Category: Education

“I just need enough cash to tide me over until payday.” “GET CASH UNTIL PAYDAY! . . . $100 OR MORE . . . FAST.” The ads are on the radio, television, the Internet, even in the mail. They refer to payday loans, cash advance loans, check advance loans, post-dated check loans, or deferred deposit [...]

Could identity thieves be using your personal and health insurance information to get medical treatment, prescription drugs or surgery? Could dishonest people working in a medical setting be using your information to submit false bills to insurance companies? Medical identity theft is a twist on traditional identity theft, which happens when someone steals your personal [...]

New Federal Reserve rules give debit and ATM card users additional options regarding overdrafts. In the coming months, banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions must offer you the ability to make decisions about overdrafts for transactions made with your debit or ATM cards. Expect your bank to send you an explanation about how it [...]

8 ways to avoid pitfalls in areas such as interest rate and fee increases As previously reported, Congress in 2009 passed a new law for credit cards that helps protect consumers from most instances of sudden interest rate increases and other unfavorable changes in fees and account terms. Most of the rules implementing the law [...]

Prohibitions and Restrictions on Interest Rate Increases: Card issuers generally can’t increase the interest rate on a credit card for one year after an account is opened, and after that, the rate can generally only rise on new transactions. However, there are several exceptions that allow for rate increases during the first year and on [...]

A reverse mortgage is essentially a loan against your home that you do not have to pay back for as long as you live there. It allows homeowners age 62 or older to borrow cash from the equity in their homes without having to make monthly payments. A reverse mortgage is often advertised as a [...]

(Pub. L. 109-8) This Act amends the Truth in Lending Act in various respects, including requiring certain creditors to disclose on the front of billing statements a minimum monthly payment warning for consumers and a toll-free telephone number, established and maintained by the Commission, for consumers seeking information on the time required to repay specific [...]

(codified to 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681-1681x) This Act, amending the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), adds provisions designed to improve the accuracy of consumers’ credit-related records. It gives consumers the right to one free credit report a year from the credit reporting agencies, and consumers may also purchase for a reasonable fee a credit score [...]

 (15 U.S.C. § 6102 note) This Act authorizes the FTC under section 3(a)(3)(A) of the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, 15 U.S.C. § 6102(a)(3)(A), to implement and enforce a do-not-call registry. The Act also ratified the do-not-call registry provision of the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 C.F.R. 310.4(b)(1)(iii), which became effective on [...]

(codified in relevant part at 18 U.S.C. § 1028 note) Section 5 of this Act, Pub. L. No. 105-318, 112 Stat. 3007, makes the FTC a central clearinghouse for identity theft complaints. The Act requires the FTC to log and acknowledge such complaints, provide victims with relevant information, and refer their complaints to appropriate entities [...]

 (15 U.S.C. § 1639) The Act, amending the Truth in Lending Act, establishes disclosure requirements and prohibits equity stripping and other abusive practices in connection with high-cost mortgages. It is enforced by the Commission for nondepository lenders and by the states through their attorneys general. Information retrieved from www.ftc.gov.

(codified in scattered sections of the U.S. Code, particularly 15 U.S.C. §§ 1637 and 1647) This Act, amending the Truth in Lending Act, requires creditors to provide certain disclosures for open-end credit plans secured by the consumer’s dwelling and imposes substantive limitations on such plans. Information retrieved from www.ftc.gov.

(codified in relevant part at 15 U.S.C. §§ 6101-6108) The Act requires the Commission to promulgate regulations (1) defining and prohibiting deceptive telemarketing acts or practices; (2) prohibiting telemarketers from engaging in a pattern of unsolicited telephone calls that a reasonable consumer would consider coercive or an invasion of privacy; (3) restricting the hours of [...]

(15 U.S.C. §§ 1667-1667f, as amended) This Act, amending the Truth in Lending Act, regulates personal property leases that exceed 4 months in duration and that are made to consumers for personal, family, or household purposes. The statute requires that certain lease costs and terms be disclosed, imposes limitations on the size of penalties for delinquency or default [...]

(15 U.S.C. §§ 1693-1693r) This statute (Title IX of the Consumer Credit Protection Act) establishes the rights, liabilities, and responsibilities of participants in electronic fund transfer systems. The Act requires financial institutions to adopt certain practices respecting such matters as transaction accounting, preauthorized transfers, and error resolution, and sets liability limits for losses caused by unauthorized transfers. Information retrieved [...]

(15 U.S.C. §§ 1692-1692o, as amended) Under this Act (Title VIII of the Consumer Credit Protection Act), third-party debt collectors are prohibited from employing deceptive or abusive conduct in the collection of consumer debts incurred for personal, family, or household purposes. Such collectors may not, for example, contact debtors at odd hours, subject them to repeated telephone [...]

(15 U.S.C. §§ 1691-1691f, as amended) This Act (Title VII of the Consumer Credit Protection Act) prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, receipt of public assistance, or good faith exercise of any rights under the Consumer Credit Protection Act. The Act also requires creditors to provide applicants, upon request, with [...]

(codified in scattered sections of the U.S. Code, particularly 15 U.S.C. 1637(c)-(g)) This Act, amending the Truth in Lending Act, requires credit and charge card issuers to provide certain disclosures in direct mail, telephone and other applications and solicitations to open-end credit and charge accounts and under other circumstances. Information retrieved from www.ftc.gov.

(15 U.S.C. §§ 1681-1681(u), as amended) The Act protects information collected by consumer reporting agencies such as credit bureaus, medical information companies and tenant screening services. Information in a consumer report cannot be provided to anyone who does not have a purpose specified in the Act. Companies that provide information to consumer reporting agencies also have specific legal [...]

 (15 U.S.C. 1666-1666j) This Act, amending the Truth in Lending Act, requires prompt written acknowledgment of consumer billing complaints and investigation of billing errors by creditors. The amendment prohibits creditors from taking actions that adversely affect the consumer’s credit standing until an investigation is completed, and affords other protection during disputes. The amendment also requires [...]