Press Release Archive

2018

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

June

29

• Consumer Action responds to today’s GAO report on Lifeline. Ken McEldowney, executive director of Consumer Action, released the following statement today in response to a report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Lifeline program, a program that has provided discounted and no-charge phone service for low-income Americans for over three decades.

09

• A new era of retirement investment advice you can trust! (Department of Labor’s new retirement investor protections take effect today). Consumer Action statement on the Department of Labor’s new “best interest” retirement advice rule taking effect.

May

31

• Poll highlights attitudes about data usage for financial inclusion.

  Consumer Action finds most agree that rent and utility records could be useful in widening availability of credit, but…

March

08

• Consumer protections at risk (Consumer Action highlights recent consumer gains now in the cross hairs). Consumer Action News reviews many of the gains made in recent months to protect consumers’ personal safety, online privacy, dispute resolution rights and more. However, many of these critical consumer protections are in danger of disappearing under a new administration and GOP-controlled Congress.

February

27

• Activist event targets Wells Fargo's arbitration clause (Wells customers urged to switch banks now!). Organizations protest Wells Fargo's refusal to stop imposing a "rip-off clause" that forces its bogus account victims, other customers and workers to surrender their constitutional rights to obtain services or employment.

07

• Congressional attack on prepaid card protections (Consumer Action urges Congress not to block basic consumer protections).

  Consumers are on the brink of having the first legal protections on prepaid cards. But the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Prepaid card rule is…

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