http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/total-recall-the-need-for-cpsc-reform-now The year 2007 was called the year of the recall. http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/total-recall-the-need-for-cpsc-reform-now Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:13:41 -0500 http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/the-campus-credit-card-trap-a-survey-of-college-students-and-credit-card-marketing http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/the-campus-credit-card-trap-a-survey-of-college-students-and-credit-card-marketing Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:37:43 -0500 http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/paying-the-price-the-high-cost-of-prescription-drugs-for-uninsured-americans Millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans struggle to afford the medicines they need, even forgoing medically necessary drugs when prices are out of reach. When discussing the high cost of prescription drugs, politicians often focus on the financial burden carried by senior citizens. Unfortunately, as this report shows, high prescription drug prices are a problem for Americans of all ages, particularly for the uninsured. http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/paying-the-price-the-high-cost-of-prescription-drugs-for-uninsured-americans Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:48:48 -0600 http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/mistakes-do-happen-a-look-at-errors-in-consumer-credit-reports The most valuable thing we have is our good name. The most common reflection of our reputation as a trustworthy consumer is our credit report. Unfortunately, the information contained in our credit reports, which are bought and sold daily to nearly anyone who requests and pays for them, does not always tell a true story.Credit bureaus collect and compile information about consumer creditworthiness from banks and other creditors and from public record sources such as lawsuits, bankruptcy filings, tax liens and legal judgments. The three major credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union— maintain files on nearly 90 percent of all American adults.[1] Those files are routinely sold to credit grantors, landlords, employers, insurance companies, and many others interested in the credit record of a consumer, often without the consumer's knowledge or permission.Several studies since the early 1990s have documented sloppy credit bureau practices that lead to mistakes on credit reports—for which consumers pay the price. Consumers with serious errors in their credit reports can be denied credit, home loans, apartment rentals, auto insurance, or even medical coverage and the right to open a bank account or use a debit card. Consumers with serious errors in their reports who do obtain credit or a loan may have to pay higher interest rates because the mistakes falsely place them in the sub-prime, high-cost lending pool.We asked adults in 30 states to order their credit reports and complete a survey on the reports’ accuracy. Key findings include:Twenty-five percent (25%) of the credit reports surveyed contained serious errors that could result in the denial of credit, such as false delinquencies or accounts that did not belong to the consumer;Fifty-four percent (54%) of the credit reports contained personal demographic information that was misspelled, long-outdated, belonged to a stranger, or was otherwise incorrect;Twenty-two percent (22%) of the credit reports listed the same mortgage or loan twice;Almost eight percent (8%) of the credit reports were missing major credit, loan, mortgage, or other consumer accounts that demonstrate the creditworthiness of the consumer;Thirty percent (30%) of the credit reports contained credit accounts that had been closed by the consumer but remained listed as open;Altogether, 79% of the credit reports surveyed contained either serious errors or other mistakes of some kind.States have long taken the lead in protecting consumers’ privacy and ensuring the accuracy of credit reports. In 1992, Vermont was the first state to pass a law providing a free annual credit report on request, followed by Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. California adopted other comprehensive reforms in 1994 and later became the first state to require disclosure of credit scores.Congress eventually followed the states’ lead, adopting some credit reporting reforms in 1996 and criminalizing identity theft in 1998. In December 2003, Congress passed the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act). With the FACT Act, the financial industry won its primary goal: permanent preemption of stronger state credit and privacy laws. The FACT Act also included several modest consumer reforms, borrowing from state laws already enacted, including the right to a free annual credit report on request. Although these consumer reforms came at the unacceptable price of a state’s right to protect its consumers, the law includes a number of provisions designed to enhance the accuracy of credit reports.Despite recent federal action, we need to do more to protect consumers’ financial privacy and ensure the accuracy of credit reports. Policymakers should:Strengthen a consumer’s private right of action to seek redress through the courts when a credit bureau or a creditor fails to protect personal information or comply with an investigation.Limit or prohibit the use of a consumer’s Social Security number for transactions, credit applications, or on drivers’ licenses and other identification.Give consumers more control over who has access to their credit reports and when, better information about when their reports are accessed or when negative information is added to their reports, and the right to control the use of credit scores for insurance purposes.Give identity theft victims more power to easily clear their names.Consumers should:- Order their credit report every year from the three national credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union) to identify and correct inaccurate information before it causes problems.Notes[1] This report is based on files held by these so-called “Big Three” credit bureaus, which are also referred to as the “national repositories.” There are numerous other local credit bureaus. These either sell their data to or license their data to these national repositories. When a consumer credit decision is made in the United States, even if the creditor initially contacts a local bureau, information from one or more of the repositories is generally used. There are also numerous specialty credit bureaus, some affiliated with the repositories, others affiliated with other companies. For example, the Medical Information Bureau collects information about insurance claims history. Tenant screening bureaus work on behalf of landlords. CLUE, a division of the Equifax spin-off Choicepoint, is an auto and home insurance rating bureau. Numerous check verification and guarantee bureaus also exist. One distinction is that many of the specialty bureaus only collect and sell negative information, while the national repositories report on both positive and negative payment history. All are regulated under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq. The act uses the terms “consumer reporting agencies” and “consumer reports” instead of the more common “credit bureaus” and “credit reports.” http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/mistakes-do-happen-a-look-at-errors-in-consumer-credit-reports Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:48:48 -0600 http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/spring-broke-how-to-avoid-a-spring-break-ripoff Spring Break has become an annual ritual for more than a million college students each year. It is a time for students to take a break from the rigorous demands of their academic programs in order to relax before tackling the flurry of exams that awaits them at the end of the semester.Many students choose to travel to a tropical destination such as Cancun or Acapulco to enjoy the sunshine and celebrate with friends. They often leave with expectations for a relaxing week; unfortunately, many end up coming home with horror stories about paying hidden fees or suffering through itinerary changes that turn a trip to paradise into a spring break nightmare.Thousands of students choose to buy travel packages, in which students pay one price for their entire vacation and all arrangements are made on their behalf. These packages can be a tempting option for students – they often appear to offer competitive prices on airfare and accommodations while removing the burden of organizing the trip from the student.We surveyed spring break travel ads found at colleges in a dozen communities around the country. Our survey found that travel agencies offering spring break packages often engage in deceptive advertising. Our findings:• Every single advertisement we examined contained hidden, confusing, and misleading fees.• Hidden fees for each trip, usually mentioned only in very fine print, totaled an average of up to $367.• The resulting price for a spring break trip was on average up to 62 percent higher than the prices advertised.• The largest percentage difference between an advertised price and an actual price was for Paradise Parties, whose actual price of $1016 was more than double the advertised price of $499.• In addition to deceptive pricing, companies also require travelers to give up many of their rights. Travel companies reserve the right to change travel and accommodation plans at their discretion. In addition, companies require travelers to sign contracts in which they must waive or limit their legal rights to file disputes with the travel company.When shopping for a spring break travel package, students should be aware that hidden fees and terms and conditions that are difficult to read are commonplace. They should read these flyers critically.In addition, travel companies should take the following steps to avoid deceiving their customers:1. Advertise prices that include any mandatory fees, such as departure taxes and processing fees. Potential fees and price increases should be listed in readable type next to the base price.2. Stop the use of contracts that require travelers to give up their legal rights. All parties to a dispute should be allowed their day in court.3. Web sites and literature should prominently display a company’s terms and conditions and privacy policies.4. Contracts should be written in plain English so that what consumers read is what they get. Disputes about flight and accommodation logistics often result from intentionally confusing contracts. http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/spring-broke-how-to-avoid-a-spring-break-ripoff Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:48:48 -0600 http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/deflate-your-rate-how-to-lower-your-credit-card-apr At the end of the year 2000, U.S. households were accruing interest on $574 billion of revolving credit card debt, or debt carried over to the next month rather than paid off entirely. The average household with a credit card balance carried revolving debt of nearly $10,000. A household making the minimum payments—commonly only two percent of the unpaid balance or $20, whichever is greater—on this debt would pay nearly $1,500 in interest just in the first year. Nationally, consumers pay interest of more than $87 billion annually on this revolving debt. Cardholders paying only the minimum balance accumulate interest on top of interest, paying far more than their share to credit card companies. http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/deflate-your-rate-how-to-lower-your-credit-card-apr Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:48:48 -0600 http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/the-credit-card-trap-how-to-spot-it-how-to-avoid-it Credit card companies are flooding us with card solicitations, deceiving us with misleading offer terms, and gouging us with higher-than-ever fees. As a result, consumers are sinking further into high-cost credit card debt.As credit card companies intensify their marketing campaigns to boost profits, consumers are being flooded with more flashy credit card offers than ever before. In the second quarter of 2000, credit card companies sent a combined total of 992 million solicitations, a record high. The average household receives eight credit card offers each month, and students, who often have no regular income, are encouraged several times a week by posters, fliers, and on-campus marketers to apply for credit cards.At the same time, credit card companies are charging outrageous interest rates as high as 30% per year. Consumers, students, and others are subject to a host of unfair and deceptive terms and conditions, saddled with enormous fees, and encouraged by credit card companies to make low minimum payments so that the companies can earn more in interest. As a result, the average credit card debt for Americans who carry balances reached $5610 in 2000, an increase of nearly one-third since 1995.As consumers struggle, credit card companies are making bigger profits than ever. Between 1995 and 1999, thanks in part to aggressive marketing and misleading practices, companies’ profits skyrocketed from $7.3 billion to $20 billion.In order to reduce their own debt losses and increase profits, the credit card industry is spending millions—more than $6 million in the first half of 2000––to pass further bankruptcy restrictions and to defeat pro-consumer bankruptcy legislation. The credit card industry is seeking to make it more difficult for consumers to declare bankruptcy and to increase the amount of debt for which consumers will be liable after declaring bankruptcy. Economic experts have pointed out that by making it more difficult for cardholders to default through bankruptcy, these industry-sponsored, anti-consumer bankruptcy restrictions will encourage credit card companies to be more predatory in lending, because the risk of issuing cards to higher-risk consumers such as students and those with low incomes will decline.An additional measure of the problem with credit card marketing is increased attention by regulators. In June 2000, the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) imposed a civil penalty and restitution order totaling over $300 million against the sixth largest credit card bank, Providian. In September 2000, the Federal Reserve Board issued new regulations requiring improved disclosures in credit card solicitations.The state PIRGs conducted two surveys for this report. In a survey of 100 credit card offers during the summer of 2000, the state PIRGs found two major themes: (1) credit card terms and conditions are becoming less favorable to consumers; and (2) credit card marketing practices are misleading and deceptive. In an on-campus survey of college students, conducted during the current school year, the state PIRGs found that the marketing of credit cards to college students is too aggressive. The state PIRGs compared these results to those of a 1998 PIRG survey and found that the situation has not improved. http://www.arizonapirgstudents.org/reports/consumer/consumer-protection-reports/the-credit-card-trap-how-to-spot-it-how-to-avoid-it Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:48:48 -0600