Newsroom

Twelve Dramatic Changes Offering Relief for Student Loan Borrowers

September 3, 2022

There have been dramatic changes in 2021 and 2022 making it easier for tens of millions of student loan borrowers to cancel or repay their debt. This article highlights twelve of the most significant changes. Additional information is found in NCLC’s Student Loan Law and at studentloanborrowerassistance.org. But the changes do not stop here. Expect…

Free Chapter: Homeowner Rights During Natural Disasters

September 30, 2022

Chapter 12 of Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications covers common legal issues that arise in the context of natural disasters and is free to all for a limited time.

New Limits on Wage Seizures Will Help California Workers

September 30, 2022

NCLC Advocates Praise Gov. Newsom for Signing SB 1477, which reduces wage seizures from workers in debt WASHINGTON – Advocates from the National Consumer Law Center applaud California Governor Gavin Newsom today for protecting workers and families by signing SB 1477 (Wieckowski). The new law will completely protect a worker who earns $20 per hour…

NCLC Digital Library: 12 Ways to Avoid Arbitration Even After Congress Overturned the CFPB Arbitration Rule

October 17, 2017

The CFPB rule would have had an enormous impact on returning to consumers remedies they had lost through the widespread use of arbitration clauses with class action bans. Nevertheless, consumers have a number of ways to defeat an arbitration requirement, as set out below.

Prison and Jail Phone Justice Advocates Applaud FCC’s Action to Affirm Rights for People with Disabilities

September 29, 2022

Advocates say this action is long overdue and necessary to ensure people with disabilities have access to communications while incarcerated. Today, civil rights leaders and advocacy organizations working across various issues in criminal legal and prison reform are commending the Federal Communications Commission’s order on prison communications, particularly the long-awaited action to affirm the rights…

FDCPA Litigation Using New Reg. F: Pleading Tips & Recently Alleged Violations

June 15, 2022

The CFPB’s new Regulation F interpreting the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) took effect November 30, 2021. For more detail on the new regulation see Comprehensive New FDCPA Regulation F Takes Effect November 30. Based on a review of nearly sixty complaints alleging violations of Regulation F filed in federal court in the first…

NCLC Digital Library: Tips on Handling Attorney Fee Hearings

September 13, 2022

This article provides practice pointers on preparing for and conducting an attorney fee hearing. The tips are based on the author’s forty-four years of trial experience handling exclusively consumer law cases. The article focuses on steps to take well before the hearing, including proper completion of time records; preparation for the hearing, including a discussion…

Congress Passes Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act to Relieve Divorced Spouses of Shared Student Loan Debt

September 22, 2022

Today, in response to news of the passage of the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act in the U.S. House, which will now head to the President’s desk, Kyra Taylor, student loan staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, issued the following statement: “We applaud Congress’s long overdue decision to create a path to separate spousal…

More than 100 Consumer, Labor and Civil Rights Groups Call on CFPB to Take Action on Banking Fraud and Forced Arbitration

September 14, 2022

WASHINGTON – Over 100 consumer, civil rights, and labor groups today called on CFPB Director Rohit Chopra to exercise the agency’s authority to limit forced arbitration clauses, which are commonly buried in the fine print of consumer financial contracts to eliminate the rights of customers seeking accountability when scammed, cheated, or defrauded by big banks.…

Op-Ed in The Hill: Regulators can save lives by protecting medically vulnerable utility users

In an op-ed appearing in The Hill on September 10, 2022, Samuel Whillans, co-director of the Yale Environmental Protection Clinic at Yale Law School and a fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Dr. Peter Kahn is a fellow in the Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, and…

Statements on Department of Education Granting Debt Relief to 79,000 Former Students of For-Profit Westwood College

August 30, 2022

August 30, 2022 Student Defense, NCLC, Lawyers’ Committee Issue Statements on Department of Education Granting Debt Relief to 79,000 Former Students of For-Profit Westwood College Today, the U.S. Department of Education issued a final decision granting relief to roughly 79,000 former students at Westwood College. In response, Student Defense, the National Consumer Law Center, and…

Consumer Advocate Groups Call On FDIC To Reject Ford Credit’s ILC Charter Application

August 25, 2022

Ford Motor Company should be denied deposit insurance for its proposed new Ford Credit industrial loan company charter, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, the National Consumer Law Center, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, and the Center for Responsible Lending wrote to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Wednesday.