Posts tagged as:

legislation

Consumer Financial Protection Agency must have teeth and be flexible

June 18, 2009

Earlier this week, President Obama announced his plan to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency as part of his financial reform package. It is a great idea, and I hope it will succeed.
Why we need it
If you buy a sports car, you are not likely to accept a station wagon when you go to pick [...]

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Credit card eliminations spike

June 8, 2009

The credit card industry is purging accounts, shutting down just over 19% of their accounts in the past year. As you can see, that is a huge increase over past rates. And this is on top of all the credit limit reductions (not to mention lines of credit). Since the industry is threatening further account [...]

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Credit card companies: they’re finally getting f***ed back

May 29, 2009

Happy Friday!

New Credit Card Laws – watch more funny videos

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Credit card agreements must use 12-point font

May 20, 2009

As someone who reads dozens of credit card agreements every month, this may be the most-welcome part of the new credit card legislation:
(d) Minimum type-size and font requirement for credit card applications and disclosures. -All written information, provisions, and terms in or on any application, solicitation, contract, or agreement for any credit card account under [...]

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Senate Passes Bill to Restrict Credit Card Practices

May 20, 2009

Senate Passes Bill to Restrict Credit Card Practices | New York Times

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Why is Obama silent on bankruptcy reform?

May 19, 2009

The Red Tape Chronicles asks whether Obama is “backing the wrong horse” by championing credit card reform while ignoring bankruptcy reform that would allow bankruptcy judges to reduce mortgage loans in bankruptcy—just like they can do for all other debts. Credit card reform is a great thing, of course, but it will have a tiny [...]

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Midnight hour at the Capitol

May 15, 2009

A summary of legal legislation, with a focus on consumer bills. Midnight hour at the Capitol | Minnesota Lawyer

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Link roundup

May 14, 2009

Time to clean out my Google Reader queue.

How to complain about: credit report errors | The Red Tape Chronicles
Does it make sense to pay “points” upfront to lower your interest rate? Decoding the Mysterious Mortgage Points Game | Alpha Consumer
What’s The New Credit Card Reform Bill All About? | Consumerist
Stop fighting bankruptcy. When bankruptcy is [...]

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Banks spent $42.4 million to kill the cramdown

May 6, 2009

Last week, the Senate put the proposed “cramdown” legislation to rest. That legislation would have saved 1.7 million homes, and $300 billion wasted on the foreclosure process. The banking industry was apparently not interested in $300 billion, though. Instead, it spend $42.4 million lobbying senators to kill the bill.
Figures. The astonishingly bad judgment of those [...]

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Forced Arbitration: You Can’t Sue Us For Discrimination

April 30, 2009

Why you should support the Arbitration Fairness Act. Forced Arbitration: You Can’t Sue Us For Discrimination | Consumerist

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The banking industry hates America

April 30, 2009

Why would bankers oppose legislation that would save millions of homes and $300,000,000,000 of their money? They hate America. This is the only conclusion I can come to.
The “cramdown” legislation would have enabled bankruptcy judges to modify home mortgages, which they used to be able to do, anyway. In doing so, millions of homeowners would [...]

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Today Is Arbitration Fairness Day!

April 29, 2009

Call your representatives and tell them mandatory binding arbitration sucks! Today Is Arbitration Fairness Day! | Consumer Law & Policy Blog

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Payday lenders are corporate loan sharks

April 29, 2009

A big part of the payday lending story that somehow does not get much play is the comparison to the loan sharks of the past and the historical animosity towards usury. The Salt Lake Tribune has a good story of the dangers of predatory lending, but even better is that it brings up these points. [...]

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Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights Passes Out of Full Committee

April 22, 2009

From NACA: “Here is a very quick update on credit card legislation. Just now the House Financial Services Committee passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights by a 48 to 19 vote. According to Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), the bill is expected to go to a full House vote next week! . . . [...]

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Minnesota Lawyer on anti-consumer attorney fee legislation

March 21, 2009

Michelle Lore at Minnesota Lawyer picked up on my post about Minnesota DFL’ers out to eviscerate consumer protection laws. She included quotes from several Minnesota attorneys, who point out that in addition to being a dumb idea, the bill attacks the idea of a “private attorney general.”
These statutes further the “private attorney general principle,” according [...]

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Business pursuing anti-consumer legislation in this economy?

March 17, 2009

Business pursuing anti-consumer legislation in this economy? | Consumer Law & Policy Blog

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Attorney fee provisions about to be eviscerated

March 10, 2009

Minnesota DFL’ers are inexplicably out to eviscerate Minnesota consumer protection laws. Representative Paul Thissen (DFL), Representative Dave Olin (DFL), and Senator Linda Schneid (DFL) have teamed up on HR 1410, a bill that would require judges to “take into consideration the reasonableness of the attorney fees sought in relation to the amount of damages awarded [...]

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Elizabeth Warren’s Financial Product Safety Commission

March 5, 2009

Senator Durbin (D, IL) is soon expected to introduce legislation which would create a federal “Financial Product Safety Commission” (FPSC). This concept was originally proposed by the ever-fabulous Professor Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law School (pictured).
Her idea to make a regulator for financial products modeled on the Consumer Product Safety Commission has been floating around [...]

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Bailout hearings

February 25, 2009

February 25, 2009 | Dilbert.com

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House addresses foreclosure relief tomorrow

February 25, 2009

One of the problems perpetuating the foreclosure crisis is the inability of lenders and borrowers to renegotiate those loans. Lenders don’t want to take care of vacant homes, and many borrowers could stay in their home if those ridiculous adjustable rates were locked into a reasonable fixed rate. Renegotiating those loans means more money to [...]

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