Protecting Consumers

LOOKING OUT FOR the Public

PennPIRG’s consumer program works to alert the public to hidden dangers and scams and to ban anti-consumer practices and unsafe products.

TROUBLE IN TOYLAND

For 26 years, PennPIRG’s Trouble In Toyland report has surveyed store shelves and identified choking hazards, noise hazards and other dangers. One year, our research led to the recall of a cloth children’s book that we found contained lead.

BIGGER BANKS BIGGER FEES

In April, PennPIRG released a report in which we surveyed more than 350 bank branches and revealed that fewer than half obeyed their legal duty to fully disclose fees to prospective customers, while one in four provided no fee information at all. We also found that despite widespread stories about the “death” of free checking, free and low-cost checking choices are still widely available, if consumers shop around.

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Media Hit | Consumer Protection

Debt Trap: Keep payday and predatory lenders out of Pennsylvania- Editorial

The Patriot-News Editorial board speaks out against a bill that would allow payday lenders to charge triple diget interest rates. This bill is opposed by PennPIRG and a coalition of organizations throughout Pennsylvania.

News Release | PennPIRG Education Fund and Demos | Consumer Protection

Report: “Pennsylvania Lives at Risk”

Philadelphia, PA – A new report by Demos and PennPIRG finds that Pennsylvanian’s lives, health and livelihoods would be at risk if so-called “regulatory reform” proposals were to become law, slowing or stopping the regulatory process.

Blog Post | Consumer Protection

DON’T FREEZE OUR PUBLIC HEALTH AND CONSUMER SAFETY PROTECTIONS | Alana Miller

Last year, in the 175 days that the U.S. House of Representatives was in session, it passed more than 190 anti-regulatory bills. Putting profits over public safety and they are still at it. Next up is H.R. 4078, the “Regulatory Freeze for Jobs Act of 2012,” a bill that wrongly calls for a halt on all public health and consumer safety protections until the unemployment rate reaches six percent. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to mark up the bill today, Tuesday, March 20.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK, JFK USHERED IN MODERN CONSUMER PROTECTION ERA Alana Miller Ed Mierzwinski

People of almost any age know a lot about the Kennedy administration with its optimistic beginnings and its sudden, tragic end. Yet many have probably never heard of one of JFK's important legacies -- his declaration that consumers have rights that deserve protection.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Today, CFPB to announce overdraft fee investigation, unveil "penalty box" disclosure, possibly end $39 lattes | Ed Mierzwinski

Would you knowingly agree to pay a $35 fee each time you used your debit card at point of sale, simply to allow you to purchase a $4 latte with only $2 in your account? Even the banks didn't think so, that's why they made “standard overdraft protection” a feature of your checking account that you didn't need to choose. Banks also changed the default switch on debit and ATM cards to allow overdrafts

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Media Hit | Consumer Protection

Debt Trap: Keep payday and predatory lenders out of Pennsylvania- Editorial

The Patriot-News Editorial board speaks out against a bill that would allow payday lenders to charge triple diget interest rates. This bill is opposed by PennPIRG and a coalition of organizations throughout Pennsylvania.

News Release | PennPIRG Education Fund and Demos | Consumer Protection

Report: “Pennsylvania Lives at Risk”

Philadelphia, PA – A new report by Demos and PennPIRG finds that Pennsylvanian’s lives, health and livelihoods would be at risk if so-called “regulatory reform” proposals were to become law, slowing or stopping the regulatory process.

News Release | PennPIRG | Consumer Protection

Survey Finds Toxic or Dangerous Toys on Store Shelves

Dangerous or toxic toys can still be found on America’s store shelves, according to Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group’s 26th annual Trouble in Toyland report.

Media Hit | Consumer Protection

Patriot-News: Report targets unsafe toys in time for holidays

Consumer watchdog the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group announced this morning it’s better if some toys are never purchased for under the Christmas tree.

Media Hit | Consumer Protection

CBS 21: Which toys to buy for Christmas that are safe for kids?

For the 26th year, a research group has released their toy safety guide just in time for your holiday shopping.

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Result | Consumer Protection

KIDS’ SCHOOL LUNCHES NOW SAFER

For years, America’s schoolchildren have been eating beef, chicken and other foods that would have been rejected as substandard even by fast food chains. Thanks in part to our advocacy, the U.S.D.A. has stopped buying such low-quality meat for school lunches.

Report | PennPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland

The 2011 Trouble in Toyland report is our 26th annual survey of toy safety. In this report, we provide safety guidelines for consumers when purchasing toys for young children and provide examples of toys currently on store shelves that may pose potential safety hazards.

Report | PennPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Big Banks, Bigger Fees

Since Congress largely deregulated consumer deposit (checking and savings) accounts beginning in the early 1980s, the PIRGs have tracked bank deposit account fee changes and documented the banks’ long-term strategy to raise fees, invent new fees and make it harder to avoid fees.

Report | PennPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble In Toyland

The 2010 Trouble in Toyland report is the 25th annual PennPIRG survey of toy safety. In this report, PennPIRG provides safety guidelines for consumers when purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that may pose potential safety hazards.

Report | PennPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland

In 2008, Congress responded to an unprecedented wave of recalls of toys and other children’s products by passing the first major overhaul of the Consumer Product Safety Commission since it was established during the Nixon Administration.

By passing the landmark Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August 2008, Congress not only expanded the agency’s budget, it also gave the CPSC more tools to hold corporate wrongdoers accountable and speed recalls, moved toward banning toxic lead and phthalates except in trace amounts, and greatly improved import surveillance.

Report | PennPIRG Education Fund and Media and Democracy Coalition | Consumer Protection

A Public Interest Internet Agenda

Connecting our entire nation via high-speed broadband will bring remarkable economic, social, cultural, personal, and other benefits. Robust economic development, job creation, improved health care at lower costs, enhanced educational opportunities, increased homeland security and public safety, reduced energy consumption and pollution, a reinvigorated democracy and more open government – these are just a few of the benefits that will flow from our nation linking its entire population to the Internet at broadband speed.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

DON’T FREEZE OUR PUBLIC HEALTH AND CONSUMER SAFETY PROTECTIONS | Alana Miller

Last year, in the 175 days that the U.S. House of Representatives was in session, it passed more than 190 anti-regulatory bills. Putting profits over public safety and they are still at it. Next up is H.R. 4078, the “Regulatory Freeze for Jobs Act of 2012,” a bill that wrongly calls for a halt on all public health and consumer safety protections until the unemployment rate reaches six percent. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to mark up the bill today, Tuesday, March 20.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK, JFK USHERED IN MODERN CONSUMER PROTECTION ERA Alana Miller Ed Mierzwinski

People of almost any age know a lot about the Kennedy administration with its optimistic beginnings and its sudden, tragic end. Yet many have probably never heard of one of JFK's important legacies -- his declaration that consumers have rights that deserve protection.

Add new comment

Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Today, CFPB to announce overdraft fee investigation, unveil "penalty box" disclosure, possibly end $39 lattes | Ed Mierzwinski

Would you knowingly agree to pay a $35 fee each time you used your debit card at point of sale, simply to allow you to purchase a $4 latte with only $2 in your account? Even the banks didn't think so, that's why they made “standard overdraft protection” a feature of your checking account that you didn't need to choose. Banks also changed the default switch on debit and ATM cards to allow overdrafts

Add new comment

Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Senators: Oppose bills that threaten public health | Alana Miller

Dear Senators Casey and Toomey,

PennPIRG writes to urge you to oppose all legislation that would undermine the nation’s most basic public health and safety protections. In particular, we are writing about three bills: The Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA S.1606), the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act (RFIA S. 1938) and the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS S.299). All three bills pose a dangerous threat to the health and safety of the American people.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Despite toy safety progress, parents need to be aware | Alana Miller

We don't always know if the gifts will be a hit but the one thing we count on is that the toys we purchase are safe. Thanks to the hard work of agencies like the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and consumer advocates like U.S. PIRG that's largely true. But as our toy shopping researchers have found, that's not always the case.

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Predatory payday lenders are trying to roll back Pennsylvania's consumer protections so they can charge 300% annual interest.