Early in 2020, JPMorgan Chase offered to help customers weather the pandemic crisis by taking a temporary pause on payments - but even as those words were published, the bank had quietly begun to unleash a lawsuit blitz against many of its struggling customers. Read more»

Taking out a student loan is associated with a lower financial well-being score for everyone, but research found that it is associated with an even lower score when the loan is for the borrower’s child. Read more»

Tuition financing companies have positioned themselves as crucial cogs in the for-profit education industry - playing a critical role in powering the sector financially - but advocates warn that they can be exploitative and nothing more than an instrument that leads to additional debt. Read more»

The nationwide total rent debt is estimated to be upwards of $20 billion - with more than 5.8 million renters, or 14%, in arrears - twice as many as in 2017, and dozens of consumer rights organizations are urging the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect the credit records of tenants facing economic hardship because of the pandemic. Read more»

Arizona and other states have created programs that allow financial services startups to test products and services such as digital payment apps or software for assessing credit risk without a license, but loosening licensing rules could expose customers to unfair or abusive products. Read more»

After a pause for the pandemic, debt buyers are back in the courts, suing debtors by the thousands. Read more»

Federal officials unveiled new regulations Wednesday aimed at protecting users of prepaid cards, But industry officials don’t see it that way. This financial sector is expected to be worth as much as $112 billion by 2018. Read more»

Debt collectors are targeting members of the Armed Services by calling their superior officers, threatening reduction in rank and even courts-martial, despite stepped-up efforts to protect them from abuse, according to a government report issued last week. Read more» 1

At least six federal agencies including the Justice and Treasury departments are coordinating a broad probe of online payday lenders that charge enormous interest and fees to low-income borrowers who need quick cash. Read more»

Installment loans have been around for decades. While payday loans are usually due in a matter of weeks, installment loans get paid back in installments over time — a few months to a few years. Both types of loans are marketed to the same low-income consumers, and both can trap borrowers in a cycle of recurring, deceptively expensive loans. Read more» 1

In President Obama's second term, financial regulation would finally appear to have the leverage. Wall Street spent zillions on Mitt Romney, who had promised to roll back financial reform, and lost. Elizabeth Warren now sits in the world's greatest deliberative body. Read more»

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued new rules requiring that companies dealing with international money transfers must disclose to each customer any fees, the exchange rate and the amount that will receive in local currency. Read more»

FICO, which had $605 million in revenue last year, is not directly regulated by any government agency and its credit rating formulas are secret, leaving consumer groups to say there's potential for inaccuracies and unfairness. Read more»

Major banks with at least $50 billion in assets and any other companies that are designated as systemically important will be subject to stricter regulation to protect the U.S. financial system from another meltdown. Read more»

Even as it plowed tens of millions of dollars into ads this year to help mostly Republicans notch Congressional victories, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was initiating a new effort to raise millions more from energy, health insurance, financial services, and other firms to fund a new anti-regulatory campaign. Read more»