Bankruptcy

The Week in Finance From the FTC

By Meaghan Olson

The Federal Trade Commission announced this week two new measures to address lapses in consumer protection for U.S. citizens.

Mortgage Lender Required to Hire Consultant

According to a news release, the FTC has modified a settlement with Gateway Funding Diversified Mortgage Services, L.P., a mortgage lending company earlier cited for improper and discriminatory lending.

Gateway will now have to:

• Hire a third-party consultant approved by the FTC to verify that the company complies with fair lending regulations
• Introduce any remedial changes suggested by the consultant
• Submit to annual assessments and detailed analyses of lending information for five years

The new measures are intended to prevent the sort of mortgage lending abuses, such as reverse redlining and predatory lending, that occurred during the subprime boom and paved the way for the real estate bubble, its burst and bankruptcy filings across the country.

Support for Bill Expanding Consumer Funeral Rights

Following a funeral scandal last summer in which workers in the funeral industry stole money from grieving families and disposed of bodies in unsavory ways, the FTC has announced its support of a house bill (H.R. 3655) that would expand consumer rights in the funeral industry.

The incident reportedly involved four gravediggers in the Chicagoland area pocketing funeral money after performing funerals for families. After the ceremonies, the four allegedly dug up bodies and dumped them wherever they found space.

The bill, if it passes, would do the following:

• Give the FTC the authority to regulate cemeteries across the country
• Expand consumer protections under the FTC?s existing Funeral Rule by expanding its application from funeral homes to crematories and sellers of caskets, urns, monuments and markers
• Require those in the funeral industry to disclose and itemize prices upfront and identify any state laws that require certain purchases or expenses

The funeral industry has historically been one in which strict consumer protection is essential, since people are often forced to make financial decisions in a short amount of time and while under great emotional stress.

Full post as published by The Bankruptcy Blog on February 07, 2010 (boomark / email).