(Washington, DC) The District's Attorney General, Linda Singer, announced the launch of a series of OAG consumer protection initiatives to address many of the problems highlighted in The High Cost of Being Poor in the District of Columbia: Financial Products and Services, a report prepared with help from DC-based staff at the Center for Responsible Lending and the Urban Institute.
The report, released today, focuses on the disadvantages that poor consumers in DC face in obtaining financial products and services including check cashing, short-term loans, and mortgage financing.
“The disparity between what lower-income consumers pay and what moderate-to-higher income consumers pay for similar goods and services is a form of economic injustice that leaders in government and the private sector must work together to address,” General Singer said.
The initiatives announced by General Singer include town hall meetings, new consumer protection legislation, stepped-up investigation and prosecution of predatory mortgage lending and foreclosure rescue scams, and improved consumer education. These initiatives will be pursued in cooperation with the DC Council, the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking, the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs’ Office of Consumer Protection, Legal Counsel for the Elderly, and the Urban Institute.
Consumers with complaints about deceptive or abusive practices, including those relating to financial products and services, can call the Office of the Attorney General’s consumer complaint hotline at (202) 442-9828. For consumer education tips and information on how to make an effective consumer complaint, select the link below for Office of the Attorney General website:
View the original report by selecting the link below: