Consumer group praises CVS for leadership on reducing American tobacco use – National Consumers League

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February 6, 2014

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League, the nation’s pioneering consumer advocacy organization, established in 1899, applauds CVS Caremark for its decision to stop selling tobacco products in their stores nationwide by October 2014. This decision will remove tobacco products from 7,600 stores and makes CVS the first national pharmacy chain to cease the sale of tobacco products.

Smoking is the leading cause of premature death in the United States, with 480,000 deaths annually. The number of Americans who use tobacco products has decreased drastically in the last 50 years – in 1965, 42 percent of Americans smoked, today, 18 percent of Americans smoke. In the last ten years, however, the rate of smokers has remained stagnant.

“This decision demonstrates that CVS is willing to put the nation’s health above profits,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL executive director. “Reducing the percentage of Americans who smoke is a challenge that will require collaboration by both private and public actors. We hope that other national chain drug retailers follow suit.”

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About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

Script Your Future launches third annual student competition for innovations in medication adherence – National Consumers League

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February 5, 2014

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC—The month of February marks the launch of the third annual Medication Adherence Team Challenge, a month-long inter-collegiate competition among health profession student teams and faculty for creating solutions to raise awareness about medication adherence as a critical public health issue. The Challenge, coordinated by the National Consumers League (NCL), America’s pioneer consumer group and the lead organization on the national Script Your Future campaign, is returning to university campuses across the country after a successful two years of student innovation. 

With nearly three out of four Americans not taking their medications as directed—which results in serious health consequences, especially for people with chronic diseases—the National Consumers League and its partners in the Script Your Future campaign are managing a 3-year public education program to raise awareness of the importance of medication adherence. The Challenge is part of Script Your Future, which was launched in 2011 by NCL with more than 130 public and private stakeholder organizations.

This year’s Challenge is sponsored by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Foundation, the American Medical Association (AMA), the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). 

“This year’s Student Challenge is strengthened by the involvement of a diverse group of sponsors from multiple sectors of the health care system. One of the best hopes we have to improve America’s culture of nonadherence is to train the next generation of health care professionals to be proactive about engaging their patients, and that starts in the classroom through the innovation brought forward by health professions faculty,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director.

“The success of the Script Your Future Adherence Challenge over the last two years demonstrates the power of student pharmacists to collaborate with their health profession counterparts to reach out to their communities and engage patients and caregivers to improve health through better adherence,” said Dr. Lucinda L. Maine, Executive Vice President and CEO at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.  “This year’s Challenge continues to build on the strength of the inter-professional health care team to move the needle on medication adherence.”

The Medication Adherence Team Challenge is a month-long outreach project that will be held in February 2014 to engage interdisciplinary student teams from pharmacy, medicine, nursing, and other health professions to tackle the problem of poor adherence. The teams will be implementing creative solutions and outreach in their communities to raise awareness and improve understanding about medication adherence, using Script Your Future materials.  At the end of the Challenge, select schools or colleges will be recognized nationally for their efforts to improve medication adherence. In 2013, the 18th Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Regina Benjamin, presented the student winners with their awards at a ceremony in Washington, DC.

“Everyone wins when patients take their medication as prescribed to achieve optimal health outcomes,” said AMA President Ardis Dee Hoven, M.D. “As a sponsor of the challenge, the AMA is pleased to work with other health care professionals to improve the health of our patients and avoid unnecessary health problems.”  

“Greater medication adherence improves patients’ well-being and ultimately helps to drive down the costs of health care,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey, RPh, MBA. “Independent community pharmacists are committed to proactively identifying solutions to improve patient adherence in their communities, and the Challenge is a terrific way to raise awareness among the next generation of pharmacists.”

“Given nursing’s strong commitment to enhancing patient safety and healthcare quality, AACN is committed to working with our colleagues in pharmacy, medicine, and other disciplines to promote the health benefits connected to proper medication adherence among students, clinicians, and the patients we serve,” said Dr. Geraldine “Polly” Bednash, CEO of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).

“Pharmacists have a unique opportunity, at the medication dispensing stage, to help patients understand the value of their prescription medications, to help alleviate confusion, and to underline the need for adherence, making a real difference in patients’ lives. We are excited to be involved in this program and what it means for the future of America’s adherence,” said APhA Executive Vice President and CEO Thomas E. Menighan, BSPharm, MBA, ScD (Hon), FAPhA.

Over the past two Challenges, more than 3,000 future health care professionals directly counseled more than 18,000 patients and reached more than three million consumers in this concerted public effort about the importance of medication adherence. Last year’s awardees, selected from participating colleges and schools of pharmacy and other health professions, included St. Louis College of Pharmacy, University of Charleston School of Pharmacy, University of the Pacific Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, Touro University College of Pharmacy California, and The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy.

To learn more about last year’s winners visit the Script Your Future website.

For more information on the Challenge visit the Challenge Community website athttps://syfadherencechallenge.ning.com/. Follow the Challenge on Twitter at #SYFchallenge and follow the campaign @IWillTakeMyMeds.

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About Script Your Future

Script Your Future is a campaign of the National Consumers League (NCL), a private, non-profit membership organization founded in 1899. NCL’s mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information about the Script Your Future campaign, visit www.ScriptYourFuture.org. For more information on NCL, please visit www.nclnet.org.

Advocacy group: President Obama to announce welcome pay raise for federal contract workers – National Consumers League

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January 28, 2014

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC–Tonight during President Obama’s fifth State of the Union address, he is expected to announce that his administration will issue an Executive Order to raise the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors to $10.10 an hour. The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering worker and consumer advocacy organization, applauds the President’s use of his Executive powers to take a positive step for this group of minimum wage workers.

“This is a giant step in the right direction for thousands of workers struggling to make ends meet on the paltry federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour,” said Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of NCL. “We, along with many allies, including Change To Win and the Good Jobs Nation, have been demonstrating outside federal buildings calling on the President to use the power of the pen to lift these poorly paid workers out of poverty.”

The Executive Order mirrors the President’s proposal for raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Similar legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), Both bills are stalled in Congress. NCL applauds President Obama for making income inequality in America a top priority. 

For the past year, federal contract employees and worker advocacy groups, including NCL, have been staging one-day strikes at federally operated buildings, such as Union Station and the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, to ask President Obama to do what is right by those who work in federal facilities.  Many low-income workers told their stories of wage theft, working overtime with no additional pay, unsafe working conditions, and lack of benefits or raises over many years. Many bravely went on strike, putting their jobs in jeopardy, to demonstrate and tell their stories.  

Many Americans are often surprised to learn that workers in these facilities are so poorly paid that they must rely on taxpayer-funded relief programs for food, housing, and healthcare assistance.

“The President and Labor Secretary Tom Perez clearly understand that Americans of all political persuasions strongly back increased minimum wages for the lowest income workers.  This is just what the doctor ordered. We applaud the President and his Administration for giving a leg up to those at the lowest end of the economic ladder,” said Michell McIntyre, NCL’s Outreach Director, Labor and Worker Rights.

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About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

Watchdog report: scammers increasingly relying on Internet-enabled phone technology to reach victims – National Consumers League

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January 22, 2014

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC — The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer advocacy organization, has released its annual compilation of the top ten scams reported to Fraud.org, NCL’s flagship project for reporting and tracking scams. Good news: payment to fraudsters by credit card is up. Bad news: telemarketing fraud is making a major comeback. In more than 36 percent of all consumer complaints, victims were contacted by phone. This figure is up from approximately 25 percent in 2012. 

Using Internet calling software, scammers can peddle their schemes from practically anywhere on the globe, and they deceive Caller ID systems to make their calls appear to come from U.S. numbers.

“Scammers are finding new ways to use the Internet to contact high volumes of consumers on the phone,” said John Breyault, NCL’s vice president of public policy on telecommunications and fraud. “The days of dialing numbers and calling consumers one by one are long gone. Today, scammers can call millions of people with the click of a mouse.” 

The most frequently reported scams from 2012 remained the same in 2013, with nearly 75 percent of all complaints reported to Fraud.org falling into one of three categories: Fake Check Scams (24.23%), Internet Merchandise Scams (23.04%), and Fake Prizes/Sweepstakes (22.76%). 

A new trend in 2013: a rise in refund and recovery scams, in which fraudsters target vulnerable consumers that have been put on a “sucker list.” These consumers have already fallen victim to scams and have been identified as easy prey. Con artists buy, sell, and trade lists of victims amongst themselves so that they can be re-contacted. Scammers using the refund and recovery fraud attack will pitch victims through phone calls and direct mail, claiming that they can help recover lost funds for a fee. In 2013, this was the fastest-growing type of non-Internet scam reported to NCL’s Fraud.org campaign.

Some good news: a positive trend in the 2013 report is a shift in how victims pay con artists. In 2013, nearly 35 percent of all victims reported losing money to a scam with a credit card, up from just 18 percent in 2012. Victims who pay with credit cards can more easily recover lost funds than those who pay via wire transfer service, the most common way pay for offers that turn out to be fraudulent.

“Credit card transactions are the safest way for consumers to pay for products since they have the ability to dispute fraudulent charges with their credit card company,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL executive director. “While consumers paying scammers using a wire transfer service was still the number one way con artists were paid in 2013, the number of reports involving a credit card payment nearly doubled. This is a sign that consumers are better protecting themselves and hedging against the risk of a potential scam.”

Read the full 2013 top ten scams report here.

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About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

Flu diagnoses continue to rise; advocates fear misconceptions about flu vaccine will have negative impact on individuals, communities – National Consumers League

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January 17, 2014

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC—The flu is now widespread in 35 states, according to the latest reports from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and a new Gallup-Healthways poll indicates that nearly 3 percent of Americans have become ill with the flu in the last month. With flu cases on the rise, consumer health advocates are pointing to new data on American misperceptions about vaccinations and why that is a cause for concern.

A survey released by the National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer advocacy group, reveals that over one in five (22%) U.S. parents surveyed admitted they’ve never received a flu shot, and only half (53%) of parents with children 17 and under have received a flu vaccination within the last year. The national survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive among 1,756 U.S. adult Americans, of whom 993 are parents of children under 18, in August – September 2013.

“According to our survey, only 44 percent of these parents said their child has received the vaccine,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “And 20 percent of Americans who do not get the vaccine say they avoid it because they mistakenly fear the vaccine increases one’s chance of contracting the virus. Consumers are clearly confused about the value of the flu shot for both individuals and for their community, and they need better education.”

According to the CDC, flu season has not yet peaked, with cases, hospitalizations, and even deaths still on the rise. The season has started later than usual this year, and, according to reports, the number of people seeking medical care for the flu climbed to more than 4 percent of all doctor visits last week, a near doubling from two weeks earlier, according to Associated Press. CDC data indicate that four children died of the flu last week.

The CDC recommends that all individuals over the age of 6 months receive the flu vaccine each year, with rare exceptions. It is especially important for people who are at high risk of developing serious complications if they get sick with the flu, including children under 5, pregnant women and those with medical conditions like asthma and diabetes.

“It used to be the case that medical experts recommended flu shots only for the most vulnerable groups,” said Rebecca Burkholder, NCL Vice President for Health Policy. “But because healthy people benefit from the flu vaccine as well, medical experts now recommend that nearly everyone get the flu shot. Vaccinations have, in recent years, developed a negative stigma, and this is preventing some of us from doing our part in disease prevention. Those who don’t get the flu shot put themselves and their families at risk of contracting the virus.”

Survey findings

The most common reason for not receiving the flu vaccine among adults who reported they have never received a flu shot was their good health (45%), side effects (29%), and perceived ineffectiveness of the vaccine (24%). Additionally:

  • One in five (21%) said the reason they have not received the flu vaccine is because they do not believe the flu is a serious illness.
  • One in five (20%) say they fear of contracting the flu from the vaccination is a reason they have not received the flu vaccine.

NCL’s survey also polled adult Americans about their perspectives on vaccines in general, not limited to the flu vaccine. Highlights from that include:

The most common reasons adults cite for not vaccinating in general:

  • Side effects: 41%
  • Ineffectiveness of the vaccines: 27%

The majority of Adults (87%) support mandatory vaccinations for school-aged children.

12% of parents of children 17 and under say they have missed a scheduled vaccination.

About the Survey

NCL commissioned this survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, with an unrestricted educational grant from Pfizer. NCL and Harris Interactive are solely responsible for the design of the survey

The NCL Vaccine Survey of 1,756 adult Americans was conducted with an emphasis on parents of children between 0-17, to investigate vaccination rates and opinions among the general US population. The survey was conducted online from August 22 to September 9, 2013.

Survey results are weighted to be representative of the US population for gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and region based on the current US Census.

The full survey report, including additional findings on vaccine perceptions, can be found here.

About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

About Harris Interactive®

Harris Interactive is one of the world’s leading market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for The Harris Poll®, Harris offers proprietary solutions in the areas of market and customer insight, corporate brand and reputation strategy, and marketing, advertising, public relations and communications research across a wide range of industries. Additionally, Harris has a portfolio of multi-client offerings that complement our custom solutions while maximizing a client’s research investment. Serving clients worldwide through our North American and European offices, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help our clients stay ahead of what’s next. For more information, please visit theharrispoll.com.

Consumer groups push for mandatory alcohol labeling – National Consumers League

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January 13, 2014

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323,  benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC—With the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) holding a public meeting this week to hear testimony and consider comments regarding changes to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines, consumer advocates are urging the committee to endorse mandatory alcohol labeling and to maintain the definition of a “standard” drink.

Every five years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) work collaboratively to release new Dietary Guidelines. Presently, no law exists requiring alcoholic beverages to have nutrition labels, although some alcoholic beverages, such as Guinness beer, voluntarily include nutrition labels. Current labeling requirements for alcoholic beverages are inadequate, leaving consumers guessing about the nutritional composition of their drinks.  Consumer groups have long advocated that the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), the federal agency that regulates alcohol sales, require nutritional labels on all alcoholic beverages.

The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer advocacy organization, in conjunction with the Consumer Federation of America (CFA),submitted comments urging the committee to endorse mandatory alcohol labeling and to maintain the definition of a standard drink as containing 0.6 fluid ounces of alcohol. 

 “Alcoholic beverages are the only major source of calories in the American diet that are not required to be labeled with the basic information needed to follow the Dietary Guidelines,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL’s Executive Director. “The nutrition facts panel on other food and beverage products is a vital tool for consumers. Without nutrition facts panel on alcohol, consumers are left in the dark when trying to adhere to Dietary Guidelines. This is a significant lapse in the effort to fight obesity and a great disservice to America consumers.” 

The DGAC does not have the ability to mandate alcohol labeling, but it can do more to encourage TTB to require alcoholic beverage producers to provide complete nutrition facts panels on their products. NCL and CFA hope to work with USDA and HHS in their quest to provide consumers with information regarding calorie content, carbohydrates, protein, and fat on alcoholic beverage labels.  

To read the NCL/CFA comments, click here (PDF).

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

NCL issues top priorities for consumer, worker issues for 2014 – National Consumers League

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January 10, 2014

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC–As the National Consumers League (NCL) enters 2014 – its 115thyear – we remain dedicated to the mission of protecting and promoting the interests of consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For 2014, NCL has identified 10 priorities, not listed in order of preference, and all vitally important, that will help to shape its work, enabling NCL to fulfill its mission on behalf of consumers and workers.

1. Enact far more robust protections for consumer financial information from large-scale data breaches.

The Target and Snapchat data breaches have raised the profile of data security in public policy circles. NCL issued a White Paper in December 2013 calling for reforms to protect consumer information.

2. Help consumers be better informed about the minimal risks and tremendous benefits of vaccination.

A recent NCL survey found that consumers have many misconceptions regarding the effectiveness and health benefits of getting vaccinated. Many parents don’t vaccinate their children and don’t get vaccinated themselves, increasing the risks for all of us.

3. Move the federal bill to increase the minimum wage through the U.S. Senate and keep up pressure and activism across the states for higher state minimum wages.

The federal bill before Congress, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and result in a raise for 30 million Americans. Polls show that consumers, those identifying as both Republican and Democrat, overwhelmingly support increases in minimum wage, and 13 states have raised their state minimum wage in 2014. Momentum to give those at the bottom of the wage ladder is building.

4. Educate the next generation of consumers and workers to be savvy consumers who will resist scams and ripoffs, manage their finances responsibly, and make wise decisions as citizens and consumers.

Expand LifeSmarts, NCL’s national consumer education challenge for teens, to all 50 states. In 2013, participants from 42 states competed online and in live competition. Recruiting new coaches in states without programs and introducing LifeSmarts to new students through training camps will bring our goal of championship teams from every state competing in the national finals within reach.

5. Protect children from harvesting tobacco leaves. Workers who do absorb the equivalent of 36 cigarettes per day.

NCL, through its work with the Child Labor Coalition, which NCL founded, coordinates, and co-chairs, is calling for a ban on work by children on this dangerous crop. Kids are not permitted to buy cigarettes by law; why should they be allowed to absorb nicotine from working in tobacco fields, some as young as 12 years old?

6. Ban the use of unnecessary antibiotics in beef, poultry, and pork.

FDA’s guidelines issued late in 2013 recommend that antibiotics not be used to promote growth in livestock, because the practice is leading to more drug-resistant bacteria that can threaten both animals and humans. FDA guidelines should include more specific criteria for when veterinarians can prescribe antibiotics. Currently, farmers are able to use antibiotics as a means of disease prevention when the animals are not at serious risk for disease. This loophole should be closed to protect American consumers.

7. Pass a Farm Bill that preserves the Food Stamp program and requires country-of-origin labeling on food products.

Regrettably, cuts are likely for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as Food Stamps, when a new farm bill passes. The House version of the bill includes $39 billion in cuts over 10 years, while the Senate version would trim $3.9 billion from SNAP over the same period. To protect low-wage workers and those struggling to recover from the great recession, cuts to SNAP must be as minimal as possible.

In November 2013, rules went into effect (called country-of-origin labeling, or COOL) requiring meat producers to identify on labels the countries where livestock was born, raised, and slaughtered. The rules apply to certain cuts of beef, veal, chicken, pork, lamb, and goat sold in supermarkets. There are intense lobbying efforts from meatpackers seeking to remove the COOL rule when a farm bill is passed. Consumers deserve to have the COOL rule remain in place.

8. Ensure that the silica rule is finalized by the Department of Labor in 2014 and implemented quickly and effectively to reduce workers’ exposure to dangerous levels of dust that causes silicosis.

In 2013, the Obama Administration allowed the rule to move through the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the federal agency that conducts cost-benefit analysis, and now the rule is on its last step towards being finalized. NCL will testify in support of the rule before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. First proposed in 1997(!), the new rule has been stuck in bureaucratic purgatory for 17 years. Annually, 60 workers lose their lives because the rule has not yet been passed. Current silica dust standards date from 1971. Workers deserve this change!

9. Improve medication adherence in the United States.

Pass legislation on medication adherence that would require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to create comprehensive measures of adherence for use by health care programs, test the effectiveness of specific interventions to improve adherence, and provide Medicare Part D plan enrollees and their health care providers a list of all their medications. Americans who take many prescriptions, especially older consumers, often struggle to take them as directed. To raise consumer awareness of the importance of proper adherence, NCL’s Script Your Future campaign is encouraging Americans to ask their healthcare professional questions about their medicines. Improving that conversation is a vital first step toward better adherence rates and health outcomes and lower healthcare costs.

10. Push for state and national legislation to address the lack of transparency and anti-consumer practices in the multi-billion-dollar live event ticketing market.

When buying tickets, consumers should have the opportunity to transfer paperless tickets to friends and family. NCL also supports legislation that outlaws ticket-buying “bot” software that can purchase huge quantities of high-demand tickets, preventing consumers from buying them at reasonable prices. NCL will continue its work with the Fan Freedom Project to expand the number of stakeholders working on this issue and to target arenas that are not transparent in their ticketing practices.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

National Consumers League statement on FTC crackdown on deceptive weight-loss advertising – National Consumers League

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January 8, 2014

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League, the nation’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, today applauded the Federal Trade Commission’s crackdown on four deceptive marketers of weight-loss products. The companies – Sensa Products, LLC, L’Occitane, Inc., HCG Diet Direct and LeanSpa, LLC – are charged with duping consumers into buying fraudulent weight-loss products. The League also called on broadcasters and publishers to do more to root out deceptive advertising in their pages and on the airwaves.

The following statement is attributable to Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director:

“As the new year kicks off, many consumers will be trying to stick to their resolutions to lose weight. Unfortunately, consumers are constantly bombarded by advertising claiming that a cream or shake will magically help them shed unwanted pounds with little effort. The truth is that many of these products fail to produce the results they claim. Just as insidiously, deceptive advertising undermines confidence in all advertising, hurting legitimate businesses as well as consumers. To protect the public interest and their business models, we therefore urge broadcasters and publishers to closely monitor the ads they accept and screen out deceptive advertisers.”

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

Statement on Mel Watt commencing his tenure as head of the FHFA – National Consumers League

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January 7, 2014

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC — The National Consumers League applauds the swearing in of Congressman Mel Watt of North Carolina to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The FHFA oversees the work of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mr. Watt has had a long tenure on the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees housing matters.

“Congressman Watt is a great choice for chief of this agency. His distinguished service as a member of Congress since 1992, and work on the House Financial Services Committee, makes him uniquely qualified to run the FHFA. He understands what led to the housing crisis and is on the side of responsible homeowners to help them get through this very tough period. We think he will be on the forefront of expanding access to credit for worthy borrowers and offering concrete tools and real assistance to homeowners who are under water, owing more on their homes than the property is worth,” said Sally Greenberg, the group’s Executive Director.

As Chief of the FHFA, Mr. Watt will play a crucial role in shaping the future of Fannie and Freddie. Mr. Watt consistently pressed for better access to mortgages for minority and low-income borrowers since being elected to Congress. He also brings a close working relationship with the financial services and insurance industries that are core members of the business community in Charlotte, NC, the area Congressman Watt represented.

“We congratulate Director Watt on heading this very important federal agency, the FHFA, and look forward to working with him,” Greenberg added.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

Consumer group applauds trio of Senators for requesting Congressional hearing to examine data security standards – National Consumers League

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January 3, 2014

Contact: Ben Klein, NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer advocacy organization, is applauding a trio of Senators who are asking for a hearing on the nation’s data security standards. In the aftermath of the recent Target data security breach affecting 40 million credit and debit cards, Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Charles Schumer (D-NY) have signed a letter requesting that the Senate Banking Committee hold a hearing “as soon as reasonably possible.”

“It is time that Congress examine our data security standards and determine how business can better protect consumers’ financial information,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “When our personal information is compromised, not only does it have the potential to cost the consumer significant time and money, but it also threatens our confidence in the security practices of the companies with whom we share our information. There is more that businesses can and should be doing to ensure our sensitive information is protected. Congress can be very helpful in pressing for a far stronger set of policies to protect private consumer financial data.”

The Senators were prompted to pen the letter to Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, by the Target data breach, which took place at the height of the busiest shopping time of 2013, between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

In early December, just a few days before news about the Target data breach emerged, NCL released a white paper discussing the impact of data breaches on consumer vulnerability to fraud and the resulting loss of trust in the online economy. The NCL white paper included a number of policy recommendations to better protect consumers’ data including calling for a national data breach notification standard and urging the Obama Administration to explore incentives and penalties to encourage private sector businesses to better protect consumer data.

NCL’s letter to Sen. Johnson urges Congress to take a closer look at the problem and corresponding solutions at a hearing. Federal agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, cyber security experts and advocacy groups of NCL can offer concrete proposals to better protect consumer data.

To read the letter, click here.

To read the white paper, click here.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.