Chapter 18: Protecting Consumers Flashcards
(17 cards)
property
Exclusive legal fence of property protects us in the possession, use, and transfer of what we own
Yet, we cannot use or transfer what we own without limits
Who is considered a consumer
Natural person
Must be incurring debt for personal family or household purposes
FTC and Trade practices regulation
Works to protect consumers against fraudulent or unfair practices in the marketplace
Prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce
How does the FTC protect consumers directly?
advisory opinions
Industry Guides
Trade refgulation rules
Ways to determine deceptive practices
Reasonable consumer
- How they’d view situation in context
Express and implied claims
- Company has to be able to back up both claims
Misimpressions
- What is not said in the advertisement which leads to misunderstanding of facts
Materiality
FTC Today
FTC has great discretion in determining what is deceptive or unfair and making new rules and processing cases
President appoints head of FTC
Congress funds FTC
Equal credit opportunity act
Prevents discrimination in credit extension
Prohibits based on sex, marital status, race, color, age, religion, national origin, receipt of welfare
Penalties for violating equal credit opportunity act
Actual damages
Punitive damages up to 10k fine
Attorney fees and legal costs
Injunction
fair credit reporting act
Consumer rights when denied credit, insurance or unemployment due to bad credit rating
What rights do consumers have when denied credit, insurance, or employment due to bad credit rating
To be told name of agency making report
To require agency to reveal info in report
To correct or give consumer version of information
Trust in lending act
To avoid uninformed use of credit
protects you against inaccurate and unfair credit billing and credit card practices
Transactions covered in truth in lending act
Lenders in business of extending credit
Debtor is a natural person (not corporation)
Finance charge may not be imposed
Credit is obtained for personal, family, household, agricultural
Fair debt collection practices act
Covers consumer debt collection
Protects against certain debt collection agency techniques
Consumer financial protection act
Created the consumer financial protection board
Administers
- Fair debt collectors practices act
- Equal credit opportunity act
- Fair credit reporting act
- Truth in lending act
Procedure for filing bankruptcy
Filing of petition
- Voluntary (by debtor)
- Involuntary (by creditor)
- Creditor must be owed 2300+
Individual
- Chapter 7 liquidation of assets or
- Chapter 13 adjustment of debts
Privacy act of 1974
Restricts how certain info gained by feds can be used and to whom it can be dispersed
Right to financial privacy act of 1978
Government agency seeking depositor record must notify depositors
