National Consumer Law Center

Register now for Community Solar: Expanding Access and Safeguarding Low-Income Families Dec. 3, 1 pm EST This free NCLC webinar, featuring NCLC Senior Attorney Berneta L. Haynes, will focus on community solar, which provides an opportunity to bring clean energy within reach of those for whom rooftop solar is not a feasible or economic option.? https://lnkd.in/eEs3EaVx

?? This week, there’s a new historic win for racial justice ?? The first lawsuit of its kind against a tenant credit screening provider, SafeRent, has resulted in a settlement after plaintiffs charged its algorithms racially discriminate against Black and Hispanic renters with housing vouchers. “Credit scores and scores modeled similarly, such as SafeRent Scores, draw on information that has only been tested at predicting repayment of credit obligations,” said Shennan Kavanagh, the director of litigation at the National Consumer Law Center. “There is no evidence such data is predictive of tenants paying rent.” #FairHousing #RacialJustice #HousingEquity #AI cc: Greater Boston Legal Services via The Verge

Consumer advocates applauded today’s announcement that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finalized a rule allowing it to supervise larger nonbank companies that offer services like digital wallets and payment apps to ensure that they comply with the law and do not facilitate fraud. “Millions of people use PayPal, CashApp, and other big tech payment apps, yet these services currently do not receive the same federal oversight banks have to ensure they comply with federal laws protecting payments from errors and unauthorized charges,” said Carla Leticia Sanchez-Adams, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “The CFPB rule will change that, giving #BigTech payment apps supervision to ensure they are not allowing their services to promote fraud.” #ProtectConsumers #DefendCFPB

A new report from the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) finds that while 45 states and the District of Columbia currently cap interest rates and loan fees for many consumer installment loans, interest rate caps still vary greatly from state to state, rates are trending upward, and too many states allow lenders to pile on junk fees. “States must ensure that their laws protect consumers from predatory interest rates and hidden junk fees,” said Carolyn Carter, deputy director at the National Consumer Law Center and principal author of the report. “In the absence of rate limits at the federal level, state interest and fee caps are consumers’ primary defense against predatory interest rates and junk fees that hide the true cost of the loan.” #ProtectConsumers #StopTheDebtTrap #JunkFees

“EarnIn claims its payday advance loans are free, but its definition of ‘free’ strains credulity when nearly 90% of borrowers pay fees,” said Lauren Saunders, associate director at NCLC. “Payday advance apps that hide under the ‘earned wage’ label also increase overdraft fees and put people who are already financially stressed in a cycle of debt where their paycheck is always short, effectively making them pay to be paid.” #Fintech #ProtectConsumers #StopTheDebtTrap

“The advisory opinion clarifies that certain medical debt collection practices are unlawful,”?said NCLC Senior Attorney April Kuehnhoff. “The advisory opinion includes prohibitions on collecting amounts that are not owed, clarifies that debt collectors must have a reasonable basis for asserting that a medical debt is owed, and directs courts to look at the contract between patients and medical providers to determine when debts are in default.” #ProtectConsumers #MedicalDebt Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

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Force-placed insurance is almost always a bad deal for the homeowner and may be associated with several abuses. To make matters worse, the dramatic increase in climate-related disasters and the cost of insurance has led to a dramatic growth in force-placed insurance problems. The latest NCLC Digital Library article begins with an exploration of force-placed insurance abuses, why homeowners should avoid force-placed insurance, and why force-placement has become far more common today. The article then surveys homeowners’ best options and RESPA rights and remedies to resist charges for force-placed insurance. #ConsumerLaw #DigitalLibrary #ProtectConsumers ?

Experts say Biden’s #EnergyEfficiency rules will probably survive Trump — but the president-elect can still make his mark by deciding not to raise the standards for the next four years. “Although it’s hard to roll back a standard that’s already in place, it’s not that hard to slow-walk all of the standards that need to be looked at every year,” said Charlie Harak, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. Boosting efficiency also lowers energy bills, which is particularly useful for renters, who generally don’t get to pick the appliances in their homes. “Landlords are not going to invest in more-efficient products unless the inefficient ones are driven off the market by standards,” Harak said. #ProtectConsumers via The Washington Post

If Congress ends Public Service Loan Forgiveness, will the government try to claw back canceled debt from the people who have already had their balances go to zero? Doing so would be legally dubious and logistically complicated, not to mention cruel, given that the federal government has already used P.S.L.F. to cancel the debt of?over one million people. According to?Abby Shafroth, a co-director of advocacy for the National Consumer Law Center, there is a presumption against retroactivity that would force Congress to pass a law specifically designed to reinstate debts — separate and apart from any successful bid to cancel the P.S.L.F. program. #ProtectBorrowers #ProtectConsumers #DefendStudents via The New York Times