Ed's Blog

Visa/Mastercard settlement may allow surcharges, but some stores say unfair practices not ended

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Consumer Program Director

A reported $5 billion settlement over anti-competitive practices by Visa and Mastercard that raise prices for all consumers at the store and at the pump will allow merchants to surcharge credit card transactions in some circumstances. But the convenience stores oppose the settlement as too weak to protect them.

Consumer Protection

CFPB May Announce It Has "Guns, Lots of Guns" To Regulate Credit Bureaus

Thursday, July 12, 2012

By | Ed Mierzwinski

Consumer Program Director

The CFPB travels to Detroit Monday, July 16th, for a field hearing on credit reporting. It seems like a fine opportunity to announce a final anticipated rule giving it full authority -"guns, lots of guns" - to look inside the black box operations of Trans Union, Equifax and Experian-- the Big Three self-anointed and little-scrutinized gatekeepers to financial and employment opportunity despite their long record of mistakes and failure to give consumers a chance to fix them.

Consumer Protection

Arbitration: it's not just bad for you, it's bad for fair arbitrators, too

Monday, July 9, 2012

By | Ed Mierzwinski

Consumer Program Director

A Bloomberg columnist is reporting that the securities industry's self-regulator FINRA has fired 3 arbitrators who ruled against BofA's Merrill Lynch in favor of a presumably grievously ripped-off investor (they rarely win). It's time for both the SEC, for investors, and the CFPB, for consumers, to step up and use their Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act powers to ban forced arbitration.

Consumer Protection

Payday lenders seek "get out of regulation free" card

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

By | Ed Mierzwinski

Consumer Program Director

Triple-digit APR payday lenders are spending some of their massive profits on a bad legislative proposal, HR 1909, to eliminate any oversight by either state governments or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and move them into the arms of the industry-friendly federal bank regulator known as the OCC. Being regulated by the OCC has been a "get out of regulation free" card for the banks, so why not join them?