News

2023

September

18

• When Wall Street buys most of the homes on your block. First-time buyers, who overwhelmingly rely on mortgages, were often outmatched by cash buyers at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, when interest rates plummeted below 3 percent and home prices soared. Across the U.S., more

13

• Amazon launches plan to help ‘underserved’ D.C. families buy homes. The undertaking is part of a $40 million initiative that executives said is meant to help boost homeownership among “underserved groups” in the D.C., Seattle and Nashville areas. The first pool of money

03

• Home insurers cut natural disasters from policies as climate risks grow. Major insurers say they will cut out damage caused by hurricanes, wind and hail from policies underwriting property along coastlines and in wildfire country, according to a voluntary survey conducted by the National Association of

July

14

• How Philadelphia kept tenants from being evicted. Philadelphia has kept in place one key lockdown-era protection program — at least for the moment. Under this program, if a tenant owes less than $3,000 in back rent, landlords must try mediation in good faith

March

13

• Insurers slashed Hurricane Ian payouts insiders reveal. After years of more frequent and intense storms, national insurance carriers have pulled back from the market and smaller, regional carriers with smaller financial reserves jumped in. In the wake of Hurricane Ian, those companies

01

• Advocates welcome collection of homebuyers' language preference. Advocates Welcome Mandatory Collection of Language Preference Data by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Required use of the Supplementary Consumer Information Form (SCIF) starts March 1 WASHINGTON, D.C. - Homebuyers with limited English proficiency (LEP)

January

26

• White House unveils Renters Bill of Rights. The Biden administration is releasing a “Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights” that highlights the need for clear and fair leases, the right to organize, and eviction prevention and diversion, among other

2022

November

01

• Sharp spike in Black, Asian and Latino homeownership. Helped by pandemic-era stimulus programs, Black, Latino and Asian households saw the sharpest increase in homeownership in 2021 since the Great Recession, when all their levels of owning had fallen, according to an analysis of new

October

27

• U.S. mortgage rates soar past 7%. Mortgage rates barreled past the 7 percent mark to their highest level since 2002, as the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate increases, meant to combat inflation, continued to seep through the economy and worry markets.

September

01

• Bank of America tests no-down-payment mortgages for minorities. Bank of America Corp. started a trial program aimed at helping first-time homebuyers in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods by offering mortgages that don’t require down payments, closing costs or minimum credit scores, all

August

31

• Consumer Action INSIDER - September 2022. The September issue of INSIDER brings you stories about some new grants and initiatives at Consumer Action, as well as standard features, like Hotline Chronicles (a terrible snafu with airline tickets) and CFPB Watch (a rundown of what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been up to). Learn about some upcoming class action settlements, too.

01

• Corporate landlords ‘aggressively’ evicted tenants during pandemic. Four major corporate landlords filed thousands of evictions while federal moratorium orders were still standing, using aggressive tactics to force out tenants at the height of the pandemic, according to a new investigation by a

July

25

• We need to keep building houses, even if no one wants to buy. While the challenge for builders, in the short term, might be that they have too many homes and not enough buyers, the challenge for the country, in the long term, remains precisely the opposite: There

June

22

• Justice Department and Meta settle landmark housing discrimination case. Facebook-owner Meta agreed to revamp the social network’s targeted advertising system under a sweeping settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, after the company was accused of allowing landlords to market their housing

07

• Massive rent increases hit mobile homes. Surging home prices and rents are cascading down to the country’s mobile home parks, where heightened demand, low supply and an increase in corporate owners is driving up monthly costs for low-income residents

02

• You can ask Google to take your personal data out of its search results. Google is offering a new tool to anyone who doesn't want their phone number, email or street address and other personal information to be found online: People can ask for their contact details to

May

01

• Consumer Action INSIDER - May 2022. This month's INSIDER features stories about our recent activities, including a webinar exploring the impact of COVID on small businesses and a project using FinTech to improve financial wellness. Hotline Chronicles relates a woman's difficulty in receiving her income tax refund after attempting to have it sent to a prepaid card. And, we announce new settlements in our Class Action Database.

April

24

• Emergency assistance for tenants and homeowners (Spring 2022). This issue of Consumer Action's quarterly newsletter provides an update on the various types of financial assistance available to help qualifying homeowners and renters stay in their homes. It also presents various efforts at preventing inaccurate eviction records from impeding consumers' ability to rent a home.

• Emergency assistance for tenants and homeowners (Spring 2022). This issue of Consumer Action's quarterly newsletter provides an update on the various types of financial assistance available to help qualifying homeowners and renters stay in their homes. It also presents various efforts at preventing inaccurate eviction records from impeding consumers' ability to rent a home.

18

• Find out and fix what big data says about you. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau maintains a list of consumer reporting agencies that’s currently 38 pages long. In addition to the big three credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — the list includes 22