jferraez's blog

Back in April of this year, I wrote about the rising number of delinquency and default rates in the subprime auto loan market. Since then, the warning signs are still flashing.

Several weeks ago, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced new rules governing payday lenders set to go into effect in 2019—that is if Congress doesn’t have its say first.

Mandatory arbitration provisions are once again at the forefront of policy discourse on Capitol Hill as government agency heads and members of Congress grapple with how to best balance the interests of both companies and consumers. But there doesn’t seem to be much hope for one side of the debate, as Congress is set to overturn a rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in July of this year.

The average consumer knows that credit cards do have advantages, e.g., better response to fraud issues, ease of renting cars and hotel rooms, cash back and travel bonuses. The problem? Many consumers use them to spend more than they can afford. As simple as that notion may seem, CNN Money released an article suggesting that the problem of overspending could be avoided if consumers had a “good introduction” to credit card use.

According to a recent CNN Money report, another giant retailer is struggling to keep its head above water. Gymboree, a children’s clothing retailer, recently filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 to restructure and attempt to stay in business.

Several weeks ago, I wrote on the possibility of another subprime mortgage crisis. Now, it appears that subprime auto loan defaults are nearing crisis levels.

We all remember the subprime mortgage crisis, right? Well, here we go again. At least it’s a possibility according to William Poole, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and former CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a report outlining the regulatory agency’s effort to address issues within the credit reporting market. Some of those efforts include correcting data accuracy at credit reporting companies, repairing the broken dispute procedures, and cleaning up certain information being reported by furnishers.

That old adage that “things are never as they seem” aptly describes the current situation with student loan servicers. As reported by the New York Post, servicers like Navient—the largest student-loan servicer in the U.S.— are only making the student debt crises even worse.

Here’s how the process goes for many borrowers:

The fallout continues from Wells Fargo’s settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) over the bank’s fake account scandal. Last September, federal regulators announced that Wells Fargo employees created upwards of 2 million bank and credit card accounts without customer approval.