The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is taking action against Hello Digit, LLC, a financial technology company that used a faulty algorithm that caused overdrafts and overdraft penalties for customers. Hello Digit was meant to save people money, but instead the company falsely guaranteed no overdrafts with its product, broke its promises to make amends … Read more
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took action against U.S. Bank for illegally accessing its customers’ credit reports and opening checking and savings accounts, credit cards, and lines of credit without customers’ permission. U.S. Bank pressured and incentivized its employees to sell multiple products and services to its customers, including imposing sales goals as … Read more
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) fined Bank of America $100 million for botching the disbursement of state unemployment benefits at the height of the pandemic. Bank of America automatically and unlawfully froze people’s accounts with a faulty fraud detection program, and then gave them little recourse when there was, in fact, no fraud. … Read more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is seeking public input on how bank customers can assert their rights to better customer service with big banks. A 2010 federal law specifies that consumers have rights to obtain timely responses to requests for information about their accounts from large depository institutions. In today’s Request for Information, the … Read more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced they are filing a lawsuit against MoneyGram International, Inc. and MoneyGram Payment Systems, Inc. (MoneyGram)—one of the largest remittance providers in the U.S.—for systemically and repeatedly violating various consumer financial protection laws and leaving families high and dry. The lawsuit … Read more
Credit Unions have a very loyal customer base. They are not-for-profit and owned by their members. As a result, they often offer lower interest rates. But there are some important differences between credit unions and banks regarding lending money. The Horrible Cross Collateralization Agreement Credit unions incorporate a “cross-collateralization agreement” in all loans except mortgages. … Read more
Two new companies in the financial space, LendingClub and SoFi had very different days recently. It just goes to show you how quickly this new financial niche is moving. LendingClub Had a Bad Day LendingClub stormed onto the playing field as a peer-to-peer lender. In the early days, I was even one of the many … Read more
The modern United States Postal Service (USPS) is changing how long it will take to deliver First-Class Mail. You know, the kind where you put a stamp on an envelope and send it. – Source If you still send checks in the mail to pay bills you must now allow at least five days for … Read more
Today, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Richard Fairbank, CEO of Capital One Financial Corp., will pay a $637,950 civil penalty to settle charges that his acquisition of Capital One Financial stock violated the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act. Fairbank’s recent multi-million dollar compensation package included over 100,000 Capital One Financial shares in 2018, which increased his … Read more
Many seniors do their banking with a credit union. They like the personal attention a credit union provides, and they might like that they are a “member” of the credit union. Sometimes the fees are less at a credit union. For the most part, credit unions do a good job. However, there is one area … Read more