Call for action on payday lending

Sep 22

September 14, 2010

AAP

Consumer advocates are calling on the federal government to cap interest rates on short-term lending to prevent the nation’s poorest people from becoming stuck in an inescapable cycle of debt.

A report released by the Consumer Action Law Centre on Tuesday says short-term lending – or `payday lending’ – has grown almost tenfold in the past eight years.

The report says hundreds of thousands of Australians use short-term loans to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars every year, with Cash Converters alone lending out $124.5 million in the past financial year.

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Credit unions wary of potential reductions in card fees

Sep 19

 

By Andrew Jensen
Alaska Journal of Commerce

 With the financial reform bill in the books, credit unions are closely watching Washington, D.C., to figure out the impact of hundreds of new regulations.

Potential reductions in interchange income — fees charged on each debit or credit card transaction — and a new consumer protection agency are among the major issues figuring to impact credit unions.

Credit unions are also pushing Congress for the end to a business-lending cap in place since 1998 that limits loans to no more than 12.25 percent of total assets.

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Threat from Sebelius defies economic reality

Sep 19
By E. THOMAS McCLANAHAN
The Kansas City Star
In March, the Democrats passed their big bill and gained sole possession of the U.S. health care system, lock, stock and rate increase. Politically, they own it all.

Wait. Rate increase? Oops. All that stuff about “bending the cost curve down?” Never mind.

Earlier this month, several health insurers began announcing premium increases, and to the acute discomfort of the Obama administration, they laid part of the blame on the health care bill.

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Gangster Government Stifles Criticism of Obamacare

Sep 13

By Michael Barone

“There will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases.”

That sounds like a stern headmistress dressing down some sophomores who have been misbehaving. But it’s actually from a letter sent Thursday from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to Karen Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans — the chief lobbyist for private health insurance companies.

Sebelius objects to claims by health insurers that they are raising premiums because of increased costs imposed by the Obamacare law passed by Congress last March.

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HHS Explicitly Threatens the Insurance Lobby

Sep 10

Posted by Kate Pickert Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 8:25 pm  Swampland Blog

After claims from insurance companies that they plan to dramatically increase premiums this year because of the Affordable Care Act, the White House fired off a threat to the industry’s main lobbying group today.

Writing to the head of America’s Health Insurance Plans, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said insurers that hike rates for consumer unjustifiably may be locked out from the state exchanges due to be set up by 2014. These exchanges will be the primary means by which small groups and individuals will purchase coverage. Being excluded from these marketplaces could be devastating to insurers. (full text of the letter after the jump)

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