Support Organizations
AFSA Education Foundation
The AFSA Education Foundation’s mission is to help all consumers become financially literate. Programs are designed to educate consumers to realize the benefits of responsible money management, to understand the credit process and to know where to seek help if credit problems occur. The Foundation’s Understanding Vehicle Financing Initiative provides information to help consumers learn about dealership financing. The brochure – Understanding Vehicle Financing – produced by AFSA Education Foundation and the National Automobile Dealers Association and prepared in cooperation with the Federal Trade Commission serves as a guide to evaluate one’s own financial situation. It also provides information about the financing application process and tips to remember before visiting the dealership; when visiting the dealership and after the purchase. It is available in Spanish.
Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger & Grossman, LLP
Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP is prosecuting several credit discrimination cases involving allegations that the lending practices of captive automobile financing companies, including Ford Motor Credit Company, Toyota Motor Credit Corporation and DaimlerChrysler Services North America LLC (“DaimlerChrysler,” formerly known as Chrysler Financial Company) cause minority car buyers to pay millions of dollars more for car loans than similarly situated white buyers. At issue is a discriminatory credit pricing system under which minorities typically pay as much as 50% more in dealer “mark-up” (non-risk based discretionary finance charges) which is then shared by auto dealers with the defendants. Plaintiffs allege that these discriminatory mark-ups violate the Equal Credit Opportunity Act because they result in African-Americans and Hispanics being charged mark-ups more frequently and in larger amounts than similarly situated white customers.
www.consumerprotectionlawfirm.com
Consumer Protection Law Firms.com is an online consumer protection law firm directory. It offers a listing of consumer law firms across the country. It also provides news articles from around the nation. ConsumerProtectionLawFirms.com’s resource center includes a user-friendly interface, frequently asked questions, statistical data, and a 24-hour emergency assistance program. It features content that is important to any potential user searching for a law firm. It even has contact information for local bar associations.
Center for Responsible Lending
Predatory lending strips billions in wealth from low-income consumers and communities in the U.S. each year. Borrowers lose more than $25 billion annually due to predatory mortgages, payday loans, and other lending abuses like overdraft loans, excessive credit card debt, and tax refund loans. The Center for Responsible Lending is fighting to stop these financial abuses through legislative and policy advocacy, coalition-building, litigation, and industry research.
Federal Trade Commission Consumer Protection
The Bureau of Consumer Protection's mandate is to protect consumers against unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent practices. The Bureau enforces a variety of consumer protection laws enacted by Congress, as well as trade regulation rules issued by the Commission. Its actions include individual company and industry-wide investigations, administrative and federal court litigation, rulemaking proceedings, and consumer and business education. In addition, the Bureau contributes to the Commission's on-going efforts to inform Congress and other government entities of the impact that proposed actions could have on consumers.
National Association of Consumer Advocates
The National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) is a nationwide organization of more than 1000 attorneys who represent and have represented hundreds of thousands of consumers victimized by fraudulent, abusive and predatory business practices. As an organization fully committed to promoting justice for consumers, NACA's members and their clients are actively engaged in promoting a fair and open marketplace that forcefully protects the rights of consumers, particularly those of modest means.
National Center of Poverty Law
The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, a national resource, champions law and policy promoting equal opportunity and support for low-income individuals, families, and communities so that they can escape poverty permanently.
The National Consumer Law Center
The National Consumer Law Center is the nation's consumer law expert, helping consumers, their advocates, and public policy makers to use powerful and complex consumer laws to assure justice for vulnerable, low income Americans.
