Press Release Archive

2018

June

07

• SEC ignores investor sentiment about mutual fund disclosure delivery (Consumer organizations decry ‘mutual fund industry giveaway'). Consumer groups decry SEC action to allow mutual funds to switch delivery default for mutual fund reports from paper to electronic delivery.

04

• Groups tell temporary CFPB director: Hands off the public database!.

  Keep the public consumer complaint database open was the clear message sent by scores of groups to the temporary acting director of the Consumer Financial…

May

24

• If companies can protect user data in Europe, they can protect it everywhere (Advocates release letter urging companies to adopt Europe’s new data protection rules worldwide).

  Washington, D.C. – U.S. companies should adopt essentially the same data protection rules that are poised to go into effect in the European Union on…

09

• Mick Mulvaney turns his back on student borrowers, closes Office of Students and Young Consumers.

  WASHINGTON, DC — Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), announced Wednesday that the Office of Students and Young Consumers will…

08

• New Vision Action Center educates consumers on their rights (New videos on online prescription renewal and the right to purchase eyewear where you want). Consumer Action has launched a new Vision Action Center to help ensure that hundreds of millions of glasses and contact lens wearers in America know their consumer rights.

April

30

• Consumer groups stand up to threats to take complaint database dark (Groups tell acting CFPB director to react after he collects all the facts).

  Consumer, privacy, civil rights and fair lending groups from across the nation called on temporary, Acting Director Mick Mulvaney today to retain availability of the…

March

29

• CFP Board puts investors first in its new standards.

  Statement by Consumer Action on CFP Board’s new Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct

  This statement may be attributed to Linda Sherry, director of…

27

• California eye doctors keeping patients in the dark (Required prescription rights signage nowhere in sight). Consumer Action finds barely a sign of required contact lens/glasses patients’ rights notice in California eye doctors’ shops. Mandated signage in optometrist offices is designed to inform patients of their right to an automatic copy of their eyewear prescriptions.

09

• Consumer groups support legislation to protect airline travelers (Coalition outlines seven consumer protection principles). Consumer groups outline seven principles to guide badly needed consumer protections for airline passengers.

01

• New coalition advocates for access to online vision care (Consumer groups, taxpayer advocates, retailers and technology firms join forces).

  WASHINGTON, DC—Leading consumer and taxpayer advocates, retailers and technology companies have joined forces to launch Americans for Vision Care Innovation, a new coalition…

February

27

• Data insecurity and data protection (Consumer Action examines whether U.S. consumers stand to benefit from new EU data protection laws).

  As consumers do and store more and more online, the threat of data breaches and privacy lapses is ever-present. Americans’ privacy rights are dictated by…

06

• Consumer advocates argue for a strong, independent CFPB (Agency’s independence is necessary to its mission, groups tell Appellate court).

  For Immediate Release: Feb. 6, 2018

  WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) independence from external political influence is crucial to the…

01

• Transfer of CFPB consumer complaints unit offers no clear benefit.

  The following statement can be attributed jointly to Americans for Financial Reform, Consumer Action and U.S. PIRG:

  This week, Office of Management and Budget (OMB)…

January

31

• Consumers win appeal for CFPB independence.

  Consumers scored a big win today when an appeals court ruled that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) structure as an independent agency is constitutional.

  …

2017

December

19

• Options for affordable federal student loan repayment are shrinking (Consumer Action spells out what programs are available—for now). In the new issue of Consumer Action News, we put into plain English the array of repayment possibilities for federal and private student loan borrowers.

08

• Consumer advocates file in support of acting CFPB director (Agency’s independence is necessary to its mission).

  The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) independence from external political influence is crucial to the agency’s mission of protecting consumers, 10 groups told a…

01

• Attack on consumers continues as Congress targets payday rule (Common-sense rule would help consumers stay out of devastating debt traps).

  Washington, DC—Anti-consumer members of Congress are using the controversial Congressional Review Act (CRA)  in an attempt to kill yet another carefully crafted rule created…

November

14

• Groups fight FCC Chair's plan to 'effectively destroy' low-income LIfeline (Consumer, rural and Native American voices sound the alarm). Groups push back at a plan by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to bar "non-facilities providers"—wireless resellers—from the low-income Lifeline phone subsidy program. In doing so, the FCC would knock out four of the five biggest Lifeline wireless providers providing an estimated 75 percent of wireless Lifeline accounts.

October

25

• Congress repeals rule to protect consumer rights to class action. A sad day for consumer rights! Republicans in Congress have decided: There will be no meaningful justice for consumers wronged by the wealthy and powerful.

05

• New national rule promises to rein in payday lenders.

  Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule will help break cycle of debt for consumers

  Washington, DC - On Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced…

August

22

• Consumer Action guides consumers to avoid investing costs, pitfalls.

  Resource helps consumers avoid pitfalls as administration’s attacks on investor protections ramp up

  Washington, DC - As the Trump administration reverses recent advancements in investor…

July

25

• Consumer Action condemns the House's vote to repeal class actions.

  The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution (H.J. Res. 111) today to repeal the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule to restore…

20

• Consumer Action opposes Congress's attack on class actions.

  Members of both the U.S. House and Senate took a hatchet to consumer protection today by introducing Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions to repeal the Consumer…

18

• Webinar offers advice about responding to debt collection calls. Consumer Action joined forces with the Consumer Relations Consortium to create a training webinar about spotting "debt collection" scammers.

10

• Consumer Action applauds new arbitration rule (Rule will protect consumers’ rights to class action lawsuits). Consumer Action press release on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new protecting class action lawsuits