Consumer protection and advocacy

June 21, 2018 - 12:52 pm

Judge: Consumer finance agency unconstitutionally set up

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York federal judge says the U.S. government's beleaguered consumer finance watchdog agency is unconstitutionally structured. Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan reached the conclusion about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a written decision issued Thursday. She said...
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June 20, 2018 - 11:17 am

Utility-backed measure drawing criticism heads toward vote

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Legislation that Pennsylvania utilities say will help them recoup costs more quickly is heading toward a final vote in the state Senate, but consumer advocates warn that it lacks protection for people and businesses. Tanya McCloskey, Pennsylvania's acting consumer advocate,...
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June 17, 2018 - 4:17 pm

Pelosi criticizes Trump pick to head consumer agency

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is questioning President Donald Trump's pick to head the government's consumer watchdog agency. The California Democrat says she believes Kathy Kraninger, currently an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget, lacks the required...
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June 16, 2018 - 10:43 pm

Trump to nominate OMB official to lead consumer watchdog

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump intends to nominate an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget to lead the government's consumer watchdog agency, the White House announced Saturday. In a statement announcing the decision, spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said Kathy Kraninger "...
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In this May 8, 2018, file photo, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, speaks with members of the media after meeting with House GOP members on Capitol Hill in Washington. Members of a group of outside experts required by law to meet twice a year with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau say the group has been dissolved by Mulvaney, acting director of the CFPB. On Wednesday, June 6, Mulvaney told the 25 members of the Consumer Advisory Board on Wednesday morning that they will be replaced and the board will be reconstituted, according to two of the members. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
June 06, 2018 - 5:52 pm

Mulvaney dissolves group that advised consumer watchdog

NEW YORK (AP) — The head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dissolved a group of outside experts that acts as a sounding board for the federal watchdog agency on important economic and financial issues as well as policy. Bureau officials told the 25 members of the Consumer Advisory Board...
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May 31, 2018 - 9:37 pm

Amazon to block Australians from global websites due to tax

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Amazon will block Australians from buying from its international e-commerce websites and restrict them to a smaller local platform from July in response to new tax rules that consumer advocates fear will reduce the range of choice for customers in Australia. Shoppers...
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Supco ruling would allow sports betting in states other than Nevada.; 2c x 4 inches; 96.3 mm x 101 mm;
May 14, 2018 - 10:54 pm

The Latest: Supreme Court clears way for sports betting

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Supreme Court ruling striking down a federal law that bars gambling on football, basketball, baseball and other sports in most states (all times local): 10:45 p.m. The Supreme Court has cleared the way for states to legalize betting on sports, breaking a longtime...
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FILE- In this April 18, 2018, file photo, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney testifies before a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Trump administration is signaling that it intends to pull back on investigating potential abuses by companies in the $1.5 trillion student loan market. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is shuttering its student lending office, according to an announcement Wednesday, May 9, 2018, by its acting director, Mick Mulvaney. Its responsibilities are being moved under the broad umbrella of “financial education.” (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
May 09, 2018 - 3:43 pm

Watchdog agency signals less focus on student loan abuses

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration signaled Wednesday that it intends to pull back on investigating potential abuses by companies in the $1.5 trillion student loan market. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will shutter its student lending office, according to a bureau-wide memo written...
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FILE- In this April 27, 2010 file photo, a woman using a cell phone walks past T-Mobile and Sprint stores in New York. T-Mobile and Sprint are trying again to combine in a deal that would reshape the U.S. wireless landscape, the companies announced Sunday, April 29, 2018 (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
April 30, 2018 - 10:58 am

The Latest: Will Sprint-T-Mobile combo hurt consumers?

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on Sprint-T-Mobile deal (all times local): 11 a.m. Consumer advocacy groups are worried that T-Mobile's bid for Sprint will likely lead to higher cellphone plans because there's less competition. The watchdog group Common Cause says low-income consumers seeking more...
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FILE - In this Nov. 27, 2017, file photo, Mick Mulvaney speaks during a news conference after his first day as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington. The Dodd-Frank Act created a “Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection” in 2010. But, except for the occasional court filing, the bureau was consistently referred to as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB. Mulvaney took over the CFPB as acting director in late November. Since then, the bureau has increasingly referred to itself as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, or by the acronym “BCFP.” (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
April 24, 2018 - 11:49 am

Consumer watchdog becomes alphabet soup of controversy

NEW YORK (AP) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is dead. Long live the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. That's the message the Trump administration is pushing, at least, in what on the surface seems like a minor tweak to the name of the federal consumer watchdog agency created...
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