News & Headlines

• November 29, 2011 Secured Credit Card Survey reveals deals and 'steals' Interest rates on surveyed cards range from 0% to 23.99% Consumer Action's surveys secured credit cards, credit cards designed for people with damaged credit or no credit record.
• September 23, 2011 Google Wallet: Don't cut up your credit cards yet
• September 21, 2011 Consumer bureau readies its new financial rules
• August 31, 2011 Some banks step up to help victims of Hurricane Irene
• July 21, 2011 Credit score is free if you're rejected for loan

Publications

CA News & Special Reports

2011 Fall Issue: Secured Credit Card Survey The Fall 2011 issue of Consumer Action News features our new Secured Credit Card Survey. Secured credit cards are backed by a security deposit that you provide to the card issuer. Terms vary widely among surveyed cards so it pays to compare before you apply… ( Monday, November 28, 2011 )

On Our Radar

• April 23, 2010 Can financial education head off early conomic woes? A commentary in the Huffington Post delves into the problem of twentysomethings who are struggling to make financial ends meet and how financial education can play a role in heading off disaster earlier.
• December 03, 2008 Old debt gets new rates: Citigroup raises credit card rates An article by Tim Westrich of the Center for American Progress discusses Citigroup's announcement that it would raise its credit card interest rates on 20 percent of its customers, just weeks after accepting $25 billion from the federal government.
• July 16, 2008 Merchants get Congressional help on fair interchange fees The Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 (HR 5546) would allow merchants to negotiate directly with the card associations in an effort to lower interchange rates.
• November 27, 2007 The Arbitration Trap: Credit Cards Companies Ensnare Consumers Consumers who seek justice in disputes with their credit card companies shouldn’t expect to find it in binding mandatory arbitration (BMA); in cases decided in California by a major arbitration firm over a four-year period, consumers lost 94 percent of the time, according to a new Public Citizen report .

Coalition

• April 14, 2011 Old exceptions to risk-based pricing rule must be removed before Dodd-Frank can work Consumer Action signed onto comments that point out problems with provisions proposed by the Federal Reserve and the FTC that would fail to remove currently-existing exceptions to the risk-based pricing rule (if the creditor makes a credit scoring disclosure) in the Dodd-Frank bill.
• April 17, 2009 Shareholders target predatory credit card practices Consumer Action and the Center for Responsible Lending joined socially responsible MMA Praxis Mutual Funds and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility to discuss anti-consumer credit card practices that could have a negative impact on shareholders of major card issuers, and the larger economy.
• March 18, 2009 Wolf in sheep's clothing: payday lending bill harms consumers In a letter to the House Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee, Consumer Action joined its coalition members in strongly opposing H.R. 1214, which would condone predatory terms in payday loan products.
• January 14, 2009 Groups urge co-sponsorship of 'Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights' Consumer Action joined coalition members in asking Congress to co-sponsor and pass the urgently-needed Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights legislation, which would curb unfair and abusive practices by credit card companies.

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