Most consumers don’t know they have “agreed” to give up their rights when they sign a contract that requires arbitration, and that banks or companies nearly always win because arbitration favors business interests, a study by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or CFPB reports.
Many people who got “pre-approved” credit offers from Credit Karma weren’t approved for credit and, as a result, wasted time applying and saw their credit scores drop when their applications were denied. Credit Karma deceived people about pre-approval for credit cards or loans offered by banks and lenders that used Credit Karma to promote their financial products.
Hello Digit, a financial technology company that used a faulty algorithm that caused overdrafts and overdraft penalties for customers, is being required to return money to consumers and pay a fine of $2.7 million. Hello Digit was supposed to save people money, but instead cost consumers money.
As the Senate considers the Inflation Reduction Act, corporations that have profiteered throughout the pandemic are getting worried that they may have to pay their fair share in taxes, a corporate watchdog group Accountable.US said in its weekly newsletter.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is launching an initiative to improve the customer service experience at big banks. The bureau wants to hear from consumers and businesses about their experiences dealing with customer service at their bank or credit union – both the good and the bad.
Bank of America will pay $250 million for botching the disbursement of state unemployment benefits at pandemic’s height. The bank froze people’s accounts with a faulty fraud detection program, and then gave them little recourse when there was no fraud, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday.
In states that allow high-cost loans, excessive interest rates can trap borrowers in a cycle of debt. Caps on interest rates and loan fees are the main way states can protect consumers from predatory lending. Forty-five states cap interest rates and loan fees for some consumer installment loans, depending on the loan size.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is looking at how consumers can get better customer service from big banks. Consumers have the right under federal law to get timely responses when they ask for information about their accounts at large institutions.
The majority of the cars in the top 10 of Consumer Reports’ 2022 Brand Report Card rankings are made by Japanese automakers. Six Japanese brands are among the top-10 in the rankings that shows which automakers are producing the most well-performing, safe, and reliable vehicles based on Consumer Report’s testing and member surveys.
