The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued Horizon Card Services and its CEO Robert Kane Friday for tricking consumers into signing up for its expensive membership credit card. Horizon’s credit card, which could come with almost $300 in annual fees on a card with a $500 credit limit, could only be... Read more →
Thursday I wrote about how more than 50 percent of inflation is caused by corporate price gouging and wondered why politicians don’t talk about it and news organizations don’t cover it. Friday I was going to write about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suing Acima and its former chief executive officer Aaron Allred for illegal lending activities. Read more →
It’s amazing that corporate price gouging gets such little attention. It’s responsible for more than 50 percent of inflation that’s causing consumers so much stress and hardship. However, it gets little publicity. Accountable.US, a consumer watchdog group, reports lots of information on this, but I seldom see it in the press. Here are a few examples: Read more →
What’s surveillance pricing? It’s when a company looks at information about you and sets the price of an item or service you want to buy based on that information. The FTC issued orders to eight companies offering surveillance pricing. It wants to know about the possible impacts these practices have on privacy, competition, and consumer protection. Read more →
As the Biden administration works to curb junk fees, big banks keep charging the fees while earning record profits and some even want to increase the fees. CitiGroup, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. – three big banks that continue to charge junk fees – announced Friday more than $26 billion in combined second quarter earnings. Read more →
Consumers are used to depositing their money in banks and savings associations, which are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission. However, some consumers are opening accounts these days with nonbank financial companies, usually online or through mobile apps, such as technology companies providing financial services. Read more →
A decrease in your credit limit can limit your purchasing power, which can hurt your credit score. However, it may also help you spend less and have less credit card debt. Credit limit decreases can also reflection either poor handling of credit or economic uncertainty, so large average decreases in a city might indicate that residents are in financial trouble. Read more →
Millions of workers who are saving for retirement and rely on advice from professionals on how to invest their savings will be better protected under a new rule finalized Monday by the U.S. Department of Labor. The Retirement Security Rule, also called the Fiduciary Rule, updates the definition of an investment advice provider. Read more →
Everything that is wrong with a high-cost loan is only worse when the loan is larger and the terms are longer. New 36 percent interest rate caps in states that previously had no limits are an important step in the right direction, according to a new report from the National Consumer Law Center, an organization that works on behalf of low-income consumers. Read more →
It’s tough these days making money stretch in shifting economic times. Get help with smart money moves by taking a look at complaints filed with the CFPB for 2023. Last year, the CFPB sent more than 1.3 million complaints to over 3,400 companies for review and response, according to the agency’s “Consumer Response Annual Report.” Read more →