An Open Letter to Wall Street: Your New Bailout Plan Has Arrived

Tiberius has graciously permitted me to reprint this “open letter to Wall Street” announcing the details of the new proposal for bailing the financial giants out of the mess they created. The letter was originally posted at Democratic Underground:
“[N]ow that we’re in the role of lender, and you’re in the role of borrower, we’re sure [...]

Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights (HR 5244) Passes the House!

Now it’s on to the Senate, which will vote to enact this much needed legislation to ramp up consumer protection against predatory practices such as:

Increasing credit account interest rates for cardholders based on information in their credit reports from other accounts
Double-cycle billing
Unrestricted imposition of overlimit fees
And more.

To read the full text of the bill, [...]

SC Senate Gearing Up For Huge Payday Lending Battle

It’s do or die time.
That’s what it looks like at the SC General Assembly this week, as the payday industry gears up for a Thursday hearing before a House subcommittee on a Senate bill that would come very close to putting a stop to the payday industry’s free ride thus far.
The bill (which, [...]

Subprime Lies: A Former Ameriquest Employee Speaks

From Fortune comes this short but fascinating video, featuring a former Ameriquest worker talking about just how his coworkers and he were instructed to talk borrowers into loans they couldn’t afford.

New SC Bill Would Limit Payday Loans to $500

In what I can only call a mild effort to limit the damage wreaked on South Carolina lives by payday lenders, the South Carolina General Assembly is apparently considering action to limit payday loans to $500 or 20% of the borrower’s annual income, whichever is less. The suggested legislation would also require lenders to offer [...]

Beware This Growing Scam!

Here’s a scary article (free registration required - NY Times). It’s especially scary, because it could happen to anyone who’s ever experienced dire financial straits but still needs a particular product, be it for educational or business purposes. And the most ubiquitous such product? The computer. It seems an entire industry has sprung up dedicated [...]

Former Candidate for SC Governor - A Democrat - Takes Payday Lending Lobbyist Position

I’m disappointed. It’s not often I copy and paste wholesale from other articles or posts but this is one time I’m going to do just that. From AP via The Sun News:
A national payday lending group announced Monday it is hiring a former
Democratic gubernatorial candidate to be its executive vice president.
Community
Financial Services Association of [...]

Oregon Protects Consumers From Payday Loans

From Consumer Law & Policy Blog by Public Citizen:
 Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski yesterday signed into law a package
of bills designed to protect consumers against abuses by the payday
lending industry and other short-term lenders that target vulnerable
borrowers with high-interest loans.  Together, the new laws will, among
other things, cap interest rates, limit rollovers of short-term loans,
and attempt [...]

Monday Morning Quarterbacking the Closing

Far be it from me to suggestively place doubts inside a consumer’s head. So instead I’ll leave it to CNNMoney.com staff writer Les Christie, who gives us “Wow, I Could’ve Had A Prime Mortgage” - a heartbreaking tale of consumers being taken advantage of by mortgage lenders. (What?! Outrage! It would never happen …. oh. [...]

Keyword Cleanout Post!

Update: Fixed the link to Ms. Wilkinson’s website - my apologies, Dana! (And to the sculptor in Vermont - though, must say, nice work.)
Did you type in a phrase in Google to get here? This post, the first in what I hope to be a regular series (perhaps monthly, maybe more often if I get [...]