House until they agree, concretely, to better serve the angry many.

Bye-Bye Baubles

Lita Smith-Mines | Posted 10.16.2009 | Living


Lita Smith-Mines

I was encouraged to "bring my useless or broken gold" to an acquaintance's home, where I could "sell it all and take home cash." This was a new one for me, I've never left a social gathering richer than when I came in.

What Consumers Can Do About Overdraft Fees

Christine Escobar | Posted 10.14.2009 | Business


Christine Escobar

Even if you're embarrassed to admit it, you're very likely among the estimated 50 million Americans who have been overdrawn on their checking account in the course of any given year.

Nader: Federal Reserve "Doesn't Even Know How To Spell Consumer Protection" (VIDEO)

Yahoo Finance | Posted 10.13.2009 | Business


Consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader appeared on Yahoo Tech Ticker today to discuss President Obama's plan for a consumer f...

Obama Slaps Congress, Lobbyists In Push For Consumer Protection Agency (VIDEO, REMARKS)

Posted 10.09.2009 | Business


The White House on Friday renewed its push for a consumer financial protection agency with President Obama and a senior economic official warning Cong...

Thanks, Mr. Banker, for My Overdraft Protection!

Fortune's Stanley Bing | Posted 10.08.2009 | Business


<i>Fortune</i>'s Stanley Bing

I wonder what new things the bankers will think of next to help and protect us. One thing's for sure. I know they're thinking of something.

Shahien Nasiripour

As Economy Crashed, Banks Made A Killing On Overdraft Fees

HuffingtonPost.com | Shahien Nasiripour | Posted 10.07.2009 | Business


Talk about kicking people when they're down. Banks and credit unions made an eye-popping $24 billion in overdraft fees in 2008, according to a rep...

Congress Has a Responsibility to Establish Strong Consumer Financial Protection

Janis Bowdler | Posted 11.30.2009 | Business


Janis Bowdler

Congress has a responsibility to plug the holes in a broken financial system that allowed millions of families to watch their savings and wealth evaporate and their debt skyrocket

Why We Need Robust Consumer Financial Protection

Hilary O. Shelton | Posted 11.30.2009 | Business


Hilary O. Shelton

Our current system of consumer protection fails to protect Americans from basic exploitation and abuses that can cost individuals and families hundreds of thousands of dollars, and even their homes.

Brace Yourself for Pink Overload

Halle Tecco | Posted 11.29.2009 | Living


Halle Tecco

We're seeing "pinkwashing," when corporations try to boost sales by turning their products pink in the fight against breast cancer. But will your pretty pink purchase really have an impact?

Don't Believe the Hype! Credit Card Sharks Still Hate the Taste of Plain Vanilla

Dan Geldon | Posted 11.28.2009 | Business


Dan Geldon

Credit card companies are pretending they love plain vanilla so that the perceived need for Congressional action fizzles, so that CFPA slowly fades away, and so that the public feels safe and protected by a working marketplace.

Summers Takes On Consumer Protection Foes

Financial Times | Krishna Guha | Posted 11.18.2009 | Business


Larry Summers, the top White House economic adviser, on Friday accused financial lobby groups of using "death panel" type scare tactics to try to bloc...