Advancing Fairness In The Marketplace For All

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JANUARY 12, 2017 || Contacts: Margot Saunders (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), April Kuehnhoff (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), or Jan Kruse (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), 617-542-8010

(WASHINGTON) Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), continuing its critically important work in protecting consumers, released a report based on its first national survey of consumer experiences with debt collectors. The survey found that the 70 million consumers who have had interactions with the debt collection industry in the past year have suffered from tens of millions of illegal and abusive collection practices. The industry has persisted in violating the 40-year old Federal Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). “Problems in the debt collection industry show why we need a strong consumer watchdog to shine a spotlight on industry abuses and take action. President-Elect Trump must resist calls to fire CFPB Director Richard Cordray or to weaken the CFPB,” said April Kuehnhoff, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JANUARY 5, 2017 || Contacts: Persis Yu (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Jan Kruse (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.); 617.542.8010

(BOSTON) Advocates at the National Consumer Law Center applaud the CFPB for highlighting issues facing older student loan borrowers in a report the agency released today. “It is critically important that we ensure that consumers who are living on fixed incomes are given every opportunity to succeed, especially when it comes to paying loans designed to provide them or their children an education,” said Odette Williamson, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “This report shows that too often, the system is not working for older borrowers.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: DEC. 21, 2016 || CONTACTS: NCLC: Chi Chi Wu (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Jan Kruse (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.); 617.542.8010, CFA: Michael Best (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.); 202. 939.1009

(WASHINGTON) The holiday season may still be in full swing, but advocates from the National Consumer Law Center and Consumer Federation of America urge Americans to start now to plan for tax-time, especially for those who claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC). Taxpayers should be aware of new and old problems and risks, including:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: DECEMBER 20, 2016 || Contacts: Persis Yu (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.); 617.542.8010

Today, the Government Accountability Office released a report documenting the draconian consequences that the Department of the Treasury’s practice of garnishing Americans’ social security payments has on vulnerable student loan borrowers in default.

“Taking money from Social Security retirement or disability benefits to repay old student loans is an extraordinary collection tool. It is time to reexamine this program and weigh the true costs of taking Social Security benefits from elderly and disabled Americans against the small amount this brings into federal coffers,” said director of NCLC’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance project, Persis Yu.

The report found that for more than two-thirds of borrowers whose monthly benefit was below the poverty line, the money deducted from their Social Security benefits was enough only to pay fees and interest, so the amount of the debt was not even reduced. The report also found that of older student loan borrowers with a Social Security offset, 43% had held their loans for 20 years or more and 80% had held their loans for 10 years or more. “For too many borrowers, there is no light at the end of this tunnel,” said Yu.