additional comments on
"CFPB Strangely Quiet – A Good Thing?"

1. Valencia Pounders says:

   October 19, 2018 at 6:54 am

   Hi Guys

   I just put a complaint about a title company I just dealt with. This was the complaint. They said they didn’t handle this type of complaint and sent to the federal level-the Federal Trade commission sent me a sheet on 10 ways to avoid fraud? Go figure. No one has helped me with this injustice against my client who is out $100 because of the title company who didn’t do their job.

   Integrity Title refused to take responsibility for a $100 overcharge because they failed to request the estoppel from the property management company in a timely manner. . The mistake was theirs and they pushed that charge onto my client.. They had 17 days to get the estoppel without a rush charge if it had been ordered in a timely manner.. Integrity Title has no integrity and my client needs to be made whole. We trusted them to do a job and they failed miserably. RESPA should investigate them and their practices as they are dangerous to consumers.

   Contract Ratified 9/09/2018

   Title Company Received 9/10/2018

   Closing Date on Contract 9/25/2018

   Title Company requested Extension to end of September 9/17/2018

   Title Company requested Estoppel 9/17/2018

   Requested Rush Estoppel 9/19/2018

   Received Estoppel 9/21/2018

   Extension for 9/27/2018 done 9/25/2018

   Closed 9/27/2018

   Requested $100 overcharge on Estoppel 9/27/2018

   Spoke with Manager of Title Company 9/28/2018

   Request denied by Owner 10/1/2018

   Attached is the estoppel law

   http://www.lawfirmnaples.com/blog/the-estoppel-law/

   Valencia

   Charles Rutenberg Realty

2. John Gislason says:

   October 20, 2018 at 5:03 am

   Not so sure you are on point with the scorn on having $4,200 on a prepaid card. I agree 100% with the idea of ‘credit education.’

   Here’s an example. I maintain two credit accounts from financial institutions – not store cards or other cards less likely to help my credit score. One is for 5K and I use it for traveling – hotel, airfare, car rental, etc. – and pay off within 60 days. The other is for 25K. It’s my ’emergency fund’ for disaster use. I use both every two months or so to keep active and payoff immediately. I check online every 3 days to check for issues.

   My corporate account is split into two accounts – savings with the bulk of funds and checking in which I transfer funds on the 1st for anticipated operating costs. I check account status daily. Most expenses are paid online using a debit card attached to the checking account.

   Here’s the point. How is my debit card different from a prepaid card in principal? The difference is the institution. A couple of years ago I woke up to find that I had allegedly bought $1,200 in car parts from a auto supplier in Georgia, $1,800 in clothes from a non-existent store in San Diego and another $1,000 from some weird internet address. My bank froze the payments, restored my funds while they were investigating the same day and we killed the debit card and replaced it with another (that took 3 days to get the new card). Some aggravation from the whole affair but minimal and not my bank’s fault.

   I have seen stats that indicate that somewhere around 30% of the population uses non-bank institutions such as Green Dot or Amscot as their ‘banking system.’ They pay higher fees, get less service and generally are at the mercy of largely unregulated companies.

   Yes, these companies are taking on riskier clientele. I am not a fan of Elizabeth Warren who would simply take away these alternatives for the poorer portion of the population. Nor do I want more regulation other than setting basic rules. But admittedly, many people live their lives in a manner that is simply unacceptable to regular banking institutions.

   Consumer advocates would be better off pursuing ‘prevention’ rather than ‘correction after the fact.’ We should be teaching life skills of managing basic finances in every high school in the country. Too often, the first time some of these people (the so called ‘underserved’) are getting any education on these basics is from a loan officer when they are applying to buy a home. They seem to have little grasp of the concept that how they have treated credit and bills in the past affects the cost of credit in the future. Don’t expect Green Dot to become their mentors. By the time Green Dot has them, it’s pretty much too late. Let’s start teaching the principles of responsible credit use, budgeting, SAVING, and rudimentary financial planning when it would be most valuable – before they have damaged their future. It won’t help all but it would make life much easier and rewarding for many. If nothing else, it would certainly make my job easier.

   We would also see a better banking system with less need for a CFPB (or now the BCFP) since we would have less clueless victims – consumers could better police the industry with their feet. Teach the basics and teach personal responsibility and teach them before they are out in the world on their own and we will go a long way to reducing the perceived need for overwhelming regulation which never seems to really help the consumers but mostly feeds the bureaucracy.

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