Repairing a Broken System


Book Description

Creditors and collectors seek to recover consumer debts through the use of litigation and arbitration. But, neither litigation nor arbitration currently provides adequate protection for consumers. The system for resolving disputes about consumer debts is broken. To fix the system, federal and state governments, the debt collection industry, and other stakeholders should make a variety of significant reforms in litigation and arbitration so that the system is both efficient and fair. Contents of this report: Introduction; Litigation and Arbitration Proceedings; Conclusion. Appendices: Debt Collection Roundtable (DCR) Panelists; Contributors to DCR; Agendas for DCR; DCR Public Comments; Sample State Debt Collection Checklists. Illustrations.




Banking Services and the Consumer (RLE: Banking & Finance)


Book Description

This report, prepared for the government by the National Consumer Council, examines money transmission, access to banking services, new technology, banking and the law, disputes between bank and customer, saving and borrowing. There are special sections on Northern Ireland and Scotland and on bank executor and trustee work – all from a consumer perspective. It is based on the findings of two surveys of consumer attitudes to banking services and evidence from the banks and building societies themselves.




Banks, Consumers and Regulation


Book Description

Recent developments in law, public policy, and regulation have ensured that questions regarding the relationship between banks and their customers have seldom been out of the spotlight. This important book provides a timely, original, and critical examination of the role of the law in regulating banks in the interests of the consumer. The work examines the social and economic rationales for, and the objectives of banking regulation. In so doing, it focuses on the crucial role of regulation in the protection of the consumer. The book then provides a critical appraisal of the principal techniques by which regulation is delivered and protection ensured. Such techniques include prior approval by licensing, continued supervision, and information remedies such as disclosure. The work also looks at how the law protects depositors of insolvent banks through financial compensation schemes, and how it provides consumer redress through mechanisms for ensuring access to justice, in particular ombudsmen. Finally, the book looks at the topical question of consumer access to banking services, and considers the extent to which the law can justify placing social obligations on banks in the consumer interest. This is the first monograph to examine these important topics in this way.




Banking Services and the Consumer


Book Description

This report, prepared for the government by the National Consumer Council, examines money transmission, access to banking services, new technology, banking and the law, disputes between bank and customer, saving and borrowing. There are special sections on Northern Ireland and Scotland and on bank executor and trustee work - all from a consumer perspective. It is based on the findings of two surveys of consumer attitudes to banking services and evidence from the banks and building societies themselves.




The Federal Reserve System Purposes and Functions


Book Description

Provides an in-depth overview of the Federal Reserve System, including information about monetary policy and the economy, the Federal Reserve in the international sphere, supervision and regulation, consumer and community affairs and services offered by Reserve Banks. Contains several appendixes, including a brief explanation of Federal Reserve regulations, a glossary of terms, and a list of additional publications.




Consumer Lending


Book Description




The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report


Book Description

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.




Consumer Financial Dispute Resolution in a Comparative Context


Book Description

Nearly all major global financial centres have developed systems of consumer financial dispute resolution. Such systems aim to assist parties to resolve a growing number of monetary disputes with financial institutions. How governments and self-regulatory organizations design and administer financial dispute resolution mechanisms in the context of increasingly turbulent financial markets is a new area for research and practice. Consumer Financial Dispute Resolution in a Comparative Context presents comparative research about the development and design of these mechanisms in East Asia, North America and Europe. Using a comparative methodology and drawing on empirical findings from a multi-jurisdictional survey, Shahla F. Ali examines the emergence of global principles that influence the design of financial dispute resolution models, considers the structural variations between the ombuds and arbitration systems, and offers practical proposals for reform.




Consumer Protection in Financial Services


Book Description

The question of how financial services should be regulated in the interests of consumers has never been more topical. The structure of the financial services industry is changing rapidly and the need for the law to keep pace with these changes has never been greater. This book examines the role of the law in the protection of the consumer, in particular the ways in which the law is, and could be, used to protect consumers when purchasing financial services. A prominent panel of contributors first examines the role of the European Union and the ombudsmen schemes operating in the United Kingdom in improving consumer protection. Eight expert papers present a detailed analysis of aspects of the various legal mechanisms protecting consumers in the banking, financial services, investments and insurance industries. The final part of the book is concerned with the important and controversial area of consumer credit. This unique work is a welcome contribution to a rapidly developing area of law, which has so far received little attention from commentators. It will be of great interest to those at the cutting edge of banking, financial services and consumer law, whether practicing lawyers or in-house counsel, and all those involved in advising consumers.