McCaskill Will Hold Hearing Washington, D.C., May 9, 2013 A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including Claire McCaskill (D-MO), has introduced a bill banning rental car companies from renting recalled vehicles that have not been repaired to consumers. The bill, the Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act of 2013, would close a dangerous loophole that allows rental car companies to rent or sell unrepaired recalled vehicles that are unlawful for car dealers to sel ...
Tag Archives: News Coverage
‘Car-title Loans’ a Road to Deep Debt
Legislators Weigh Capping High-interest 'Car-title Loans' San Franciso Chronicle, May 4, 2013 The pitches sound enticing. "Need cash? Have bad credit? No problem. You can get a loan today by using your car as collateral - and you get to keep driving it." These "car-title loans," also called "pink-slip loans" and "auto-equity loans," are a booming industry in California, where 38,000 people took out $134 million worth in 2011, according to the Department of Corporations. ...
Editorial: The Utility Shell Game
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 6, 2013 A bipartisan group of lawmakers is blocking a bill that would allow Ameren Missouri to raise electric rates on consumers more quickly with less regulatory oversight. Good for them. Now they should also block Senate Bill 240, which expands the ability of regulated gas utilities, such as Laclede Gas and Ameren, to raise rates outside the normal rate-case process. The bill would hit residential and small-business consumers the hardest. It is, qu ...
Coalition is Holding Banks Accountable for Meeting Communities’ Needs
The St. Louis Equal Housing and Community Reinvestment Alliance (SLEHCRA) is a coalition of non-profit and community organizations in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The organization works to increase investment in minority communities, regardless of income, and in low- and moderate-income communities, regardless of race, by ensuring that banks are meeting their obligations under the Community Reinvestment Act and fair lending laws. Consumers Council of Missouri actively parti ...
Editorial: Medicaid Defeat Hurts Missourians Who Need Help Most
Columbia Tribune, April 28, 2013 In a number of states, Republican lawmakers are making a stubborn stand against the expansion of Medicare coverage contained in the federal Affordable Care Act. They laud themselves for having denied a tenet of Obamacare, sticking it to the president whose name is attached. Trouble is, their main effect is to make life harder for constituents in their own states, not to mention throwing sand in the progress of health care reform. Republi ...
Editorial: Healthcare Issue Too Important to Die; Save Lives – Expand Medicaid
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 22, 2013 A brutal form of cynicism lies behind the latest excuse offered by Missouri Senate Republicans for refusing to even discuss an expansion of the state Medicaid program. The proposal would extend health insurance to poor people and bring thousands of jobs to the state by leveraging billions of dollars in federal investment. Sen. John Lamping, R-Ladue, was one of several senators to use the word “dead” to describe House Bill 700, sponsored ...
PSC Staff Analysis of Legislation Confirms Consumers’ Fears
ST. LOUIS, Mo., April 8, 2013 -- An analysis by the staff of the Public Service Commission finds that under legislation pending in the Missouri General Assembly consumers would have to pay higher rates faster for electric utility infrastructure investments and would lose protections afforded under current law. “These are exactly the points we at Consumers Council of Missouri have been making as we educate the public and legislators about the dangers of piecemeal ratemaking,” sai ...
Federal Regulators to Rein In Payday Lending by Banks
Washington Post, printed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 24, 2013 WASHINGTON • Banking regulators are set to hand down tough new rules to govern short-term, high-interest loans that have been blamed for trapping some Americans in a cycle of debt, according to people familiar with the matter. The rules, which are slated to come out Thursday, could radically alter the operations of the small but growing number of banks, including Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp, that offer l ...
Bank Payday Lending Persists Despite Broad and Growing Opposition
Center for Responsible Lending, printed in the North Dallas Gazette, March 26, 2013 In today’s challenging financial times, the cost of living finds many consumers with an ongoing financial challenge to hold on until their next payday arrives. Even worse, when banks peddle predatory payday loans, they pose serious threats to their customers’ financial well-being. Marketed under names like “direct deposit advance”, these loans are easy to get; but hard to pay off. As consumers ge ...
Medicaid Rally at Capitol Attracts 1,000
Associate Press, April 16, 2013 Rallying with one of the largest crowds of the year at the Missouri Capitol, Gov. Jay Nixon urged activists on Tuesday to implore reluctant Republican lawmakers to expand Medicaid coverage to hundreds of thousands of lower-income adults. The Democratic governor headlined a nearly hour-long pep rally that his administration says drew more than 1,000 people to the Capitol - a crowd so large that some state employees were asked to park their vehic ...
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