Student loan servicer Navient has agreed to cancel $1.7 billion in debt owed by more than 66,000 borrowers throughout the nation and pay more than $140 million in penalties to settle charges of abusive lending practices. The $1.85 billion settlement with 39 state attorneys general was announced Thursday.
The Chamber of Commerce is lobbying to oppose tougher enforcement at the Federal Trade Commission because its ranks are filled with corporate wrongdoers, a Public Citizen report says. The 111 known Chamber member corporations have violated state and federal laws 15,896 times with fines of $154 billion since 2000.
Many Americans lack financial literacy. Moreover, regardless of their financial wealth, many Americans also aren’t as happy as they could be … lacking what one of our reviewers defined as “life literacy.” We wrote “Your Total Wealth: The Heart and Soul of Financial Literacy” because of these two reasons.
In its role to check on financial institutions, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that some violated federal law in the first half of 2021. “Today’s report reveals that irresponsible or mismanaged firms harmed Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra.
About 40,000 people reported losing $148 million in gift cards to scammers during the first nine months of 2021, a number that has increased each year for the past several years. Since 2018, gift cards have been the most frequently reported payment method for fraud.
Banks continue to rely heavily on overdraft revenue, which reached an estimated $15.47 billion in 2019, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Three banks – JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America – brought in 44 percent of the total in 2019 by banks with assets over $1 billion.
It’s a big problem. Companies promising to help with student loan debt advertise widely, using misinformation and high-pressure sales. However, consumers need to know that there’s nothing a student loan debt relief company can do for them that they can’t do for themselves for free.
Up to five million older Americans are abused every year, and the annual loss by victims of financial abuse is at least $36.5 billion. A guide to help family members and friends of people living in nursing homes and assisted living learn how to prevent and report elder financial abuse is available from the CFPB.
October 12 is National Savings Day. Its purpose is to empower people to feel more confident about their relationship with money by learning that saving money can be a simple, straightforward experience. Forty percent of Americans have less than $300 in savings.
