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Blog Post | Financial Reform

32 state Attorneys General to Congress: Don't replace our stronger privacy laws! | Mike Litt

Some 32 Democratic and Republican state Attorneys General have sent a strong letter to the bi-partisan sponsors of a draft federal data breach and data security bill. The weak, industry-backed proposal from Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) would override, or preempt, numerous better state privacy laws and, importantly, prevent states from ever again acting to protect their citizens' financial DNA better. We don't like the bill either.

Blog Post | Financial Reform

We Signed A Letter In 2014 But That Doesn't Mean We Support The Bank Lobbyist Act | Mike Litt

Why would we support an amendment to make a bad bill worse? We wouldn't. Here's our explainer on how our signature on a 2014 letter should not have been used to somehow imply we supported an amendment to S2155 on credit scoring favoring Equifax and the other Big 3 credit bureaus.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

Our Statement on Senate Passage of Sweeping Bank Deregulation Bill, S2155

Our statement on final passage by the U.S. Senate of a sweeping bank deregulation bill: Excerpt: "“It’s very hard to watch the Senate vote to ignore the painful lessons from the causes of the Great Recession 10 years ago. The warning signs are plain to see."

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

More Info On Our Testing Methodology for Asbestos in Makeup

Claire’s Stores Inc. incorrectly claims that our testing methods are unsound. Its accusations are misinformed at best, and seem to be designed to distract from the bottom-line: that Claire’s is selling makeup that contains asbestos to preteens.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

Bank Deregulation Bill's Free Credit Freeze Section Tweaked, But Still Preempts Better State Laws

Here's our statement on modest changes to the free credit freeze provision of S2155, the massive bank regulation deregulation package on the Senate floor. The changes aren't good enough because the states would still be preempted from better protecting their consumers and some existing state laws would be rolled back.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

After New Reports of Stolen Data, U.S. PIRG To Congress: Stop Letting Equifax off the Hook

Today Equifax admitted to losing information for over 2 million more Americans. Here's our release explaining why it's time for Congress to follow the lead of several states and hold Equifax accountable, insead of letting it off the hook.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

U.S. Supreme Court Hears Argument in Case Affecting Consumers Nationwide

U.S. PIRG experts comment on a case heard before the Supreme Court Monday concerning whether American Express rules preventing merchants from steering customers to alternative lower-cost cards violate the antitrust laws. Hint: We agree with and supported several states that brought the case on behalf of their citizens. We also make the point that unless the states prevail, the practices of dominant tech platforms like Google and Amazon and Facebook will also be immunized from action.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Transportation

As electric cars revolutionize the vehicle market, new study helps cities address infrastructure and parking challenges

With electric vehicles (EVs) hitting U.S. streets in record numbers, a new study by U.S. PIRG Education Fund, PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center and Frontier Group highlights best practices to help local officials make their cities as EV-friendly as possible. The new report, “Plugging In: Readying America’s Cities for the Arrival of Electric Vehicles,” includes local and state data about the projected number of electric cars expected on the road in coming years, and how cities can accommodate these new EVs with enough places to park and recharge.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Financial Reform

Consumer Advocates Explain Crucial Public Interest in a Strong CFPB

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) independence from external political influence is crucial to the agency’s mission of protecting consumers, 10 groups, including U.S. PIRG Education Fund, told a U.S. appellate court today in an amicus brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The groups are supporting the appeal of CFPB Deputy Director Leandra English in her lawsuit against the President and OMB Director Mick Mulvaney over the proper leadership of the Bureau in the absence of a Senate-confirmed director.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

Joint Statement: Transfer of CFPB Consumer Response Unit Offers No Clear Benefit

This week, OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, now also acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, made several concerning "administrative changes," including to move the Consumer Response Office, responsible for handling consumer complaints and managing the Bureau's public consumer complaint database, which U.S. PIRG has relied on for 11 (so far) analytic studies of the consumer financial marketplace. We issued the following joint statement, along with Americans for Financial Reform and Consumer Action.

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Result | Food

Researching How Tax Dollars Become Twinkies

PIRGIM research found that since 1995, $17 billion in agricultural subsidies have gone to corn syrup and other junk food ingredients. That’s enough to buy 2.8 billion Twinkies, and vastly more than has gone to apples and other fresh fruits and vegetables.

Result | Consumer Protection

Kids' Lunches Now Safer

For years, America’s schoolchildren have been eating beef, chicken and other foods that would have been rejected as substandard even by fast food chains. Thanks in part to our advocacy, the USDA has stopped buying such low-quality meat for school lunches.

Result | Public Health

KIDS’ SCHOOL LUNCHES NOW SAFER

For years, America’s schoolchildren have been eating beef, chicken and other foods that would have been rejected as substandard even by fast food chains. Thanks in part to our advocacy, the U.S.D.A. has stopped buying such low-quality meat for school lunches.

Result | Health Care

Young People Now Covered

This year, the federal health care reforms that PIRGIM worked to win have started to pay off for young people. In the past, teens saw their premiums soar or were denied coverage when they turned 19, even if they’d been insured their whole lives. Now, they can remain on their parents’ plans until age 26.

Result | Health Care

Young People Now Covered

This year, the federal health care reforms that PIRGIM worked to win have started to pay off for young people. In the past, teens saw their premiums soar or were denied coverage when they turned 19, even if they’d been insured their whole lives. Now, they can remain on their parents’ plans until age 26.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Chain Reaction III

The third annual Chain Reaction report, which grades companies on their antibiotics policies and practices, found that 14 out of the top 25 restaurants in the U.S. have taken steps to restrict the routine use of antibiotics in the production of the chicken they serve, up from nine just one year ago. While restaurant chains made great progress on chicken, the groups who authored the report found that there were no new commitments to limit antibiotic use in beef and pork.

Report | U.S. PIRG and National Taxpayers' Union Foundation | Budget

Toward Common Ground 2017

As we enter the budget season under a new administration, our nation faces enormous fiscal challenges. The national debt stands just shy of $20 trillion, numerous unfunded obligations increase the debt burden substantially, and policymakers will soon have to decide how to address the debt ceiling – the statutory limit on the amount of debt the government can issue. It is time to set aside politics and work on concrete and bipartisan solutions to put America’s finances back on track.

Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Financial Reform

Medical Debt Malpractice

Millions of Americans are contacted by debt collectors every year over debt related to medical expenses. "Medical Debt Malpractice" is the latest (9th) in our series based on analysis of complaints in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's public complaint database. The report demonstrates that the CFPB is a critical agency protecting consumers against unfair financial practices and needs to be defended against special interest attacks.

Report | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

Student, Education, and Consumer Groups Defend CFPB To Congress

On February 13, nearly 60 local, state and national student advocacy, professional, consumer, educational, faith and other organizations sent a letter to Congressional leaders expressing "strong support for the crucial work the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) does on behalf of student loan borrowers." The "borrower-focused" letter also urged Congress "to ensure the agency remains well-positioned to solve borrowers’ problems, which includes protecting the Bureau’s single-Director structure and its independent funding, and maintaining Director Richard Cordray until his term ends.

Report | PIRGIM Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Predatory Loans & Predatory Loan Complaints

This is the seventh in a series of reports that review complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In this report, we explore consumer complaints about predatory loans, categorized in the database as payday loans, installment loans, and auto title loans.

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Blog Post | Financial Reform

What You Haven’t Heard About that Bad Banking Bill; It Preempts State Identity Theft Reforms | Mike Litt

We're opposing S2155 on the Senate floor this week. The main message against in the media has been that it puts mortgage borrowers at risk of bad loans and racial discrimination. Worse, it puts our economy at risk by removing important bank regulator tools to rein in risky practices by giant and big banks. For that matter, it could even allow risky practices to migrate to community banks. But there's more. The bill's so-called consumer protection provisions intended to offset its rollbacks, including its free credit freeze, aren't that good and preempt stronger state actions.

Blog Post | Financial Reform

Credit Bureaus Let Wrongdoers Run Amok, Disrupt Mortgage-Seekers | Ed Mierzwinski

In the run-up to the 2006-2007 mortgage bubble that led to the total collapse of our financial system in 2008, the Big 3 credit bureaus sold products known as "trigger lists" that aided sketchy mortgage companies in disrupting consumer transactions. The lists were "credited" with making a bad situation worse. Guess what? Longtime syndicated housing columnist Ken Harney warns: "they're back."

Blog Post | Financial Reform

Massive Rollback of Dodd-Frank Wall St. Protections Hits Senate Floor, Our Opposition Letter to S2155

We've been working hard to oppose a bill to weaken the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. You remember, that's the law passed in the wake of the second-biggest financial collapse in our history, caused by Wall Street recklessness. The bill has massive support from both Wall Street and community banks. S2155 is on the Senate floor this week. It has enough Democratic votes to pass, but consumer champions are fighting back. Read our opposition letter.

Blog Post | Financial Reform

Why The Legal Dispute Over the Leadership of the CFPB Matters | Michael Landis

There’s an important legal fight happening right now over the temporary leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And U.S. PIRG Education Fund, along with nine other consumer advocacy groups, just weighed in with a friend-of-the-court brief against the President and his pick. Find out why the Consumer Bureau needs to be independent in this blog entry about why the legal dispute over the CFPB matters.

Blog Post | Transportation

To Build A 21st Century America, Start Here | Jeff Robinson

The stakes in the current infrastructure debate are high. But what matters most is not the size of any federal infrastructure package, nor how it is financed, nor even how many jobs it creates in the coming years. What matters most is building the infrastructure that will enable America to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

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LOWE’S: PULL TOXIC PAINT STRIPPERS

Methylene chloride has killed at least 50 people nationwide, but is still commonly found in paint removers. Tell Lowe’s today: Stop selling paint strippers that put our lives at risk.

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STAND UP FOR BEES

Bees pollinate 70 percent of the world’s crops. Protect bees and the health of our planet by telling our governor to ban bee-killing pesticides.

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TELL CONGRESS TO STAND UP FOR CONSUMERS

The House is considering a bill that benefits credit bureaus at the expense of average consumers and servicemembers. Tell Congress to oppose it.

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ASBESTOS FOUND IN CHILDREN’S MAKEUP

Some makeup sold by Claire’s retail stores is contaminated with asbestos. Tell your representatives: Kids’ makeup shouldn’t contain toxic chemicals.

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