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Consumer Law

California Credit Law Blog

Covers California Consumer Law, including news and events dealing with Consumer Law.
By Kemnitzer, Anderson, Barron, Ogilvie & Brewer

Post Frequency: 0.6/day

Last Entry: March 21, 2011 at 21:15:33

Banks Starting to Modify Mortgages Under U. S. Treasury Refinance Program

Posted on April 14, 2009
Throwing a lifeline to homeowners under water on their mortgage obligations, the U.S. Treasury announced its Home Affordable Refinance Program in mid-February. The program is supposed to facilitate mortgage servicers in modifying troubled homeowners' mortgages so that their monthly payment is reduced to no more than 31% of gross monthly income...

Most Credit Cards Are Unfair according to Study

Posted on April 03, 2009
A report by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that most credit cards include ?unfair and deceptive? practices as measured by new Federal Reserve guidelines that go into effect in 2010. Reviewing consumer credit cards issued by the 12 largest companies that represent 88% of outstanding credit card debt, the study found: ? 100 percent of cards allowed the issuer to apply payments in a manner which, according to the Federal Reserve, is likely to cause substantial monetary injury to consumers...

Statute of Limitations Defense to Debt Collection? Not So Fast

Posted on April 02, 2009
In May 2006 a debt collector sued an Oregon consumer--in Oregon--for a credit card debt. The consumer had made her last payment in November 2001 before she defaulted. The credit card agreement said that New Hampshire law would apply to the agreement. In New Hampshire, the statute of limitations for an action on a credit card is three years...

Banks Walking Away From Foreclosed Properties, Leaving Displaced Homeowners Holding the Bag

Posted on March 31, 2009
We often receive calls from panicked homeowners who need advice about the ballooning mortgage they can no longer handle. The government was supposed to set up agencies for help with that sort of problem, but reports indicate the success rate is dismal...

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Sometimes A Splurge Is Good For Your Health

Posted on March 27, 2009
The economic pundits couldn't disagree more on how to fix the economy. Most agree, however, that at least part of the crisis was due to consumer overspending and under-saving. Folks thought the equity in their houses would continue to rise forever, so they used that equity, often with disastrous results...

Credit Card Companies Are Now Canceling Cards Due to Not Enough Use!

Posted on March 19, 2009
Charging too much on your credit cards is a good way to get into financial trouble. So, in this economic climate, it's best to keep those cards in your wallet, right? According to an article in MSN Money, not necessarily so. Banks are apparently taking a hard look at customers who don't use their credit cards -- or who don't use them anough -- and simply canceling those cards...

Senate Takes Up Prof Warren's proposed Financial Product Safety Commission

Posted on March 16, 2009
Law Professor Elizabeth Warren proposes that Congress create a Financial Product Safety Commission to help protect consumers from predatory and deceptive financial products. To illustrate the need for such a commission, Prof Warren points out that if a consumer goes into an appliance store looking for a toaster that has a 1 in 5 chance of exploding, you won't find one...

Debt Collectors Specializing in Deceaseds' Debts

Posted on March 05, 2009

Capital One Settles With Identity Theft Victim

Posted on March 04, 2009

Rickenbacker Collections and Experian Victimize Consumers

Posted on February 28, 2009

Experian FICO Scores No Longer Available to Consumers

Posted on February 18, 2009
Experian just announced that it will no longer allow public access to FICO scores based on its credit reports, as Public Citizen's blog reported February 16 and the New York Times reported earlier. The other two credit reporting agencies, Equifax and Trans Union, will continue to allow the public to view their FICO scores...

New Report on Credit Bureaus' Electronic Dispute System & How it Frustrates Consumers

Posted on January 28, 2009
Inaccuracies plague the credit reporting system. The FCRA established a process to enable consumers to dispute the inaccuracies and force the credit bureaus and companies that provide the data to investigate the disputes and make corrections. A new report from the National Consumer Law Center shows that the system is a travesty...

Credit Crunch Means Higher Scores Necessary to Get Best Rates

Posted on January 06, 2009
In its January 4, 2009, edition, the Wall Street Journal reports that it now takes a 760 FICO score to get the best rate on a 30 year mortgage, 740 for the best rate on 15 year mortgages, and 720 for the best 3 year auto loan rate. Formerly, 720 would get the consumer the best rates on these loans...

The Five Components of Your FICO Credit Score

Posted on January 01, 2009
Your credit score, also often referred to as a FICO score, is a three-digit number that is designed to gauge your creditworthiness. Lenders use it to assign interest rates on things such as auto loans, mortgages and credit cards, among other borrowings...

New Edition of Credit Scores Credit Reports

Posted on December 18, 2008
Evan Hendricks is a leading expert on credit scores and credit reports. His book, aptly named Credit Scores & Credit Reports, How the System Really Works, What You Can Do, 3d Edition, is now available in paperwback on Amazon. Anyone interested in how the credit bureaus operate should read this book...

Inquiries their Effect on Your Credit Score

Posted on December 18, 2008
When a consumer seeks credit, the lender will report an inquiry on the consumer's credit reports. When a bank sends out a pre-approved loan application or makes an account review, the bank reports that event as an inquiry. The former inquiries are known as hard inquiries and the latter as soft inquiries...

How to Deal with Zombie Debt

Posted on November 20, 2008
WikiHow, a how-to-manual that you can edit, has excellent advice on dealing with zombie debt-old debts that cannot legally be collected through lawsuits. Companies buy the debt for pennies on the dollar and then use nefarious tactics to get consumers to pay...

Credit Bureaus Won't Let You Add Credit History

Posted on October 07, 2008
The NY Daily News reports on an individual who noticed his credit reports did not show all his credit cards. He gathered his credit card documents and sent them to the credit reporting agencies asking them to add them to his credit history with the idea it would improve his credit standing...

Consumers Who Filed for Bankruptcy Get Help with Old Debts on their Credit Reports

Posted on September 30, 2008
A recent court order in a class action will help millions of consumers who filed bankruptcy but have been plagued with old debts showing up on their credit reports. The old debts, which are typically forgiven by the courts in a bankruptcy filing, are still being reported as active on many consumers' credit reports...

NY Times Reports on the High Cost of a Free Credit Report

Posted on August 05, 2008
The NY Times reports that Experian is spending $70 million per years advertising its FreeCreditReport.com site where many consumers log on deceived into believing they will get a "free" credit report. For example, one person provided his credit card information thinking it was needed for identification only to find Experian charged him $14...

Prof Elizabeth Warren Talks About Credit Reporting on NPR's Fresh Air

Posted on July 09, 2008
Last week, Prof Elizabeth Warren talked about credit reporting on the NPR program Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Ms Gross' husband had to hire an attorney to convince the credit bureaus that someone else's bad debts listed on his reports did not belong to him...

Banks Are Increasing Credit Card Rates & Fees and Pushing Lousy Products to Make Up for Mortgage Related Losses

Posted on July 05, 2008
In an interview on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Prof Elizabeth Warren warns consumers that banks are increasing interest rates and fees on credit cards for no other reason other than that they need revenue to make up for losses in other lines of their business...

Credit Monitoring Services Are a Waste of Money -- Free Alternatives Are Available

Posted on June 15, 2008
Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, Kathleen Pender demonstrates that the credit monitoring services offered by the credit bureaus and other companies at a cost of $60 to $200 a year are a waste of your money. The services won't detect many types of identity theft and it is pretty easy to check your credit reports for identity theft for free...

Credit Bureaus Sell Consumers' Data

Posted on April 26, 2008
Consumers might assume that Experian, Trans Union and Equifax restrict the the information they collect to creditors to whom consumers have applied for credit. On the contrary, the credit bureaus sell personal and financial information to various companies...

More Chatter About the San Francisco City Attorney's Suit Against The National Arbitration Forum

Posted on April 10, 2008
The San Francisco City Attorney apparently has some enthusiastic cheerleaders for its recent suit against the National Arbitration Forum (NAF), which we discussed here. Credit Slips is a terrific credit and bankruptcy blog which contributors are mostly law professors with deep knowledge about their topic...

National Arbitration Forum Sued by San Francisco City Attorney

Posted on April 10, 2008
Our consumer law firm has learned that if a potential client's dispute is covered by an arbitration clause, we generally won't take the case. There are several reasons. First, the company on the other side uses the arbitrator frequently. Since the company wouldn't continue to use the arbitrator without good results, the arbitrator has an incentive to rule for the company...

New Credit Score Formula for 2008

Posted on January 21, 2008
Credit scores are determined using formulas designed to predict how likely a consumer will pay his or her bills. Fair Isaac is the leader having created the FICO credit-scoring formula. Fair Isaac has announced its formula will be revised this year. The new formula will deemphasize the effect of one late payment on your credit score on an otherwise unblemished record...

Identity Theft Mostly Caused by Lost Laptops, Third Parties

Posted on November 28, 2007
Identify theft affected somewhere between 8 and 15 million Americans in 2005, according to Tom Abate's article in today's San Francisco Chronicle. One report just issued by the Federal Trade Commission estimated that identity theft struck about 4% of all adult Americans in 2005...

How To Handle Student Loan Debt? A New Website Provides Resources

Posted on November 28, 2007
Students graduating from college have a few months to savor their accomplishment before worrying about repaying their student loans. But what happens when they have problems making their payments? A new website, Student Loan Borrower Assistance, includes information on repayment options, avoiding and getting out of default, dealing with collections agencies, and much more...

Mortgage Holders Can't Foreclose on Consumers Without the Proper Documents, According to Ohio Court

Posted on November 16, 2007
Consumers who are sued by debt collectors can defend in court by demanding that the debt collector prove it is entitled to collect the debt. Particularly when the debt collector is not the original creditor, the debt collector is frequently unable to prove it owns the debt...

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