The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

CFPB and seven states launch ‘innovation network’ that will approve new risky financial products and protect them from enforcement

Under the Trump administration, the federal agency that’s supposed to protect consumers from Wall Street and financial predators has thought of yet another way to strip consumers of their protections. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or CFPB announced Tuesday that, working with seven state regulators, it launched the American Consumer Financial Innovation Network or ACFIN, a network that it said would "enhance coordination among federal and state regulators to facilitate financial innovation."

The CFPB invited all state regulators to join ACFIN, and the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah took the offer.

Consumer advocates criticized the CFPB action because it gives banks, fintech companies, and other corporations no-action letters and approvals that will protect companies from enforcement and determine potentially new risky financial products and services to be in compliance with the law.

Facts and figures for Labor Day 2019

Source: WalletHub

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Women's Equality Day 2019 – Celebrating votes for women

From Visually.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

CFPB fails consumers by not carrying out payday lending rule, consumer groups say

Photo: Aliman Senai

Consumer groups urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or CFPB in a letter sent Monday to take action to carry out the payment requirements in its payday lending rule, whose compliance date was Aug. 19.

These requirements restrict payday and vehicle-title lenders from attempting to withdraw money from borrowers’ bank accounts after two attempts have failed. The safeguards would help consumers avoid fees for unsuccessful debit attempts and possible account closures.

The CFPB is refusing to take steps to carry out the requirements and protect consumers, according to the consumer groups.

States sue EPA over pesticide that harms children

Six state attorneys general filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court against the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency for continuing to allow chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that harms children’s neurological development, to be used on food. The states are challenging the EPA’s decision, because it hasn’t made a determination, as is required by law, that the pesticide is safe.

“Chlorpyrifos is extremely dangerous, especially to the health of our children,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. “Yet, the Trump Administration continues to ignore both the science and law, by allowing this toxic pesticide to contaminate food at unsafe levels. If the Trump EPA won’t do its job and protect the health and safety of New Yorkers, my office will take them to court and force them to fulfill their responsibilities.”

Scientific evidence shows that even small doses of chlorpyrifos can damage parts of the brain that control language, memory, behavior, and emotion. Studies have found that exposure to chlorpyrifos impairs children’s IQs.

New rule that allows nursing homes to force residents into arbitration puts seniors at risk

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a final rule Wednesday stating that it will no longer prohibit nursing homes from forcing a resident into arbitration if they have a dispute with the nursing home. As a result, nursing homes can enforce agreements in which residents sign away their right to access the court system if they’re injured or harmed.

“This shameful move by the Trump administration puts the interests of nursing home corporations before residents – the people who need our protection the most,” said Remington A. Gregg, counsel for civil justice and consumer rights for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division

Nursing home residents are among our most vulnerable citizens, Gregg said, adding forcing them into secret arbitration process will allow systemic problems in nursing homes to go unaddressed and remain hidden.

Let’s celebrate our democracy on July Fourth

Happy Fourth of July.

It’s a good day to celebrate our democracy and remember that it needs to be cherished and protected.

In America, we’re free to take part in government and make our voices heard, or not. We can write letters, join organizations that lobby, and protest, or not. We also can run for office, or not. We can vote, or not.

Although it often seems like things have changed in Washington, D.C., recently for the worse, we the people are the government. It’s ours. Rather than railing against it, as the right-wing media advocates, citizens need to participate and help to make government as strong and productive as possible.

Decide today on what action you can take to help make our democracy work well for everyone.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Baby boomers start the summer with thoughts of politics, health, and stuff

It’s summer at last with spring rains lessening and warm days turning into hot days in many parts of the country. Politics are heating up, too, with the debates for 20 Democratic presidential candidates drawing substantial interest.

For Tom Sightings from Sightings Over Sixty, the heat has finally come in full force – in both the weather and in politics. Dial in to “Summer Heat” to find out how he's slowed down and started doing summer activities for little or no money, including watching a couple of debatable programs on television.

It was difficult for Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting to avoid the hype for the great event of the past week – the two-night Democratic debate extravaganza. Baer settled onto her couch with comfort food – ice cream – and spent four hours of her precious time watching politicians talk…and talk…and talk. She commented on the spectacle in this week’s post “Democrats Debate, Discuss, and Dream.”

Other boomers are writing about health.

For Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com the topic is emotional eating. Emotional eating is one of the main causes of weight gain in women over 50. Olkowski is trying out a weight loss program that’s an app on your smartphone. It holds you accountable to yourself and gives you support and education on how to deal with psychological issues that are packing on the pounds. 

On my blog, I wrote about a request by consumer and health groups to put a warning statement on alcoholic beverages labels to increase consumer awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer. Half of Americans aren’t aware of this link.

Then, there’s the topic of what to do with all your stuff. Organizing spaces is a topic covered by two other boomer blogger.

What happens to our stuff when we don't have children to leave it to? And what happens to our nostalgia? Those are questions Carol Cassara of Heart•Mind•Soul asks in her post about stuff and nostalgia.

Jennifer Koshak of Unfold and Begin wants to know if you have a soul loving space.  A place that nourishes you, calms you, and helps to soothe your soul? A space in which you feel creative? Or, a space in which you feel connected with your family? For details, see the article “How to Create a Soul Soothing Space.”

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #603. Be sure to take a look at these great boomer articles. And, leave a message to join in the conversations.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Personal Finance Writer

New York Times editorial rips Trump administration for failing to protect borrowers

With the Trump administration proposing to reduce federal oversight of mortgage lending, perhaps the most obvious lesson from the 2008 financial crisis, the need for stricter supervision of mortgage lending, has been lost, the New York Times editorial board said in an editorial Thursday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created in 2010 to protect borrowers, and it increased the reports mortgage lenders are required to file each year. The new information makes it easier to identify predatory lending and discrimination.

The Trump administration is proposing to increase the number of small lenders exempt from the requirements and has announced it won’t penalize lenders who don’t comply with the requirements this year, the first year the new reporting requirements went into effect.

How government regulations help consumers

Conservatives rail against government regulations, and the Trump administration is doing its best every day to cut government regulations that corporations hate.

However, government regulations help consumers. A report by the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards lists 10 worker, health, safety, and transportation standards that could help consumers this summer.

“Summer is supposed to be when we take time off from work to spend with family and friends, enjoy picnics, barbeques and cookouts, lay out by the pool, head to the beach, take road trips across the country or fly to far-flung places,” the report says. “But what happens if you’ve been deprived of the wages needed to take time off or travel, if road trips, flights and tour boats are potentially dangerous, if it’s way too hot to work or play outside, and there’s a good chance the food and water may be hazardous to your health? Suddenly, summertime looks less like a dreamy vacation and more like a scorching hot nightmare.”

The regulations discussed in the report are: