Consumer Protection News

Responding to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the Senate today passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, HR 4173 by a count of 60 to 39. The bill reins in Wall Street and protects consumers, investors, and taxpayers from further financial meltdowns.

The Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG) compared a series of key votes of U.S. Senators during consideration of the Restoring American Financial Stability Act this month and found that Senators Kohl and Feingold supported Main Street 82% of the time.

Yesterday afternoon, the U.S. Senate voted down a broad crippling amendment offered by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) to the Wall Street Reform bill. The amendment would have given the federal government sweeping ability to preempt or override states’ capacity to protect their own residents from dangerous and deceptive practices of banks and other financial institutions, while taking state Attorneys General off the corporate crime beat.

Church and faith leaders, and local constituents from Senator Sullivan’s district assembled today in Wauwatosa to call on Senator Sullivan to enact meaningful payday lending reform and support a 36% rate cap.

We applaud Chairman Dodd of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee for moving forward towards passage of legislation to protect American consumers and increase the stability of the economy. We expect that Wall Street bankers who wrecked the economy and were then bailed out by the taxpayers will continue to try to delay or kill this reform designed to protect people on Main Street

WISPIRG today said that several leaked draft proposals to make the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) subservient to other bank regulators that would have veto power over its decisions “won’t do the job and will let reckless Wall Street banks win over consumers living on Main Street.”

U.S. Senator Kohl, Wisconsin State Representative Gordon Hintz, and WISPIRG student leaders today laid out proposals on the UW Madison campus to address rising credit card debt among college students. Participants discussed credit card companies’ aggressive marketing and predatory lending practices that are targeted at students, and outlined proposals to address the problem, including the Credit CARD Act, S.414, co-sponsored by Senator Kohl.

WISPIRG, a leading Wisconsin consumer group that has published annual toy safety surveys for over twenty years today applauded U.S. Senate passage of comprehensive legislation to “give the CPSC the money and authority” it needs to protect the public from dangerous products. WISPIRG applauds Senators Kohl and Feingold for supporting this important consumer protection.

Hazardous toys are still sold in stores across the country, according to the 22nd annual toy safety survey released today by the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG).

WISPIRG thanked Governor Doyle for signing AB 912 into law at a ceremony in New Berlin today. Assembly Bill 912, authored by Representative Jeff Fitzgerald (Beaver Dam), would give consumers a tool to protect themselves against fraud and identity theft.

Consumer complaints about cell phones and service are skyrocketing, far outpacing the significant growth of the industry, according to a study released today by the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG).

Hazardous toys can still be found on store shelves across the country despite passage of the 1994 Child Safety Protection Act, according to a nationwide survey released today by the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG).