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The National Consumer Law Center has compiled Massachusetts gas and electric arrearage data collected in DPU docket 20-58 through February 2023. Here we provide a brief update to previous reports released in February 2021, November 2021, and November 2022 on the state of arrears in MA. As of April 1, the winter moratorium that protects…
Read More about Risks of Utility Shutoffs Are Rising in Massachusetts
The Protecting Wages of Essential Workers Act of 2022 (Protecting Wages Act), introduced by Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC), will keep more money in the pockets of working people struggling to pay rent and put food on the table, while still allowing the collection industry to collect debts.
Read More about H.R.9224: Protecting Wages of Essential Workers Act of 2022
The debt trap caused by short-term payday loans is well known. Payday and car title lenders are now increasingly moving into high-cost longer-term installment loans and lines of credit that can be a deeper and longer debt trap. Both short- and longer-term payday and title loans rely on high interest rates and coercive tactics to…
Read More about What States Can Do to Help Consumers: High Cost Loans
In support of An Act Relative to Fairness in Debt Collection (S663/H1168) or the Debt Collection Fairness Act (DCFA) As of December 2020, 19% of Bay Staters had a debt in collection — rising to 35% in communities of color. The economic strain of the pandemic will inevitably result in a tsunami of increased debt…
Read More about Why We Need the Debt Collection Fairness Act
Payday lenders and high-cost installment lenders offer fast cash loans that do far more harm than good, adding to rather than alleviating financial distress. As a growing number of states have curtailed high-cost lending, experience shows that people are better off and find better options. The American public, on a bipartisan basis, strongly supports capping…
Read More about After Payday Loans: Consumers Find Better Ways to Cope with Financial Challenges
Credit repair organizations (CROs) charge a fee to improve consumers’ credit scores, includingby removing errors. There is an epidemic of disreputable CROs that charge exorbitant fees forpromises they can’t keep.
Read More about What States Can Do About Credit Repair Abuses