Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

3 Easy Ways to Avoid Overdraft Fees

Overdraft fees and other insufficient funds charges are taking a big bite out of our wallets. Here are three easy strategies to help you avoid handing that cash to your bank.

Buried Under Student Loan Debt? The Government Is Here to Help

To solve the student-loan crisis, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is asking the public for their ideas. Aside from the personal pain caused by a mountain of student debt, the CFPB wants to head off the possibility of another financial crisis just like the housing bust.

Mortgage Relief Scams Still Going Strong

More than five years have passed since the mortgage bubble began to pop, and scammers taking advantage of homeowners still abound. In fact, the criminals and their techniques have become increasingly sophisticated.

More States Join Lawsuit Challenging CFPB and Dodd-Frank

Eight more states have joined a lawsuit aimed at challenging the constitutionality of parts of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, including the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

CFPB Unveils New Federal Rules to Curb Risky Mortgages

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is laying out the nation's first rules aimed at ensuring that mortgage borrowers can afford the loans they take out. Among the new regulations are bans on the risky "interest-only" and "no documentation" loans that helped inflate the housing bubble.

Year-End Paperwork Purge: What to Keep, What to Shred

Even the most digitally savvy consumer can amass reams of paperwork by year's end, from ATM and gift receipts to credit card statements and tax forms. Here's the skinny on what to keep and what to toss in the year-end paperwork purge.

The Most Important Item in Your Credit Report

Most of your financial life is reflected on your credit report. But there's one specific aspect that carries more weight than any other when Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion calculate your credit score -- because it accounts for more than half of the updates the credit bureaus receive.

CFPB to Oversee Debt Collectors

Expanding its reach, the government's consumer finance watchdog agency will monitor the day-to-day operations of big debt-collection companies. It is the first time that debt collectors have been subject to federal scrutiny of their routine business practices.

CFPB Complaint Site Takes on Credit Report Issues, Too

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's complaint website already gave Americans a way to seek redress over problems with credit cards, mortgages, bank accounts, auto or personal loans, even student loans. Now, it's also ready to help us deal with credit reporting agencies.

Is Prepaid the Future of Plastic? Fee-Hungry Banks Hope So

There's a new wave of plastic filling the middle ground between credit cards and debit cards: refillable cards -- or prepaid cards -- that act like a hybrid of both. They're an attractive option for consumers -- and a convenient way for banks to sidestep recent consumer protection laws.

Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?

It's the question every incumbent up for reelection has had to answer since challenger Ronald Reagan first posed it to President Jimmy Carter in 1980. But in this 2012 campaign, the answer is not so simple, for all the rhetoric on both sides.

The Hidden Credit Scores That Could Sink Your Finances

It's not hard to get copies of your credit report: You can even get them free from the major credit-reporting agencies. But each one of us has more than one credit score, and the one you're given may be very different from the ones lenders and other businesses actually use.

Stay-at-Home Spouses Will Once Again Get the Credit They Deserve

The consumer-friendly CARD Act is saving credit card holders hundreds of millions of dollars and almost as many headaches, but it has some flaws. For example, it made life more difficult for roughly 5 million stay-at-home spouses by making it hard for them to get credit. That's going to change soon.

Holy Smokes! Some People Spend 25% of Their Income on What?!

As far as bad habits go, smoking is a popular example of one to give up. Now there's a new report that makes a dramatic financial case for quitting: In New York State, low-income smokers are spending roughly one-quarter of their income on cigarettes.

Prepaid Cards Are 'Risky' and Loaded with Fees, Pew Study Finds

Reloadable prepaid cards, which work like debit cards without a bank account, have been growing in popularity. But prepaid cards are riskier than you'd realize, and most come with between 7 and 15 fees - many of which aren't disclosed - reveals a new study from a nonpartisan think tank.

3 College Finance Tips for Scared Students (and Their Parents)

More than 80% of parents of 16- to 18-year-olds believe college is important to their child's future -- and a similar number are worried about how to pay for it. Here are a few tips that could make solving the college financing puzzle a little easier.

Dealing With Your Credit Report Just Got a Lot Easier

It has never been more important to have good credit, but it's no easy task to go against the ratings agencies when your credit report is wrong. Now though, you have an ally in your corner: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.