to hidden junk fees

New rule could put $9 billion back in consumers’ pockets

“In markets across the economy, junk fees have unfortunately become the norm,” noted Rohit Chopra, CFPB Director in announcing the proposed rule. “These junk fees aren’t subject to the normal forces of competition. They’re often charged for so-called services that a consumer never wanted and are set at levels far beyond the true cost. Junk fees inflate prices and chip away at monthly budgets by obscuring part of the price from comparison shopping, making it difficult for Americans to shop around.”

“When we asked people to submit their comments on and experiences with junk fees, we were inundated with stories from thousands of individuals about being charged fees for things that weren’t in their control, like in the case of surprise overdraft fees,” continued Chopra.

“Many Americans believe these fees are just plain wrong.”

The proposed rulemaking is based on earlier CFPB research released last year that found that in only one year, 2020, credit card companies charged $12 billion in late fees alone. Card interest rates generate a separate revenue stream. Other key findings from this report found that cardholders in majority-Black areas paid more in late fees for each card they held with major credit card issuers in 2019. People in areas with the lowest rates of economic mobility paid nearly $10 more in late fee charges per account compared to people in areas with the highest rates of economic mobility. While acknowledging the Bureau’s earlier efforts to rein in high-cost overdraft fees, Nadine Chabrier, a Senior Policy Counsel with the Center for Responsible Lending says more must be done to protect consumers from other costly junk fees.

“These charges wreak havoc on household budgets,” said Chabrier. “We applaud President Biden for highlighting their harm… We are encouraged that the consumer bureau announced it will take additional steps, and we urge the bureau to place strong limits on the size and frequency of these fees.” More support for eliminating these budget-busting fees came from Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the current Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, and its former Chair.

“I was pleased to hear President Biden call out junk fees by name, and double down on the Administration’s commitment to limit hidden fees and surcharges in a number of industries,” stated Waters on February 8, the day after the State of the Union Address. “[W]e have long helped lead the fight to shine a bright light on these types of harmful junk fees and have advanced legislation to ensure consumers are not nickel and dimed out of savings that could go towards buying a new home or starting a small business.”

“Thanks to the leadership of Director Chopra, the CFPB is helping to advance these efforts to put more money back into consumers’ pockets. I, and consumers across the country, can’t wait for this rule to be finalized as soon as possible”, Waters added.

(Charlene Crowell is a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@ responsiblelending.org.)

Sankofa is a word in the Twi language of Ghana meaning “to retrieve” and also refers to the Bono Adinkra symbol represented either with a stylized heart shape or by a bird with its head turned backwards, while its feet face forward carrying a precious egg in its mouth. (Wikipedia).

There is a saying that if you keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, it is a sign of insanity. Black people have not yet been able to shake off the chains of oppression put in place during slavery. People have been blinded by the occultation of our history. Yes, if we are not aware of how we make mistakes, we will keep making them. We need to be able to look backward in order to chart a forward course.

Sankofa is one of the most profound concepts that we can utilize to correct our situation in the Western world. Unfortunately, it is currently under siege. There are forces in the United States government that are trying to rob us of our legacy. Black people have made great contributions to the development of the United States. In fact, we have played a major role in almost every arena in spite of the evilest forces conceivable that have attempted to thwart our efforts to thrive in this country.

One of the most egregious examples of this is the control that certain local governments are attempting to exercise over what elements of Black history should be taught. Think for a moment: what would it be like if someone came to the United States and forcibly denied the American people access to their history? Imagine if the Declaration of Independence was forbidden reading; imagine what would happen if the Revolutionary War was not allowed to be taught.

This is precisely what is happening to Black people in parts of the United States today. People who don’t look like us are denying us access to our history. That history provides our Sankofa, because it is through actions of the past that can help us chart our future course. To deny us our history is to cut off a part of our ability to thrive; it can keep our younger generation from benefitting from the past. To thwart access to our history is to attack our future.

In Florida, what has been called a “laboratory of fascism,” the move is on full throttle to erase important African American history. Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis has set the bar low and has arrogantly made a decision as to what elements of Black history will be taught in schools. In addition, that stance is shutting off the ability of concerned White citizens to understand how this will impact them. A lot of them have no clue as to the atrocities committed by their ancestors against Black people, even though vestiges of that behavior continue up to this day! They can’t connect the dots of the toxic behavior that besets many Black communities to a legacy of White racism. They ignore the destruction of Black Wall Street; they may not know about the Black babies that were torn from the breasts of Black mamas and the consequent animal-like existence that many were forced to endure.

They look at the high rates of crime in Black communities with disdain, opining that the fault is in Black innate inferiority. They do not understand that the sordid history of oppression that continues to this day has damaged many Black souls resulting in damaged communities. Because of the history black-out many of them don’t have a clue about the part their ancestors have played in the attempted destruction of a people.

Actually, the focus should be placed on the phrase “attempted destruction,” because Black people have achieved success in multiple fields of endeavor far beyond what would be expected from a people who were so mistreated and maligned. Our successes have obscured the pain that many have endured, which contributes to the fact that many White people don’t understand that we have survived in spite of their attempts to erase Black contributions to America and to the world. When we look back, it becomes apparent that Sankofa is under siege among both Black and White people. The White attempt to deny Black history is also thwarting an understanding of White history! They are shooting themselves in the foot! We are in this together; we will sink or swim depending upon the ability of the enlightened of both races to push back on the ignorance forced on us by a certain group of White supremacists. A Luta Continua.

(Reprinted from The Chicago Crusader)

Rod Doss Editor & Publisher Stephan A. Broadus Assistant to the Publisher Allison Palm Office Manager

Johnson Sales Director Rob Taylor Jr. Managing Editor John. H. Sengstacke Editor

(TriceEdneyWire.com)—Among hikers and campers, and even among those who are simply logical thinkers, an old axiom provides the indisputable wisdom that, “If you don’t know where you are, you won’t know where you’re going.” Stated another way, “Knowing where you are is the first step in successfully achieving a goal or objective.” Anyone who has attempted land navigation in the outdoors understands the truth of these statements. If you look at a map without knowing where you are, it’s impossible to get to another location by design. In that circumstance, only dumb luck will get you where you want to go!

That same logic can be applied to provide a clear picture of the dilemma that many of our youth (and a distressing number of adults) suffer from.

It is the foundation of the insidious plot of the likes of DeSantis, Youngkin, and scores of others who wish to mollify African Americans into a state of docile acquiescence by denying them a clear understanding of who they are and their complete story. “If you don’t know who you are, you’ll never know who you can be.” Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Father of Negro (Black) History, said it with different words, but with a clear understanding of that outcome. Denying Black people an understanding of their identity is as old as our victimization in enslavement. It started on the docks of the Motherland where captives of many different tribes and languages were bound and kidnapped with the recognition that they could not offer organized resistance without a common language—a common identity. It worked then and its legacy has continued throughout our American experience. Efforts to maintain divisiveness within the Black community offer no surprises. For decades, these efforts have been camouflaged with plausible deniability to refute claims of overt racism. Now, brazenly and without shame, leaders of the Republican party announce their true intent to undermine an entire community by erasing the history of a people.

I should not have to explain how enraged I was to learn that DeSantis’ Florida Board of Education had reached the erroneous determination that Black History had no “significant educational value.” If nothing else, the realities of the economic worth brought to a growing nation by a system of human enslavement should have educational value. There are other essays that delve more deeply into the economics of enslavement, but the outline at History.com (https:// www.history.com/news/slavery-profitable-southern-economy) provides a clear picture of what we have meant to what is really important to this nation

—the acquisition of wealth.

It has been offered by these White revisionists that the teaching of Black History should begin in the year 1970 for any substantive learning to occur. Those of us born in the 40s, 50s, and 60s are dramatically aware of the scope of our history which would be eliminated. Where then is Dr. King, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, SCLC, the Black Panther Party, Mary McLeod Bethune, the Civil Rights Movement, Brown v. Board, Emmitt Till, the Tulsa Massacre, the Little Rock Nine, Charles Hamilton Houston, Daisy Bates, the thousands of nameless others who sacrificed life and limb for the freedoms denied by this country, and those who overcame what were designed to be insurmountable obstacles to freedom and success.

White America is caught in a web of irreconcilable differences. Their discomfort with the truth is an obvious nexus. While they profess a nation founded on principles of justice and equity, their history and current actions belie this notion. They claim that no student/person should be made to feel uncomfortable with history, but I believe that to be a deception. When the aim is the erasure of history, the real goal is the extermination of the spirit.

(Dr. E. Faye Williams is President of The Dick Gregory Society (thedickgregorysociety.org; drefayewilliams@gmail.com) and President Emerita of the National Congress of Black Women)