The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Will you be going into debt for holiday spending?

The 2018 holiday shopping season, like many before it, will be paid for largely by credit card debt.

After spending more than $1 trillion from November 2017 to January 2018, U.S. consumers began the new year owing more than $1 trillion to credit card companies for the first time. And even though credit card debt levels are going down a little each year, this holiday shopping season could change that.

What are consumers saying about their holiday shopping plans?  Thirty-five percent of people plan to spend more than $500 this year, according to WalletHub’s “2018 Holiday Shopping Survey.” In 2017, 33 percent said they spent that much.

How are your finances as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the holidays approach?

 

Are you in good shape financially? Many Americans don’t think they are, according to WalletHub’s  “2018 Halloween Spending and Financial Fears Survey.” Its results show:

• 75 million Americans say their finances have reached “horror show” status, including 30 percent of millennials and 16 percent of baby boomers.
   
• Two in three people think the economy will get scarier in the next 12 months.
   
• 54 percent of people think credit cards are a trick, not a treat. The worst credit cards charge annual fees as high as $995 and APRs up to 36 percent.
   
• 21 million people think a Halloween costume is worth going into debt for.
   
• 29 percent of people say money leads the list of things that scare/stress them out the most, followed by politics at 25 percent.
   
• 23 percent of people say their biggest financial fear is an unplanned emergency, followed by not having enough retirement savings, 22 percent.

The most expensive time of year is coming, when consumers traditionally rack up billions of dollars in credit card debt, investors shuffle their holdings, and people try to enjoy themselves before making resolutions

Things could turn out well, or not so good.

Trump administration’s deregulation will cost $2.1 trillion, with costs of nearly $840 a year for each household over the next two decades

The Trump administration’s deregulation would deprive American consumers and the economy of more than $2.1 trillion in benefits, according to a Public Citizen report released Wednesday. The report shows that the potential losses to the U.S. economy, consumers, and workers exceed any cost savings for regulated industries, highlighting how President Donald Trump’s unpopular war on regulation is the product of corporate lobbying rather than a serious effort to promote economic growth, said Alan Zibel, research director for Public Citizen’s Corporate Presidency Project and author of the report.

Public Citizen’s examination of 13 public protections repealed, delayed, or targeted by the Trump administration found that, on average, more than $105 billion in benefits to society will be lost every year through 2040 if the rules are erased or replaced with less effective alternatives. These at-risk benefits will cost American households nearly $17,000 over the next two decades, or nearly $840 a year. These benefits far exceed the average annual costs of the rules, estimated at nearly $21 billion.

“Trump’s obsession with deregulation is a yuuuge [the way New Yorkers, including Trump pronounce huge] tax on the same ordinary Americans he claims to represent,” said Alan Zibel. “Trump’s war on regulation will cost American households thousands over the next two decades, and that’s only if we ignore the damages to our well-being and safety that are impossible to quantify.”

Facts and figures for Labor Day 2018

Summer's ending, with Labor Day weekend coming up soon. WalletHub, a personal finance website, offers these facts and figures on Labor Day 2018:

Source: WalletHub

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

29 attorneys general file comments with FTC on role of states in consumer protection

Twenty-nine  attorneys general filed comments with the Federal Trade Commission on the significant role state attorneys general play in consumer protection, and asked the FTC to include states in the discussion as the agency holds public hearings on “Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21^st Century.”

In June, the FTC announced it would offer public hearings “on whether broad-based changes in the economy, evolving business practices, new technologies, or international developments might require adjustments to competition and consumer protection enforcement law, enforcement priorities, and policy.” The FTC asked comments by August 20.

“State Attorneys General are a critical line of defense, protecting consumers against the kinds of unfair and deceptive practices that are far too prevalent,” said  New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood. “At a time when consumers’ privacy, data, and security are often treated as commodities rather than sensitive information, this role is more vital than ever.”

Happy Fourth of July

My spirits are good this July Fourth because my daughter and grandchildren are here visiting from Spain. We have such fun on their summer visits.

However, I'm continuing to be discouraged about President Donald Trump, and how he comes up with bad policy after bad policy that are harmful to consumers and the environment. After about 18 months of terrible decisions, including acting like a fool in North Korea, his administration decides to separate immigrant children from their parents and put them in cages.

As a person who has worked for government, in good government groups, and as a journalist covering consumer issues, it's depressing to have a man like Donald Trump as the president of our great nation. Trump and his cronies are working to dismantle the institutions that have been developed to serve the American public. That the Republicans could give a huge tax cut to corporate America, then propose cutting Medicare and Medicaid to balance the budget is despicable. There’s no end to the harm and corruption that Trump and the Republicans are carrying out daily.

While watching the frightening adoption of traditional conservative Republican policies damaging our government institutions is horrific, Trump’s "white identity" politics spreading hate are beyond belief.

For some reason, I think it’s going to be over soon and our great nation will rise again.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Citibank to pay $100 million in multistate settlement over manipulating interest rates

Photo: TonyTheTiger

Citibank will pay $100 million for manipulating a key interest rate before and during the Great Recession, costing investors millions of dollars.

The investigation of LIBOR, the daily average interest rate that some banks charge each other to borrow money, was conducted by 42 state attorneys general.

“Financial institutions have a basic responsibility to play by the rules – and we will continue to hold those accountable who don’t,” said New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood.

Mulvaney fires members of three CFPB advisory boards

Yet another in a series of moves that signal the destruction from within of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Consumer Advisory Board or CAB members and members of two other advisory boards were fired. Their terms were terminated, and they weren’t permitted to re-apply.

This action took place two days after 11 consumer advocates and academics shared their concern over the cancellation of the only two CAB meetings scheduled for this year, as well as the direction of the bureau away from helping everyday Americans.

“Firing the current CAB members is another move indicating Acting Director Mick Mulvaney is only interested in obtaining views from his inner circle, and has no interest in hearing the perspectives of those who work with struggling American families,” said Ann Baddour, CAB chair.

Mulvaney wants to gut consumer financial protection agency

 

Mulvaney speaks at the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.

Photo: Gage Skidmore

Mick Mulvaney, acting director Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, wants to dismantle the watchdog agency that has restored fairness and competition in the marketplace after the economic collapse 10 years ago leading to the Great Recession.

The bureau has taken more than 180 legal actions against companies such as Wells Fargo and payday lenders, processed more than 1 million consumer complaints, and returned $12 billion to more than 26 million consumers.

In Mulvaney first semi-annual report issued Monday, he makes four recommendations. The first is to fund the bureau through congressional appropriations. The second is to require legislative approval of major rules. His third recommendation is to ensure that the director answers to the president in the exercise of executive authority. And the fourth is to create an independent inspector general for the bureau. 

“As a member of Congress, Mick Mulvaney voted to outright get rid of the consumer bureau,” said Mike Litt, consumer campaign director for U.S. PIRG, a consumer advocacy organization. “Now he is using his platform as acting director to promote his own agenda over the agency’s mission. He wants to take away the bureau’s independence and then make it harder for it to do its job.”

Happy New Year

 

Best wishes to you and your loved ones for a good 2018. In the past, I’ve sent wishes for consumers for a good consumer year. However, if it’s one thing we know for certain, 2018 will be another year in which President Trump, federal agency leaders, and the Republican controlled Congress will continue to gut consumer and environmental protections.

Also in the past, I’ve written about the ups and downs for consumers that have occurred throughout the year. There were few “ups” in 2017, as my article on the top consumer stories for 2017 shows.

The message from Republicans was clear in 2017: the policies they favor are for the top 1 percent to continue to prosper while the rest of us struggle along – working harder with less and less to show for it.