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HomeTag: financial protection

How Georgia’s top GOP leaders have blocked title lending reform

April 6, 2023 by Shana Risby 0 0 0
How Georgia’s top GOP leaders have blocked title lending reform

By Margaret Coker, The Current and Mollie Simon, Probulica, Georgia Public Broadcast — In February, Georgia lawmaker Josh Bonner introduced a bill that he hoped would fix a thorny problem that entangles tens of thousands of state residents in debt each...

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Earnin advances cash before payday; watchdogs say it preys on the poor

March 31, 2023 by Shana Risby 0 0 0
Earnin advances cash before payday; watchdogs say it preys on the poor

By Dana Fowle | Fox 5 Atlanta — ATLANTA – A new way to get a payday advance is emerging in the area of finance called fintech. These financial apps aren’t banks, but they move money around. They are striking up controversy nationwide by filling...

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Medical debt affects millions, and advocates push IRS, consumer agency for relief

March 8, 2023 by Shana Risby 0 0 0
Medical debt affects millions, and advocates push IRS, consumer agency for relief

By Noam Levey, NPR — Dozens of advocates for patients and consumers, citing widespread harm caused by medical debt, are pushing the Biden administration to take more aggressive steps to protect Americans from medical bills and debt collectors. In letters...

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Proposed bill would close loophole, putting restrictions on title pawn companies

February 28, 2023 by Shana Risby 0 0 0
Proposed bill would close loophole, putting restrictions on title pawn companies

Watch full video here. By Justin Gray, WSB-TV — ATLANTA — New legislation at the State Capitol could place new restrictions on title pawn companies. The companies offer up immediate cash and then charge sky-high interest rates on the loans. Critics say the...

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Georgia struggles to protect residents from debt collectors

February 4, 2023 by Natasha Taylor 0 0 0
Georgia struggles to protect residents from debt collectors

By T.A. DeFeo, The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square) — Georgia’s consumer protections against debt collectors are among the worst in the nation. That’s according to a new report from the National Consumer Law Center, which...

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Consumer advocates call for better debt protections in Georgia

February 3, 2023 by Shana Risby 0 0 0
Consumer advocates call for better debt protections in Georgia

Listen to the full interview here. By Jim Burress, WABE All Things Considered — During the pandemic, consumer debt lawsuits went on hiatus. Dockets though are once again full with collections-related cases. Georgia offers little protection from wage...

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How title lenders trap poor Georgians in debt with triple-digit interest rates

November 14, 2022 by Sarah Phillips 0 0 0
How title lenders trap poor Georgians in debt with triple-digit interest rates

By Margaret Coker/The Current GA, Joel Jacobs/ProPublica, with research by Mollie Simon/ProPublica — For some Georgia residents, title pawn contracts offer a quick way to obtain desperately needed cash. But poor regulation of a confusing system traps many...

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Metro Atlanta company suffers data breach, affecting 54K inmates

October 5, 2022 by Sarah Phillips 0 0 0
Metro Atlanta company suffers data breach, affecting 54K inmates

By Zach Hansen, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Experts say incarcerated people make for desirable identity theft targets A Forsyth County company that provides healthcare for people inside correctional facilities nationwide was the target of a recent...

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Consumers who owe medical bills will receive help as of July in terms of their credit report

April 6, 2022 by Sarah Phillips 0 0 0

By JoAnn Merrigan, WSAV — Up to 19% of people in Georgia have a medical bill that’s in collections. “And it’s even higher among people of color, up to 21%,” says Liz Coyle from Georgia Watch.“Sometimes those debts remain on consumers’ credit reports for...

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Family shocked after receiving medical bill that cost more than double what they expected

February 15, 2022 by Sarah Phillips 0 0 0
Family shocked after receiving medical bill that cost more than double what they expected

By Rebecca Lindstrom, 11Alive (WATCH NOW) – ATLANTA — Healthcare costs keep rising and sometimes it’s hard to understand what’s behind it. There’s been stories of patients being charged different prices for the same procedure based on their...

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Some ‘free COVID testing’ could be a scam designed to steal your identity

December 29, 2021 by Georgia Watch 0 0 0

By: Savannah Levins, 11 ALIVE, (Watch Now) — State leaders and consumer advocates are warning of scammers pretending to offer free COVID tests. Liz Coyle, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Georgia Watch, said the scammers are preying...

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Georgia Watch Releases Report on Need for Garnishment Reform

November 12, 2021 by Georgia Watch 0 0 0

J. Laney’s car was repossessed in 2009—at the time of repossession, she owed $10,000, but she received a letter stating it had been resold and thought that was the end of it. Over a decade later, in 2021, she realized her wages had recently started being...

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