Tag Archives: CFC
Senate committee disses California’s big cryptocurrency push
April 05, 2022|By Susannah Luthi | POLITICO A representative for Yee and the Consumer Federation of California logged their opposition to the bill. In a letter to the committee and Kamlager, the Consumer Federation’s CEO Robert Herrell also stressed the digital currencies’ “wild fluctuations” that leave consumers “completely … Read More ›
A new California law could make your next car rental more expensive
February 24, 2022|By William P. David| THE NEW YORK TIMES “It’s just another way to get additional money without having it show up in the rack rate or the base rate on the car,” Robert Herrell, the executive director of the Consumer Federation of California, told me. “We … Read More ›
Legislation introduced to address Wells Fargo scandal
“Wells Fargo’s customers were ripped off twice,” said Richard Holober, Executive Director of Consumer Federation of California. “First, the bank created two million fraudulent accounts. Then when consumers tried to sue, the bank forced them into company-dominated arbitration hearings. SB 33 will guarantee that the victims of a bank’s identity theft will get their day in court.” Read More ›
Talks begin over bill inspired by Wells Fargo scandal
by Dominic Fracassa, San Francisco Chronicle
Legislative deliberations continued Tuesday over a bill that seeks to prevent financial institutions accused of defrauding their customers from pulling legal disputes out of the state court system and into private arbitration. Read More ›
California bill seeks to help fraud victims of banks
[Senate Bill 33] would help victims of fraud committed by their financial institution after thousands of Americans fell victim to a Wells Fargo scandal. Read More ›
Forced Arbitration: A Sneaky Rip-Off
Update: The CFC submitted a letter in strong support of the proposed rule to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on August 22. View it here (pdf). When a bank or other financial institution engages in unfair, deceptive or downright abusive rip-offs, consumers should get their day in … Read More ›
Pink Tax Repeal Act Aims To Make Pricing Fair To Women
by Carla Fried, Consumer Reports
Last Friday, Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA) aimed to put an end to pricing products according to gender. She introduced the Pink Tax Repeal Act—a bill that would prohibit companies from charging different prices for similar products or services simply based on the gender of the customer. …
“As a rule, the man’s version or a neutrally-branded product is going to be less costly than the womens or girls version,” says Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California. “Consider buying products that aren’t specifically labeled for the use of women.” Read More ›
Bill Calling For Price Equity For Items Marketed To Females Fails
by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle
Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California … said his organization would try again next year. Women already earn less than men in wages for similar work, he said, “and then when they spend their hard-earned dollars, they’re charged more.” Read More ›
Gender Pricing Discrimination – Democrats Team With Republicans To Stop SB 899 (Hueso)
Consumer Federation of California-sponsored SB 899 (Hueso), a bill that would have ended gender pricing discrimination, was stopped by Democrats and Republicans in today’s meeting of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. Senator Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) dropped SB 899 after it became apparent that a majority of the … Read More ›
Bill To End Gender Disparity In Retail Pricing Is Withdrawn After Pushback From Industry Lobbyists
by Jazmine Ulloa, Los Angeles Times
“It loaded the decks so that it was unenforceable,” said Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California. “We are very angry that what we find is another example where corporate interests dominate the majority.” Read More ›
AB 2688: Health ‘Privacy’ Bill Would Unleash Information Sharing
6/28 update: AB 2688 was approved in the Senate Judiciary Committee today. Voting in favor of the bill – and against consumers’ interests – were all of the panel’s Democrats: Chair Hannah-Beth Jackson and Senators Robert Hertzberg, Mark Leno, William Monning and Bob Wieckowski. The committee’s two Republicans, Vice … Read More ›
Wells Fargo Identity Theft Racket Inspired SB 33 (Dodd): Justice for Victims
October 4 Update: Jerry Brown signed SB 33 into law. The Consumer Federation of California is co-sponsoring legislation by State Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa) inspired by Wells Fargo’s fraudulent creation of two million customer accounts. Senate Bill 33 will make sure that in the future, victims of … Read More ›
ConsumerWatch Weekend Roundup
Julie Watts’ featured guest on Saturday was Richard Holober of the Consumer Federation of California, whose organization is one of many consumer groups urging regulators to revise the standard for child car seat flammability. Read More ›