No one should lose access to water because of an inability to pay a water bill. Utilities often claim that shutoffs are a necessary collection tool to protect utility revenues and to prevent unscrupulous people from “free riding” on paying customers. However, studies ranging from the 1970s to recent decades havedemonstrated that the overwhelming majority…
The largest national rate survey found that between 1996 and 2018, water and sewer charges increased about 2.5 times as fast as the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a standard measure of inflation for consumer goods and services. Another analysis, based on census data, found that household water and sewer costs more than doubled between 2000…
In cities and towns around the country, families face service shutoffs, punitive fees, liens on their homes,foreclosure and home loss, and more when they cannot afford their water and sewer bills. All of these practices by utilities—often unconstrained by state consumer protection laws and without a robust financial safety net for vulnerable households—disproportionately impact communities…
State and Local Solutions to Household Water Affordability Challenges
In the Matter of the Arbitration between case no. 01-20-0000-2900; Adam Veltri vs. Americor Funding, Inc.
Read More about Interim Award of Arbitrator in Adam Veltri v. Americor Funding, Inc.
As public awareness of the dangers of payday loans grows, new small dollar loan programs are cropping up that promise to be more affordable. Some payday alternatives live up to that promise. Others, like payday loans, are exorbitantly expensive and have a dangerous structure that ensnares borrowers in a cycle of debt. Here are five…
Read More about Guidelines for Affordable Small Dollar Loans
Testimony of April Kuehnhoff, Staff Attorney at the National Consumer Law Center on behalf of its low-income clients, before the Joint Financial Services Committee in support of MA S.146/H.804: An Act relative to family financial protection.
Comments in support of the Federal Reserve’s plan to develop the FedNow faster payments system.
The following comments are submitted on behalf of the National Consumer Law Center’s low-income clients. We write in response to your Notice of Public Hearing on the issue of providing access to court documents and records on the internet. We write to specifically oppose providing online access to criminal records and believe that doing so…
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