The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Equifax to pay up to $700 million for 2017 data breach

Equifax has agreed to pay $575 million, and possibly up to $700 million, as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and 50 states and territories. The settlement alleges that the credit reporting company’s failure to take steps to secure its network led to a data breach in 2017 that affected about 147 million people.

In its lawsuit, the FTC alleges that the Equifax data breach exposed millions of names and dates of birth, Social Security numbers, physical addresses, and other personal information that could lead to identity theft and fraud.

As part of the proposed settlement, Equifax will pay $300 million to a fund that will provide affected consumers with credit monitoring services. The fund will also compensate consumers who bought credit or identity monitoring services from Equifax and paid other money as a result of the 2017 data breach. Equifax will add up to $125 million to the fund if the $300 million isn’t enough to compensate consumers for their losses.

Debt settlement company agrees to pay $25 million in action by CFPB

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or CFPB announced the settlement of a lawsuit Tuesday it had brought against Freedom Debt Relief, the nation’s largest debt settlement company. The company agreed to pay $20 million in restitution to affected consumers and a $5 million civil penalty. The original suit was filed in November 2017 and an amended complaint filed in June 2018.

“I applaud the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau for taking action against Freedom Debt Relief,” said Andrew Pizor, attorney for the National Consumer Law Center. “It is especially important that the settlement included restitution for aggrieved consumers. Debt settlement and similar programs offered by companies like Freedom often do more harm than good and turn out to be a waste of money.”

Pizor said consumers should talk to their creditors directly and do their own debt settlement negotiations, or they should talk to a qualified consumer bankruptcy attorney.

How to select the best health insurance policy to meet your needs

When you’re hired by a company, it’s likely that you’ll be able to get health insurance through your employer. In America, 58 percent of people get their health insurance this way.

If your employer doesn’t offer health insurance or if you’re self-employed or do contract work, you can get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.

In either case, you’ll need to pick out a policy. It’s a complicated process.

In addition, every year there will be an open enrollment period. That means you’ll be able to look at the different companies and policies your employer or the ACA offer to see if you want to switch.

Here are some tips to help you:

How to choose a financial advisor

In these complex financial times, it’s good idea to have a financial advisor on your team. You need to pick out one as carefully as you would a doctor or dentist.

A financial advisor will review your total financial picture and offer advice on how to invest money. The advisor will take into consideration income, goals, objectives, and attitude toward financial risk.

A certified financial planner is a good choice because requirements for certification include training, an exam, and continuing education.

Sloppy practices by student loan servicers create obstacles to repayment, consumer group says

U.S. Department of Education data show that nearly a quarter of the more than 43 million federal student loan borrowers are in trouble with their loan payments. These borrowers need high-quality, timely assistance, but, unfortunately, the student loan servicing industry has long been rife with misconduct, said Joanna K. Darcus, attorney for the National Consumer Law Center.

The consequences of servicers’ misconduct are significant and, at times, catastrophic for borrowers’ financial lives, Darcus said. Sloppy practices by servicers created obstacles to repayment, raised the costs of debt, caused distress, and ultimately contributed to driving struggling borrowers to default, according to an April 2017 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report based on student loan borrower complaints.

Specifically, many eligible borrowers aren’t enrolled in income-driven repayment or IDR plans despite clear benefits to the financial health of borrowers and their families. Instead, servicers steer many borrowers into forbearances and deferments, which are profitable for the servicer and costly to the borrower.

Car loans causing financial hardships for Americans with limited transportation options

Auto lenders are taking advantage of Americans who need their cars to go to work or school and for shopping, trapping them into car loans with high interest rates and inflated costs, according to U.S. PIRG, a public interest organization.

A report, "Driving into Debt" by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, offers information on the hidden and risky costs of car ownership in the United States.

Today, Americans owe more than $1.2 trillion on car loans. And a significant share of that debt is owed by borrowers with lower credit scores, who are particularly vulnerable to predatory loans.

51 attorneys general ask for automatic cancellation of student debt for disabled veterans

Fifty-one attorneys general are urging the U.S. Department of Education to forgive the student loans of veterans who are permanently disabled due to their military service. The bipartisan coalition issued a letter Friday.   

Last year, the department identified more than 42,000 veterans as eligible for student loan relief due to a service-related total disability, the attorneys generals said in their letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. About 9,000 of those veterans applied to have their loans discharged by April 2018. However, more than 25,000 have defaulted on their student.  

The letter calls on the department to develop a process to automatically discharge the student loans of veterans determined by the Department of Veterans Affairs to be eligible for it. While the automatic discharge process is underway, the letter proposes the department should stop debt collection efforts targeting disabled veterans, and clear their credit reports of any negative reporting related to their student loans.

FTC top officials have conflicts of interest with tech and other corporations

Most top officials at the Federal Trade Commission become lawyers and lobbyists for major technology companies after they leave the agency or bring Silicon Valley conflicts with them when they arrive, a Public Citizen report found.

The report shows that most of these officials – 63 percent or 26 out of 41 – have revolving door conflicts of interest involving work on behalf of the technology sector. These conflicts help explain the FTC’s chronic reluctance to strictly enforce consumer protection and antitrust laws against Big Tech, Public Citizen, a public interest organization, said.

The FTC is charged with consumer protection and antitrust enforcement. In recent decades, the agency has taken a light approach to enforcement, especially against Silicon Valley giants such as Facebook, Google, and Uber.

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.

Tell federal consumer protection agency to support strong action against payday lenders

Photo: Aliman Senai

In 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau approved protections against payday debt traps with triple-digit interest rates, requiring lenders to make sure customers have the ability to repay the high interest rates.

But earlier this year, the new CFPB director reversed course.

The CFPB plans to roll back the heart of its own protections against sky-high payday loan interest rates, but maybe enough comments from the public could stop officials from revoking these important rules, said Elise Orlick, director, US-PIRG.

The CFPB is accepting public comments until May 15. Click here to fill out a form to send the CFPB your opinions.