Consumer Protection

LOOKING OUT FOR CONSUMERS

U.S. PIRG’s consumer program works to alert the public to hidden dangers and scams and to ban anti-consumer practices and unsafe products.

TROUBLE IN TOYLAND

For 30 years, U.S. PIRG’s "Trouble In Toyland" report has surveyed store shelves and identified choking hazards, noise hazards and other dangers. Our report has led to at least 150 recalls and other regulatory actions over the years.

Get our tips for avoiding dangerous toys.

BIGGER BANKS, BIGGER FEES

In April, U.S. PIRG released a report in which we surveyed more than 350 bank branches and revealed that fewer than half of branches obeyed their legal duty to fully disclose fees to prospective customers, while one in four provided no fee information at all. We also found that despite widespread stories about the “death” of free checking, free and low-cost checking choices are still widely available, if consumers shop around.

Find out how to beat high bank fees.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Congress Should Oppose Mick Mulvaney’s Troubling Track Record & Requests

Upon request by the House Financial Services Committee, we submitted a statement for the record for a committee hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s semi-annual report. This morning's hearing marks Mick Mulvaney’s first appearance before Congress as acting director of the CFPB.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

U.S. PIRG Recommends a Privacy Bill of Rights

Here is our press release calling on Congress to introduce and pass a privacy bill of rights in response to the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

U.S. PIRG Statement on the FY18 Omnibus

The House just passed the FY18 spending bill which provides funding for many key programs in the public interest. While it’s not a perfect bill, and we remain concerned about its effect on the deficit, the bill is considerably better than it could have been, and we are pleased the House passed it and hope the Senate does the same. U.S. PIRG’s program directors responded with these statements:

News Post | Public Health, Consumer Protection

PIRG Consumer Watchdog: Asbestos Found In Children's Products | Dev Gowda

The PIRG Consumer Watchdog team recently found that three different products sold by national retail brand Claire’s contain alarming amounts of asbestos. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers it “unacceptable” for cosmetic talc to be contaminated with asbestos, and doctors say that there is no safe limit of asbestos.

News Post | Consumer Protection

Six Months Out From Equifax Hack, Are Consumers Any Better Protected? | Mike Litt

Consumers agree: Equifax must be held accountable for its wrongdoing. Yet the Trump administration and Congress still haven’t taken action to do that, or to better protect consumers from identity theft in the future. What are they waiting for?

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Target Removes Lead-Laden Fidget Spinner From Website, But Still Available For Sale In-Store

Since late yesterday afternoon, Target appears to have made the 33,000 ppm-lead containing Fidget Wild Premium Spinner Brass unavailable for sale on its website. U.S. PIRG Education Fund staff went to a Target store today and found the Fidget Wild Premium Spinner Brass was still available for sale in-store, despite the website saying it was unavailable there. Also yesterday, one of the CPSC’s Commissioners, Elliot F. Kaye, re-stated his opposition to the CPSC’s guidance and the acting chairman's statement when he tweeted, “Seems obvious fidget spinners are toys and should comply with all applicable federal safety standards.”

News Release | Consumer Protection

U.S. PIRG CONSUMER ADVOCATE MIKE LITT TESTIFIES AT CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON EQUIFAX

Our Consumer Advocate, Mike Litt, was invited by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, to testify this week at a Congressional hearing on the Equifax data breach. This was a continuation of the committee's previously held hearing on October 5th entitled "Examining the Equifax Data Breach."

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Children’s Toys Victory: CPSC Bans Phthalates In Toys

Children’s toys will be safer after a vote today by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to ban five types of phthalate chemicals from children’s toys and other children’s products. Phthalates are commonly used as a softener for plastic children’s toys and child care articles, such as pacifiers and bottles.

News Release | Consumer Protection

REPORT: MORTGAGE ABUSES LEADING SOURCE OF OLDER CONSUMER COMPLAINTS TO CFPB

Mortgages were the leading source of 72,000 complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from consumers 62 years of age and over, followed by complaints about credit reports and debt collection, according to a new report. Further, legislation passed by the House and awaiting Senate action intended to cripple the Consumer Bureau would place older consumers at greater risk of harm from financial scammers.

News Release | Consumer Protection, Health Care

California’s new drug price law is a win for consumers nationwide

Today, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 17 into law, a groundbreaking measure to increase transparency and accountability for the prescription drug industry. We celebrate the new law—passed with support and hard work from CALPIRG—as a landmark victory for consumers, not just in California, but nationwide.

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Report | OSPIRG Foundation | Consumer Protection

Preying On Portlanders

In August of 2005, our staff surveyed 21 licensed payday lending storefronts in the City of Portland. Because many of the payday lending storefronts are owned and operated by the same payday lender, the survey is representative of approximately ninety-five percent (95%) of the licensed active payday lending storefronts in the City of Portland. The survey aimed to determine the interest rate most commonly charged in the City of Portland, based on a $300 loan principal for a 14-day term.

Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health, Consumer Protection

The Right Start

A child’s first few years are an exciting time for parents who hope, if for nothing else, that their child starts his or her life happy and healthy. Unfortunately, not all products marketed for children and babies are completely safe for their use. Many contain toxic chemicals that may have detrimental health impacts for children exposed during critical stages of development.

Report | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Trouble In Toyland 2004

The 2004 Trouble in Toyland report is the 19th annual Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) survey of toy safety. This report provides safety guidelines for parents when purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that may pose potential safety hazards. PIRG’s research focused on four categories of toys: toys that pose choking hazards, toys that pose strangulation hazards, toys that are dangerously loud, and toys that contain toxic chemicals.

Report | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Trouble In Toyland 2004

The 2004 Trouble in Toyland report is the 19th annual Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) survey of toy safety. This report provides safety guidelines for parents when purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that may pose potential safety hazards. PIRG’s research focused on four categories of toys: toys that pose choking hazards, toys that pose strangulation hazards, toys that are dangerously loud, and toys that contain toxic chemicals.

Report | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Mistakes Do Happen

Several studies since the early 1990s have documented sloppy credit bureau practices that lead to mistakes on credit reports—for which consumers pay the price. Consumers with serious errors in their credit reports can be denied credit, home loans, apartment rentals, auto insurance, or even medical coverage and the right to open a bank account or use a debit card. We asked adults in 30 states to order their credit reports and complete a survey on the reports’ accuracy.

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News Post | Consumer Protection

Defending the Consumer Bureau and Richard Cordray | Kathryn Lee

“Rich Cordray is the LeBron James of regulators, it makes no sense to fire him.” Our consumer program director, . We need to maintain a strong and independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, free from political and outside-industry influence. And to do that, we need to ensure Richard Cordray remains the Bureau’s director until the end of his term.

News Post | Consumer Protection

The internet should be free and open | Kathryn Lee

Net neutrality is the basic principle that all internet traffic should be treated equally. And this principle is being dismantled by the new Federal Communications Commission.

News Post | Consumer Protection

Consumer protection suspended | Kathryn Lee

On Monday, President Trump promised to do on the Wall Street reforms we helped pass in the aftermath of the Great Recession. On , he started to follow through on his promise, delaying a commonsense consumer protection to require retirement advisers to act in their clients’ best interests.

News Post | Consumer Protection

This week, CFPB Sues TCF Bank for overdraft schemes and loan servicer Navient for "failing" students | Ed Mierzwinski

Despite an escalation of threats to exterminate the Consumer FInancial Protection Bureau, CFPB continues to protect consumers well. This week it sued TCF Bank over deceptive overdraft marketing schemes and it sued Navient, the student loan servicer and Sallie Mae spinoff, for "failing" students at every step of the repayment process. The TCF complaint notes that its CEO brazenly named his boat "Overdraft."

News Post | Consumer Protection

CFPB Report Finds 1 In 4 Consumers Feel "Threatened" By Debt Collector Tactics | Ed Mierzwinski

We joined Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray and Washington, DC Attorney General Karl Racine for release of new CFPB data on debt collector abuses. Fully 1 in 4 consumers feel "threatened" by abusive, possibly illegal, debt collector tactics. The release also included an emphasis on problems with the "debt buyer" industry, comprised of firms that buy older, uncollected debt for as little as less than a penny on the dollar.

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