The COVID-19 crisis placed millions of Americans in financial peril, hitting households of color particularly hard. In response, moratoriums on utility shutoffs were instituted in many states across the country to protect customers from the immediate danger of termination. However, some states’ moratoriums have already expired, or, were never instituted in the first place, meaning…
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Each year, millions of utility customers have their service terminated for non-payment. Many of those are low-income households in which someone is seriously ill. In extreme cases, termination of service to those households has led to death. Much more frequently, loss of electric or gas service makes existing illnesses or conditions worse. Utility…
In 1997, Massachusetts passed the Electric Restructuring Act and deregulated its electric utility companies. Prior to that change in the law, electric utilities (local distribution companies or LDCs) owned the power plants that generate electricity and the local utility poles and lines seen on virtually every street that connect homes and businesses to the electricity…
Add-on products sold by car dealers, such as service contracts, Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP) insurance, and window etching, make up a large share of dealers’ profits. They also significantly increase car buyers’ costs. While many have questioned the value of these products for consumers, the pricing of these products has received less attention, largely because…
Every day thousands of cars are taken from owners without court review or the involvement of law enforcement. Most of those takings are done by unlicensed individuals, including some convicted criminals.
Read More about Repo Madness: How Automobile Repossessions Endanger Owners, Agents, & the Public
Electronic statements sound eco-friendly, but they are not for everyone. Bank account, credit card and mortgage statements provide important information and serve a critical consumer protection function. Consumers must have the right to receive that information in the manner that works for them. For many consumers, from those without regular broadband Internet access to the…
Read More about Paper Statements: An Important Consumer Protection
Access to safe and affordable financial products and services is a cornerstone of financial empowerment: this access allows consumers to secure their income and build and grow their assets. However, there are almost 17 million unbanked Americans who do not have bank accounts. These consumers incur higher costs — estimated at up to $40,000 over a lifetime — by using alternative financial services, sometimes predatory, to handle their routine transactions, and often are not able to take advantage of savings and asset building opportunities.
Read More about Account Screening Consumer Reporting Agencies: a Banking Access Perspective
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 overhauls the federal consumer protection system. The Act creates a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau charged with protecting consumers from unscrupulous practices by mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and others in the financial world.
Consumer protection in the financial world has been dramatically weakened in the last several years by preemption of state consumer protection laws. Broad preemption of state law is a recent phenomenon; for most of the 150 years since national banks were created, they have complied with state law. Preemption has harmed states’ ability to respond…
Read More about Restore the States’ Traditional Role as “First Responder”
CJPP has developed a Guide for Policy Reform, which highlights the different areas of law that spawn harmful practices and outlines a wide array of policy levers for bringing about systemic reform. The guide provides a detailed discussion of policy strategies for (1) addressing conflicts of interest that arise when legal actors rely on revenue generated…
Read More about Confronting Criminal Justice Debt: A Guide for Policy Reform
Expenses for life-saving or medically necessary care are often unexpected, and can throw a family into an immediate financial crisis. This crisis is compounded when families cannot pay for these surprise expenses and the debt is reported to credit bureaus. The blemishes on a credit report (which employers and landlords as well as creditors may…
Read More about Don't Add Insult to Injury: Medical Debt & Credit Reports
Over the past several decades, bankruptcy gave tens of millions of Americans a fresh start free from crushing debt. Although criminal justice debt weighs disproportionately upon those with the least ability to pay, it has generally been excluded from bankruptcy’s fresh start. This exclusion has been grounded on the belief that allowing discharge of monetary…
