All Resources
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Testimony before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee regarding Consumer Protections and Equifax Data Breach
NCLC has long advocated for stronger reforms to ensure accuracy and fairness in the U.S. credit reporting system. We have testified many times before Congress, including before this Committee, on the need for reform of the credit reporting system to address issues such as unacceptable error rates, the travesty of the automated dispute system used…
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Credit Scoring and Insurance: Costing Consumers Billions and Perpetuating the Economic Racial Divide
The use of credit scores in home and auto insurance is a poorly understood phenomenon with a huge economic impact on Americans. It’s also a practice that creates wide racial disparities. This report presents an overview of credit scores, which are three digit numbers designed to predict risk based on a consumer’s credit record. The…
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Big Data, a Big Disappointment for Scoring Consumer Credit Risk
Approximately 64 million consumers in the United States have no credit history or lack sufficient credit history to generate a credit score, cutting off access to traditional banking services. Finding a way of getting affordable access to credit is of vital importance to the economic well-being of this population. It also represents an untapped market…
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Full Utility Credit Reporting: Risks to Low Income Consumers
A research consultant has recently produced several reports promoting utility company reporting of all customer payment behaviors and transactions to the major consumer reporting agencies (CRAs). Proponents of full utility reporting contend that it is required to help “thin file” and “no file” consumers to build credit history and gain access to bank loans and…
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Full File Utility Credit Reporting: Harms to Low-Income Consumers
One of the efforts to promote alternative credit data urges that utility companies engage in monthly reporting of customer payments, including late payments, to the Big Three nationwide credit reporting agencies (CRAs), Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Currently, the vast majority of electric and natural gas utility companies only report to those three CRAs when a…
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Utility Help in Massachusetts
Listing of resources to help Massachusetts consumers.
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Apply Now for up to $30 a Month for Broadband Service with the Affordable Connectivity Program
What is the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)? ACP is a broadband benefit program for low-income households. ACP provides eligible households with a discount of up to $30 a month to lower the cost of broadband service (and up to $75 a month for low-income households on Tribal lands). Some internet providers also offer an ACP…
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Still No Relief for Massachusetts Consumers Tricked by Competitive Electric Supply Companies
From August 1, 2017 through July 31, 2018, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) reported receiving approximately 832 complaints about competitive energy supply companies. Consumers reported aggressive and deceptive marketing practices targeting vulnerable consumers, as well as excessively high electric bills and difficulty cancelling contracts with energy suppliers. These complaints echo the same problems…
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Report: Lean and Green - The Massachusetts Low-Income Energy Affordability Network (LEAN)
The Massachusetts Low-Income Energy Affordability Network (LEAN) is an association of nonprofit agencies that coordinate the delivery of government and utility-funded energy efficiency services to low-income utility customers throughout Massachusetts. Since 1997, LEAN’s member agencies have delivered energy efficiency upgrades to more than 100,000 low-income Massachusetts households. Still, up to 200,000 low-income homes still need…
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Helping Low-Income Utility Customers Manage Overdue Bills through Arrearage Management Programs (AMP)
Across the country, low-income customers struggle to pay their utility bills. Their incomes are simply too low to keep up with gas and electric bills. Fortunately, Massachusetts has one of the strongest panoplies of low-income programs and policies in the country to make sure low-income households can maintain critical utility services. These programs include protections…
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Toxic Transactions: How Land Installment Contracts Once Again Threaten Communities of Color
This NCLC report documents a new wave of predatory real estate lending, previously peddled to African-Americans during the 1930s to 1960s, as Wall Street investment companies move to profit off foreclosed homes. The report urges the CFPB to issue rules to protect vulnerable consumers across the nation.
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