Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle September 25, 2019
®
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Debt Collectors Target Consumers of Color, Poor People
Bernie Foster
Founder/Publisher
A
Bobbie Dore Foster
Executive Editor
Jerry Foster
Advertising Manager
Christen McCurdy
News Editor
Patricia Irvin
Graphic Designer
Monica J. Foster
Seattle Office Coordinator
Susan Fried
Photographer
2019
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Updated daily online.
to
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Opinion
new survey asked likely
voters across the coun-
try what they thought
of a proposed debt col-
lection rule. The response
was strong and broad opposi-
tion.
Proposed earlier this year
by Consumer Financial Pro-
tection Bureau (CFPB) Direc-
tor Kathleen Kraninger, the
rule would authorize debt
collectors to expand how of-
ten consumers could be con-
tacted as well as the ways such
contacts could be made: email,
text messages, and more.
Conducted by Lake Research
Partners and Chesapeake
Beach Consulting, the poll
was jointly commissioned by
the Americans for Financial
Reform (AFR) and the Cen-
ter for Responsible Lending
(CRL). The results, released on
September 11, found stark op-
position by consumers to reg-
ulatory reforms announced
by the CFPB. Consumers are
strongly united in wanting
more and better protection
in this area of financial regu-
lation.
One in five poll participants
were contacted by a debt col-
lector in the past 12 months
for different types of debt –
including medical. Consum-
ers of color, lower-income
consumers and military fam-
ilies were contacted at high-
er rates. More than one in
Charlene
Crowell
NNPA
Columnist
three Black consumers (34%)
or consumers with incomes
less than $50,000 (33%), were
contacted. Among Latinx con-
sumers, nearly half or 48%
were contacted.
Likely voters were most con-
cerned about three specific
changes included in the CFPB
debt collection proposal:
• 76% opposed allowing debt
collectors to leave messages
for people in places that are
not private;
• 74% opposed allowing debt
collectors to contact con-
sumers by private direct
messaging on social media
platforms like Facebook or
Twitter; and
• 73% opposed allowing debt
collectors to phone people
as often as seven times a
week for each debt in collec-
tion.
“It should not surprise any
of us that Americans don’t
support
government-sanc-
tioned harassment by debt
collectors via phone, email,
or text,” said AFR Senior
Policy Counsel Linda Jun.
“And yet that’s exactly what
the Kraninger CFPB is pro-
posing. The agency needs to
withdraw this plan and come
up with one that actually pro-
tects consumers.”
“
One in five
poll partic-
ipants were
contacted by a
debt collector
in the past 12
months
The real irony with CFPB is
that for six years, consumers
benefitted from a series of ac-
tions that helped 29 million
consumers to receive nearly
$12 billion in restitution and/
or forgiveness. Additionally,
multiple public forums held
across the country on a vari-
ety of issues gave consumers
and all stakeholder interests
meaningful
opportunities
to help shape public policy
developments. Research re-
leased by the CFPB have doc-
umented the harm of abusive
debt collection practices and
shown the rippling conse-
quences of financial services
practices as large as mort-
gages and as small as payday
loans.
Under the Trump Admin-
istration, a consistent and fo-
cused deregulation effort has
been underway to turn CFPB
into a toothless tiger. It’s al-
most as if CFPB now stands
for Corporate Financial Pro-
tection Bureau. Rather than
living up to its name, CFPB es-
chews consumers and defers
to companies and their pref-
erences as to what financial
regulation should look like.
The Administration has
also repeatedly emphasized
consumer information and
education while predatory
lenders pick the pockets of
unsuspecting
consumers.
The error in this approach
is that being aware of what
should occur will not and can-
not change punitive practices
that earn billions of dollars
for the corporations abusing
consumers.
These actions are partic-
ularly suspect when one
considers that debt collec-
tion complaints have been
among the chief consumer
complaints filed at both the
CFPB and the Federal Trade
Commission. Under CFPB’s
first director, the agency
filed more than 25 federal
enforcement actions against
debt collectors and creditors
that deliver $300 million in
restitution and another $100
million in civil penalties due
to deceptive and abusive debt
collection practices.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com
The Human and Economic Toll of Gun Violence is Staggering
A
pproximately 7,500 Af-
rican Americans are
killed each year be-
cause of gun violence.
Further, it’s 20 times more
likely that a young black male
will die by a firearm homicide
than a white peer, according
to a new report.
In a study commissioned by
Democratic members of Con-
gress’ Joint Economic Com-
mittee, researchers found
that gun violence in America
has especially taken its toll on
young people.
The report found that rural
states, where gun violence
has reached its highest levels
in decades are the hardest hit.
Researchers said Ameri-
cans between the age of 15 and
24 are 50 times more likely to
die because of gun violence
than they are in other eco-
nomically advanced coun-
tries.
The September 18 state-by-
state examination of the eco-
nomic costs of gun violence,
reveals numbers that the com-
mittee called “staggering.”
For instance, in 2017, for the
first time, the rate of firearm
deaths exceeded the death
rate by motor vehicle acci-
dents.
Nearly 40,000 people were
killed in the United States by
a gun in 2017, including ap-
proximately 2,500 school-age
children — or more than 100
Stacy M.
Brown
NNPA
Columnist
people per day and more than
five children murdered each
day.
According to a 2019 Pew
Research study, “Though
they tend to get less attention
than gun-related murders,
“
Firearms are
the leading
cause of death
for Black
children
and teens in
America
suicides have long account-
ed for the majority of U.S.
gun deaths. In 2017, six-in-ten
gun-related deaths in the U.S.
were suicides (23,854), while
37% were murders (14,542),
according to the [Centers for
Disease Control and Preven-
tion] CDC. The remainder
were unintentional (486), in-
volved law enforcement (553)
or had undetermined circum-
stances (338).”
Directly measurable costs
include lost income and
spending, employer costs,
police, and criminal justice
responses and health care
treatment.
“[More than] 200 days ago,
the Democratic House took
decisive action to end the gun
violence epidemic in Ameri-
ca by passing H.R. 8 and H.R.
1112, bipartisan, common-
sense legislation to expand
background checks, which is
supported by more than 90
percent of the American peo-
ple,” Senate Democratic Lead-
er Chuck Schumer said in a
statement.
“With the backing of the
American people, we contin-
ue to call on Senator McCon-
nell to ‘Give Us A Vote.’”
“For [more than] 200 days,
Senator McConnell has re-
fused to give the bipartisan
bills a vote on the Senate
Floor, “again and again put-
ting his political survival be-
fore the survival of our chil-
dren,” Schumer said.
“Every day that Senator
McConnell blocks our House-
passed, life-saving bills, an av-
erage of 100 people — includ-
ing 47 children and teenagers
— die from senseless gun vio-
lence. Some 20,000 have died
since the House took action
on February 27,” he said.
Schumer’s office has repeat-
edly voiced concern about
gun violence in urban com-
munities.
According to Everytown, an
organization dedicated to ad-
dressing gun violence, “fire-
arms are the leading cause of
death for Black children and
teens in America.”
Black children are ten times
more likely to be hospitalized
from gun/firearm violence
and are 14 times more likely
to die.
Officials said this fact is
hurting Black children and
teens at home and schools,
especially in cities that lack
the resources to stop gun vio-
lence and the trauma associat-
ed with it.
According to Everytown,
students of color in cities are
exposed to higher rates of vi-
olence.
The report also states, “al-
though Black students rep-
resent approximately 15 per-
cent of the total K-12 school
population in America, they
constitute 24 percent of the
K-12 student victims of gun-
fire who were killed or in-
jured on school grounds.”
Researchers for the Joint
Economic Committee said
gun violence has direct and
indirect costs, including the
reduction of quality of life
due to pain and suffering.
Gun homicides are also as-
sociated with fewer jobs.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com
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