Defend Your Dollars is the website of the Consumers Union Financial Services Campaign, where we support reforms to the financial marketplace to curb bad practices by banks and lenders.
The Daily Dollar
Defend Your Dollars is the website of the Consumers Union Financial Services Campaign, where we support reforms to the financial marketplace to curb bad practices by banks and lenders.
Our weekly round up of what is going on in the world of consumer finance and BEYOND... Read more »
“You don’t want to lose what you already got, because it’s hard to start all over again.” --Johnnie Lee Bussie Read more »
On Jan. 29, we blogged about a new Treasury Department program, called the TALF, the Term Asset Backed Securities Loan Facility. We pointed out that our tax money shouldn’t be used to back credit card debt when the terms and conditions on the credit card are unfair to individuals. On Feb. 10, the Treasury Secretary announced a major expansion in the TALF program. It will be increased from a $200 billion program to “up to” one trillion dollars. The soon-to-be-launched program gets a new name, the Consumer and Business Lending Initiative. It will cover more types of loans and now it will use $100 billion of our tax dollars to support the program, instead of the original $20 billion. But, no protections for individuals have been announced. Read more »
GUEST POST BY MARK SAVAGE, CU Senior Attorney. Treasury Secretary Geithner and Attorney General Holder must decide whether they will reverse the Bush Administration’s long standing position that states cannot enforce state laws against predatory lending practices by banks—the kinds of practices that lead directly to the current economic crisis. Read more »
Four bills have been introduced in Congress, to protect consumers from bad credit card practices sooner than July 2010. Read more »
Lately the market for financial services is changing faster than Facebook's terms of use. When we have a moment to breathe, here are some very interesting conversations we've noticed around the web. Read more »
The Obama administration’s plan to fight foreclosures provides long overdue help to Americans at risk of losing their homes. President Obama today unveiled a $75 billion foreclosure prevention program aimed at spurring banks to modify at-risk mortgages and empowering bankruptcy judges to help borrowers restructure mortgages. Read more »
"I got the feeling I was just a number. They've hurt a lot of people, we're just one of them." —Langdon McAlpin Read more »
Earlier today Barney Frank called for a moratorium on all foreclosures until President Obama’s plan can be put into affect. We couldn’t agree more. I know that Langdon McAlpin in Georgia, who is scheduled to have his home sold in foreclosure on March 3rd , would love to have just a couple extra months to see if this plan is going to help him. Waiting to kick people out of their homes hurts no one. Read more »
Help Americans Struggling with High Cost Mortgage and Credit Card Debt Read more »
Compelling video project on how foreclosure is impacting America Read more »
