Was your Facebook data shared with Cambridge Analytica? You can now find out

 On Monday, the social media giant began rolling out a “see how you’re affected” tool at the top of News Feeds to inform users if they’re among the tens of millions of people who had their data improperly harvested by Cambridge Analytica. http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/09/technology/facebook-data-tool-cambridge-analytica/index.html

Consumer Protection in the States: A 50-State Evaluation of Unfair and Deceptive Practices Laws

New York Consumer Protection Attorney

The National Consumer Law Center has issued a review of the Unfair and Deceptive Practices Laws of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Regulations differ drastically, state-to-state. “In many states, they write, “the deficiencies are glaring. Legislation or court decisions in dozens of states have narrowed the scope of UDAP laws or granted […]

The New ID Theft: Millions of Credit Applicants Who Don’t Exist

Thief holding credit card

Federal regulators are warning banks and other financial institutions about an expanding area of financial theft. With increasing regularity, thieves are creating identities out of thin air and running up balances on lines of credit using the phantom identities. It’s costing the financial industry billions, and presumably the costs are being passed on to customers […]

Trump is systematically backing off consumer protections, to the delight of corporations

President Donald Trump

Agencies under President Trump’s executive discretion have taken a laid back approach to consumer protections relative to previous administrations. The Washington Post writes: “At the [CFPB], for example, enforcement actions have dropped from an average of three-to-five each month during the past four years down to zero since a Trump appointee took charge of the […]

Credit Bureaus Let Wrongdoers Run Amok, Disrupt Mortgage-Seekers

Home Loan Sign

Credit bureaus have reportedly returned to the practice of “trigger listing,” used extensively in the lead up to the 2008 housing market-crisis. Consumer advocate, Ed Mierzwinski, describes the process as follows: When a consumer applies for a loan to purchase property, the credit bureaus alert potential lenders to the transaction; those competitors, which Mierzwinski notes […]

Consumers Should Have More Control Over Credit Reports. We Agree.

Senator Jack Reed

Last month, Senator Jack Reed (D) of Rhode Island proposed legislation which would give consumers discretion over who sees their all-important credit information. The Control Your Personal Credit Information Act would require credit bureaus to request permission from consumers in order to share their highly personal credit-information with third-parties. Senator Reed states: “under existing law, […]