Consumers

Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act of 2009

hmoroz — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:57:51 -0500

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Effective date of most provisions of the originally introduced version of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act: 3 months after passage

Effective date of most provisions of the version of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act that was signed into law: 9 months to 15 months after passage

Percentage of credit cards from the 12 largest banks that use practices deemed “unfair or deceptive” by the Federal Reserve: 100

Median advertised range of APRs for credit cards issued in December of 2008: 9.99%-15.99%

Median advertised range of APRs for credit cards issued in July of 2009, after the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act’s passage: 12.24%-17.99%

Maximum annual fee instituted by Citigroup in August that is imposed when a cardholder does not spend enough: $90

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Middle Class Supports. The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act was a major step forward for consumer protections. The legislation ended the most insidious practices employed by credit card companies, protecting consumers from policies that can keep them mired in debt despite their best efforts to dig themselves out. However, the Act delayed implementation of these vital consumer protections for over a year in some cases, allowing card companies to raise interest rates, increase fees, and jack up minimum payments in the meantime. The Pew Safe Credit Cards Project finds that many credit card companies worsened their treatment of consumers in anticipation of the legislation. The Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act would ensure that these unfair and deceptive practices end immediately. Although the bill will not aid consumers whose interest rates and fees have been raised in recent months, the Act will prevent card companies from continuing to intensify the financial strain on households already struggling to make ends meet.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

“H.R. 2382, the Credit Card Interchange Fees Act of 2009 and H.R. 3639, the Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act,” Hearing of the House Financial Services Committee

“Still Waiting: ‘Unfair or Deceptive’ Credit Card Practices Continue as Americans Wait for New Reforms to Take Effect,” from Pew Safe Credit Cards Project

“Modernizing Consumer Protection in the Financial Regulatory System: Strengthening Credit Card Protections,” from the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009

hmoroz — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:09:36 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009

hmoroz — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:05:27 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Trade Reform, Accountability, Development, and Employment Act of 2009

hmoroz — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:52:31 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009

hmoroz — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:47:37 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Number of cases of illness, hospitalizations, and deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that are caused each year by foodborne disease: 76 million; 325,000; 5,000

Percentage of consumers that said they were confident that the food supply was safer than a year ago after the January 2009 salmonella outbreak: 22.5

Average frequency of the Food and Drug Administration’s inspection of food establishments: Once every ten years

Number of countries the typical American meal includes food from: 6

Number of Americans and Canadians sickened and killed, respectively, by Salmonella-contaminated peanut products from the Peanut Corporation of America between September 2008 and March 2009: 691; 9

Estimated annual cost in medical expenses, lost productivity, and pain and suffering due to foodborne pathogens: $357 billion

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Middle Class Supports. The outdated, overstretched, and underfunded food safety system continues to put middle-class consumers at risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States each year, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths. The Food and Drug Administrations is responsible for overseeing 80 percent of the food supply. Yet, much of this food never passes under the watchful eye of an inspector. While Department of Agriculture inspectors visit meat and poultry processing plants at least once a day, FDA inspectors average an inspection visit to a food facility once every ten years. Further, the current food safety system is reactive: current regulations mean that the agency springs into action only after an outbreak of illness. Recently, 691 individuals were sickened and 9 died from an outbreak of Salmonella in contaminated peanut products while health officials struggled to determine the source of the hazardous food.

The Food Safety Enhancement Act would modernize the food safety system to protect middle-class Americans who are increasingly concerned about the integrity of the food they eat. More frequent inspections – at least once every 18 months for high-risk facilities – and expanded access to records during these inspections would keep food plants honest, while the requirement for each facility to develop a food safety plan would shift the emphasis of the food safety system to preventing outbreaks of foodborne illness. More detailed descriptions of product origin will assist efforts to stem outbreaks and the FDA’s mandatory recall authority will be a vital tool to ensure that the public is protected if an outbreak does occur. The collection of registration fees adds an important source of funding for the expanded oversight activities. The Food Safety Enhancement Act will help make middle-class families safer and reinspire confidence in the food safety system.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Testimony of Carol L. Tucker-Foreman of the Consumer Federation of America on the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, before the Subcommittee on Health of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce

“Food Safety,” from the Center for Science in the Public Interest

“Food,” from Consumers Union

United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act of 2006

hmoroz — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:53:35 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Opposes

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Date on which President Bush boasted that the Oman trade deal would “provide additional market access for U.S. goods”: 9/19/2006

Estimated Gross Domestic Product of Oman in 2006: $44.53 billion

Estimated Gross Metropolitan Product of the Memphis, TN area in 2005: $56.69 billion

Date on which the current Omani head of state, Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said first assumed office: 7/23/1970

Estimated percentage of increased inequality of earnings in the U.S. in 2006 attributable to trade policy: 7

Minimum annual loss this represents to the typical married couple household in the U.S.: $2,000

Approximate proportion of U.S. workers whose jobs are potential targets for off-shoring if present trade policies continue over the next two decades: 1 in 4

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

The Middle Class Opposes. Increased international trade can contribute to economic growth, but the way trade rules are formulated in agreements like this means that the benefits of trade are distributed unevenly, ultimately undermining the middle class and aspiring middle class in both the U.S. and the nations it trades with. A central problem is that the Oman trade agreement empowers businesses and investment capital to cross international borders more easily, providing a decisive advantage over working people who are not so internationally mobile and whose rights are not well protected in Oman. Despite recent reforms to the Omani labor code, independent unions are still banned. There are also concerns about human trafficking and involuntary servitude among the more than half a million guestworkers from nations including India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines who make up the bulk of the Omani workforce. This imbalance of power creates incentives to move U.S. jobs overseas and puts downward pressure on the wages of American workers as they are placed in more direct competition with poorly-paid, disempowered Omani workers.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

“Final Text of the United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement," from the Office of the United States Trade Representative

“U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement,” from the Citizens Trade Campaign

“U.S.-Oman FTA,” from Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch

Insurance Industry Competition Act of 2009

hmoroz — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:23:20 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009

hmoroz — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:31:08 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Total revolving debt – made up mostly by credit card debt – in January of 2003: $756 billion

Total revolving debt in January of 2009: $976 billion

Number of mailed credit card offerings in 1990: 1.1 billion

Number of mailed credit card offerings in 2005: 6.06 billion

Number of mailed credit card offerings in 2008: 3.8 billion

Minimum percentage increase in the average late fee between 1995 and 2005, adjusted for inflation: 80

Amount of fees charged to credit card customers in 2002: $10.7 billion

Amount of fees charged to credit card customers in 2007: $33 billion

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Middle Class Supports. Many middle-class Americans rely on credit cards to meet daily expenses. Revolving debt – which mostly stems from credit cards – has increased 66% since 2000 . 80% of U.S. households have at least one credit card and more than 55% of households carried an outstanding balance in 2004. Since credit is increasingly necessary to fund a middle-class standard of living, credit card companies have been able to take advantage of their customers. As credit has become scarcer and card companies more concerned about maintaining their bottom line during the financial crisis, card companies have hiked interest rates even on cardholders with excellent credit.

Consumers have been slapped with excessive and obscure fees and interest charges that, if they are explained at all, are described in small text and confusing language. It is now common practice for credit card companies to apply finance charges twice in a billing cycle (double-cycle billing); to raise interest rates on a credit card for credit problems not associated with that card (universal default); to charge multiple over-the-limit fees; and to apply payments on balances with multiple interest rates to the balance with the lowest rate, all practices banned or restricted under this bill. The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Right ends the most insidious practices employed by credit card companies, protecting consumers from policies that can keep them mired in credit card debt despite their best efforts to dig themselves out.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

“Modernizing Consumer Protection in the Financial Regulatory System: Strengthening Credit Card Protections,” from the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

“Reining In Credit Card Abuses,” from U.S. Public Interest Research Group

“The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights,” by Adam Levitin of CreditSlips

Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Amendment of 2009

hmoroz — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:24:08 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Number of properties on which foreclosure notices were filed in 2008: 2,330,483

Percentage increase in total properties on which foreclosure notices were filed since 2007: 81

Number of foreclosures likely between 2009 and 2012, according to Credit Suisse: 8.1 million

Proportion of all households with a mortgage that will lose their home to foreclosure: 1:6

Number of homes that the Center for Responsible Lending estimates will be saved from foreclosure by the bankruptcy modification provision: 800,000

Average decrease in the property value of each home in the neighborhoods surrounding the foreclosures that are likely to occur in late 2008 and in 2009, in dollars: 8,667

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Middle-Class Supports. As the economy and the housing and job markets worsen, middle-class households continue to lose equity in their homes and are less able to afford their mortgage payments. The difficulty is compounded for those locked into predatory mortgages with high interest rates. The federal government and the mortgage industry’s continued failure to address the foreclosure crisis adequately could result in as many as 8.1 million foreclosures by 2012. Despite widespread calls for action to confront the crisis, foreclosures increased 81% in 2008. Voluntary mortgage modifications by lenders and banks, encouraged by policymakers in place of comprehensive federal action, have failed to make mortgages more affordable and prevent widespread foreclosures.

Extending the same bankruptcy protections to primary residences that currently apply to luxury yachts and vacation homes is not only fair, but will reduce foreclosures by about 20%, according to Credit Suisse, and benefit about 800,000 households, according to the Center for Responsible Lending. Strengthened bankruptcy protection is also beneficial to middle-class families who are not themselves facing foreclosure: the 2.4 million subprime foreclosures that the Center for Responsible Lending predicts will occur in 2009 will result in a $352 billion decline in property values for homes in neighborhoods surrounding those foreclosures, with an average decrease in property value per home of $8,667. Preventing foreclosures in those neighborhoods will keep property values up, benefiting all homeowners. Indeed, an analysis by the Center for Responsible Lending found that similar legislation would avoid 600,000 foreclosures and thus maintain $72.5 billion in wealth for families not facing foreclosure. Modification of mortgages in bankruptcy will help maintain property values, while keeping middle-class families in their homes, limiting the self-reinforcing spiral of foreclosures and falling home prices.

Additionally, the bankruptcy provision provides a powerful incentive to banks to offer homeowners affordable loan modifications in order to avoid costly bankruptcy proceedings over which they have little control.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

“A Tax-Free Foreclosure Solution: Loan Mods Through the Courts,” from the Center for Responsible Lending

Testimony of Adam J. Levitin, Georgetown Associate Professor of Law, on the Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act, before the House Judiciary Committee

FinancialStability.gov, the U.S. Treasury’s site with details about the President’s Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan

Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009

hmoroz — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:02:55 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Number of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), which record suspicious transactions, alleging mortgage fraud in 2008: 62,084

Percentage increase in the number of SARs filed between July of 2007 and June of 2008 over the same period the previous year: 44

Increase in the number of FBI mortgage task forces permitted by the additional funds provided by the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act: 24

Total value of all direct spending, loans, and guarantees provided in conjunction with the federal government’s financial stability efforts, in dollars: 4 trillion

Funds committed by investors to a fraudulent investment scheme using the Troubled Asset Relief Program, in dollars: 5 million

Number of civil and criminal investigations into fraud related to the financial bailout opened by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, as of April 2009: 20

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Reckless and fraudulent lending practices, permitted by lax regulation and regulators asleep at the switch, are a leading cause of the mortgage crisis that has put millions of middle-class homeowners at risk of losing their homes. Approximately half of the subprime loans originated in 2005 and 2006 were made by independent mortgage companies which are less regulated than traditional bank lenders. Operating beneath the radar, these mortgage companies issued abusive mortgages that often targeted the aspiring middle class and minority households. The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act strengthens protections against the worst abuses by independent mortgage companies, such as inflated appraisals and other fraudulent activities. Increased resources for the investigation and prosecution of mortgage fraud and fraud involved with the $4 trillion financial bailout will help root out and punish those who take advantage of middle-class Americans and American taxpayers.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

“The Need for Increased Fraud Enforcement in the Wake of the Economic Downturn,” from the Senate Judiciary Committee

Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program

“Financial Regulation: A Framework for Crafting and Assessing Proposals to Modernize the Outdated U.S. Financial Regulatory System,” from the Government Accountability Office

Consumers

Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act of 2009

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

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Additional Resources

American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

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Quotes from Experts

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Beyond this Bill

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Additional Resources

Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

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Quotes from Experts

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Beyond this Bill

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Additional Resources

Trade Reform, Accountability, Development, and Employment Act of 2009

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

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Additional Resources

Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act of 2006

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Insurance Industry Competition Act of 2009