Consumer issues are the most common civil legal problem among California households. NCLC’s resources, trainings, and support can help legal aid programs address these issues.
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State debt collection efforts can conflict with state anti-poverty programs. This issue brief discusses how states that seize income tax refunds to collect debts owed to the state may also be seizing safety-net payments such as state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or Child Tax Credit (CTC) funds. States should follow California’s example to protect…
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A new form of fintech payday loan offered through cash advance apps uses “tips” as a form of disguised interest. These apps claim that tips are voluntary, but they use dark patterns, actual or implied repercussions for not tipping, manipulative interfaces, behavioral and psychological tricks, and other techniques to make tips almost as certain as…
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Every state has a set of exemption laws, intended to prevent creditors from pushing families into destitution. This report finds that few states’ exemption laws meet even the most basic standards.
With Change in Federal Priorities, California Workers Need State Protections With a new administration in Washington D.C., proposed federal protections may be reversed. So states like California with a proud tradition of protecting workers must make clear that:
California was one of the first states to restrict the use of credit reports in employment decisions in 2011, leading at least 10 other states and two large cities to pass similar laws. The CA law, however, has several exceptions that weaken it. That is not unusual for an early adopter, given that state legislatures…
Read More about Tightening Consumer Protections: Don’t Let Credit Blemishes Kill Job Opportunities
Consumers who wish to borrow small amounts of money may have several options. Comparing them can be difficult, especially since consumers do not always get annual percentage rate (APR) disclosures. The APR is an important price comparison tool, providing an apples-to-apples rate comparison for borrowing the same amount of money for the same amount of…
Data collected by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) on earned wage advances and other fintech payday loans show a cycle of repeat use and high costs typical of traditional payday loans. DFPI analyzed data covering nearly 6 million transactions by California consumers from seven companies. Three companies had a tip-based model…
At least 45 states and the District of Columbia (DC) cap rates on at least some installment loans. But high-cost lenders are increasingly using rent-a-bank schemes with a small number of rogue banks, which are not subject to state interest rate limits, to evade state rate caps on installment loans and lines of credit.
