Student Consumer Action Network Blog Posts

2012 Starts with a Win!

By | Brian Moe
WashPIRG State Board Chair

2012 Starts with a Win!

2012 has already brought a tremendous victory for students and families.

Today the President appointed Richard Cordray as the director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB will rein in the bad business practices of banks, lenders, and credit card companies.

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Winning! Facebook settles with FTC

By | Student PIRGs

Big News.

Today Facebook settled a privacy complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC says Facebook "deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public." Read the FTC's full statement here.

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Protecting Internet Freedom

By | Student PIRGs

We've joined two other leading consumer groups-- the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union (the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports magazine) -- in a letter to Congress in opposition to the so-called Stop Online Privacy Act, HR 3261 (SOPA).

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Big Banks, Bigger Fees

By | Student PIRGs

Today, we’re releasing a new report, Big Banks, Bigger Fees: A National Survey of Bank Fees. Our staff visited over 350 bank branches around the country to see if they would provide a list of all bank fees as required by the Truth in Savings Act – a law that’s been on the books for 20 years. The law says, if a consumer asks for a list, or schedule, of all fees, the bank has to give it to them. It isn’t that complicated.

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The Antisocial Network

By | Student PIRGs

Earlier this month Facebook gave external websites and applications access to cell phone numbers and addresses. Fortunately, after pushback from users and privacy experts, they suspended the feature.1

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Reposted from U.S. PIRG's Consumer Blog

While the 111th Congress already had resulted in enacting several major, historic victories, from health care to Wall Street reform, the lame duck post-election session -- against usual form -- is eking out a few more important victories for consumers.

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Candice Choi of the Associated Press tried living without a bank account and relying on prepaid cards and check-cashing stores for a while for her story "Living without a bank: Fees and confusion galore."

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As of today, August 1, banks will need a new customer's opt-in (must affirmatively agree or say yes) before imposing so-called overdraft protection on debit and ATM card transactions.

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The bill reins in Wall Street and protects consumers, investors, and taxpayers from further financial meltdowns. The centerpiece of the reform legislation is the establishment of the new, independent the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect consumers of financial products, including private student loans.

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