Creditors and collectors seek to recover consumer debts through the use of litigation and arbitration. But, neither litigation nor arbitration currently provides adequate protection for consumers. The system for resolving disputes about consumer debts is broken. To fix the system, federal and state governments, the debt collection industry, and other stakeholders should make a variety of significant reforms in litigation and arbitration so that the system is both efficient and fair. Contents of this report: Introduction; Litigation and Arbitration Proceedings; Conclusion. Appendices: Debt Collection Roundtable (DCR) Panelists; Contributors to DCR; Agendas for DCR; DCR Public Comments; Sample State Debt Collection Checklists. Illustrations.
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.
Welcome to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Your Money, Your Goals: A financial empowerment toolkit for social services programs! If you're reading this, you are probably a case manager, or you work with case managers. Finances affect nearly every aspect of life in the United States. But many people feel overwhelmed by their financial situations, and they don't know where to go for help. As a case manager, you're in a unique position to provide that help. Clients already know you and trust you, and in many cases, they're already sharing financial and other personal information with you. The financial stresses your clients face may interfere with their progress toward other goals, and providing financial empowerment information and tools is a natural extension of what you are already doing. What is "financial empowerment" and how is it different from financial education or financial literacy? Financial education is a strategy that provides people with financial knowledge, skills, and resources so they can get, manage, and use their money to achieve their goals. Financial education is about building an individual's knowledge, skills, and capacity to use resources and tools, including financial products and services. Financial education leads to financial literacy. Financial empowerment includes financial education and financial literacy, but it is focused both on building the ability of individuals to manage money and use financial services and on providing access to products that work for them. Financially empowered individuals are informed and skilled; they know where to get help with their financial challenges. This sense of empowerment can build confidence that they can effectively use their financial knowledge, skills, and resources to reach their goals. We designed this toolkit to help you help your clients become financially empowered consumers. This financial empowerment toolkit is different from a financial education curriculum. With a curriculum, you are generally expected to work through most or all of the material in the order presented to achieve a specific set of objectives. This toolkit is a collection of important financial empowerment information and tools you can access as needed based on the client's goals. In other words, the aim is not to cover all of the information and tools in the toolkit - it is to identify and use the information and tools that are best suited to help your clients reach their goals.
This publication analyses the main legal issues arising out of the use of electronic signatures and authentication methods in international transactions. It provides an overview of methods used for electronic signature and authentication and their legal treatment in various jurisdictions. The study considers the use of these methods in international transactions and identifies the main legal issues related to cross-border recognition of such methods, with a special attention to international use of digital signatures under a Public Key Infrastructure.
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance
This joint report by the Law Commission and Scottish Law Commission considers the redress available to consumers who have been the victims of misleading or aggressive practices by traders. Currently consumers have to rely on private law rights if they want to take action. The Commissions' review found current private law in this area to be fragmented, complex and unclear, and recommends new legislation to provide redress to consumers who experience misleading and aggressive practices in their dealings with traders. The aim is to clarify and simplify the current law on misleading practices, and to improve the law on aggressive practices by filling the gaps in the current law. Limited reform, targeting the most serious causes of consumer detriment, is proposed. The report follows the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 in most, but not all, respects. Recommendations are made on liability and remedies. Consumers would have the right to unwind the transaction (get a refund), or receive a discount on the price. Additional damages may be recoverable to compensate for additional loss. The report also considers the specific area of unfair payment collection.
