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By Ed Mierzwinski - 11/5/2009 Over at the Huffington Post story 29 Overdraft Fees in 27 Days, I act as Dr. Watson in reporter Arthur Delaney's effort to get to the bottom of a Chase Bank conundrum. How did consumer Mathew Miller pay $1446 in overdraft fees in one month? Chase's contract (See page 4) says that it counts deposits before debits, but Miller's statement reads the opposite way and "appears to contradict that policy."

House passes bill to accelerate credit card act

By Ed Mierzwinski - 11/4/2009 Today the House overwhelmingly voted (331-92 with YEA the public interest vote) to implement the Credit CARD Act of 2009 on December 1 instead of next year. The legislation is a response to banks behaving badly during the long implementation period that they had requested. Instead of using it get ready for the new law's supposed complexities, they have used it to raise interest rates, lower credit limits and make other harsh changes to accounts. Senator Dodd has a similar bill ready for Senate action.

Professors use mapping to link payday lending to increase in violent crime

By Ed Mierzwinski - 11/4/2009 Several professors have used geo-mapping to link payday lending to an increase in violent crime. From their report abstract: "In a case study of Seattle, Washington, a city that has seen a typical increase in the number of payday lenders, we find that a concentration of payday lending leads to higher violent crime rates,..."

Boston Globe profiles bank reformer Elizabeth Warren

By Ed Mierzwinski - 11/3/2009 The Boston Globe has a nice story on Elizabeth Warren, Harvard law professor, developer of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency idea, chair of teh Congressional Oversight Panel on the TARP and, more generally, a fierce protector of the average American family against powerful special interests.

Bank lobbyists seek to rein in state attorneys general

By Ed Mierzwinski - 11/3/2009 As Congressional action continues on financial reform, bank lobbyists seeking to preserve the system that failed have asked Congress to overturn a recent PIRG-backed Supreme Court decision, Cuomo v. Clearinghouse, that reinstated some authority of state attorneys general to enforce their own consumer laws over national banks. As the New York Times reports today, based on that decision, States Are Pondering Fraud Suits Against Banks: "Frustrated by the banks’ inability or unwillingness to stop an avalanche of foreclosures, the states are considering lawsuits over the creation and marketing of millions of bad loans as well as the dismal pace of mortgage modifications." Consumers should contact their Representatives and Senators and urge opposition to banker efforts to take state consumer cops off the beat.

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Ed Mierzwinski
U.S. PIRG Consumer Program Director
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