April 27, 2017


bankers-regulatorsThe 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform act stands as one of the most complicated pieces of legislation ever devised. The law includes more than 22,000 pages of rules, which is equivalent to about 15 copies of Tolstoy’s epic novel
War and Peace. These guidelines tell banks how much money they must set aside, how they can advertise, what sort of investments they can make, and many other stipulations and requirements.

As you can imagine, keeping track of all those regulations Continue reading

Continue reading...

February 23, 2017

cafecreditdotcomFormed in 2011 with the passage of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau aims to keep citizens safe from unfair or deceptive practices by businesses. One of the ways the government organization accomplishes this task is by maintaining a database of complaints made by consumers against companies. And people have certainly taken advantage of this service since its creation two years ago. In that time, the CFPB has received more than 700,000 complaints aimed primarily at Continue reading

Continue reading...

December 15, 2016

KenTeegardinIn 2010 the median salary for the 200 highest-earning executives in the U.S. topped out at nearly $10 million. Just five years later, though, that number doubled to almost $20 million. Meanwhile, researchers at the Economic Policy Institute found that CEOs in 2013 earned more than 300 times the salary of average workers. For comparison, in 1965 chief executives brought in just 20 times more pay than their average employees.

To combat this increasing inequality, last week government administrators in Continue reading

Continue reading...

December 13, 2016

LauraNorthrupIn December 2008, John Palmer ordered some items from the online retailer KlearGear and never received them. His wife Jen responded to this poor service by writing a critical review about the company on a website called Ripoff Report. The incident eventually faded from Palmer’s memory until three years later when she received a demand from KlearGear to take the review down. If she didn’t comply, the company said, they would fine her $3,500 for violating a non-disparagement clause that Continue reading

Continue reading...

October 14, 2016

WilliamGrootonkIf you’re in need of cash in a pinch, you’d better hope that your bank has an ATM located nearby. For the 10th consecutive year, the fees charged by banks for usage of ATMs by non-customers has risen to a record average of $4.57. That number is actually the combination of two separate fees: one charged by ATM owners for non-customers and another by the account holder’s bank for withdrawing out-of-network. In 1998 the combination of these charges amounted to Continue reading

Continue reading...

September 29, 2016

BobnjayFor the past few weeks the business world has been buzzing with outrage over the Wells Fargo banking scandal. Executives at the company likely hoped the worst was over after getting hit with a $185 million fine for allowing such widespread fraud to occur. But as Senator Elizabeth Warren showed last week, regulators and commentators are far from finished with the company. During a hearing with Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf in front of the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Continue reading

Continue reading...

September 16, 2016

TechCrunchFor Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, establishing a clear narrative around a startup’s foundation and purpose is essential to success. Few people understood this concept better than Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of the formerly acclaimed blood-testing firm Theranos. She founded her company in 2003 at the age of 19 after dropping out of Stanford University’s School of Chemical Engineering. Holmes left college early because she claimed to discover a revolutionary new method for medical testing: rather than drawing a significant amount of blood Continue reading

Continue reading...

September 14, 2016

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ranks among the most important laws passed in recent history. It’s also extremely complicated, amounting to some 14,000 pages of various regulations and restrictions. The video below takes a look at one of the key provisions of this landmark bill: The Volcker Rule, or the stipulation that banks cannot act like hedge funds and gamble with their own cash reserves. Although reviled by many on Wall Street, supporters say the rule Continue reading

Continue reading...

September 12, 2016

MikeMozartLast week regulators at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) dropped a bombshell that surely shocked anyone with a bank account at Wells Fargo. According to the CFPB, employees at the bank created more than 1.5 million phony accounts over the years in order to fraudulently reach sales targets and earn fees. This “widespread” practice resulted in the recent firing of approximately 5,300 Wells Fargo employees. Regulators also hit the bank with a fine of $185 million along with $5 Continue reading

Continue reading...

September 6, 2016

YunHoLeeLast week we shared a video about how food companies label some items as “natural” even though they’re no healthier than their non-natural counterparts. While that term may soon come under regulation, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently banned another marketing buzzword from use on commercial products. As of last Friday, “antibacterial” soaps are no longer allowed on U.S. store shelves after manufacturers failed to prove they were safer or cleaner than regular products.

“Consumers may think antibacterial washes Continue reading

Continue reading...