Massachusetts Consumers' Coalition

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The Massachusetts Consumers' Coalition is the primary consumer rights advocacy organization in Massachusetts. The organization is structured as a non-profit (501(c)(3)), and serves as the primary umbrella organization for organizations working in Massachusetts with consumer rights concerns. The organization works on federal and state-level consumer laws and provides consumer education on credit, insurance, sales, media control, and other consumer issues, and was instrumental in passing Massachusetts' lemon law in the 1970s, one of the first state-level lemon laws.

Massachusetts State of the United States of America

Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named after the Massachusett tribe, which once inhabited the east side of the area, and is one of the original thirteen states. The capital of Massachusetts is Boston, which is also the most populous city in New England. Over 80% of Massachusetts's population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. During the 20th century, Massachusetts's economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a global leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance, and maritime trade.

Lemon laws are American state laws that provide a remedy for purchasers of cars and other consumer goods in order to compensate for products that repeatedly fail to meet standards of quality and performance. Although there may be defective products of all sorts ranging from small electrical appliances to huge pieces of machinery, the term "lemon" is most often used to describe defective motor vehicles such as automobiles, trucks, SUVs, and motorcycles.

Significant initiatives worked on: [1]

In contract law, a warranty is a promise which is not a condition of the contract or an innominate term: (1) it is a term "not going to the root of the contract", and (2) which only entitles the innocent party to damages if it is breached: ie the warranty is not true or the defaulting party does not perform the contract in accordance with the terms of the warranty. A warranty is not guarantee. It is a mere promise. It may be enforced if it is breached by an award for the legal remedy of damages.

Privacy the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves, or information about themselves

Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves, or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The boundaries and content of what is considered private differ among cultures and individuals, but share common themes. When something is private to a person, it usually means that something is inherently special or sensitive to them. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security (confidentiality), which can include the concepts of appropriate use, as well as protection of information. Privacy may also take the form of bodily integrity.

Credit card Card enabling payments from a line of credit

A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the other agreed charges. The card issuer creates a revolving account and grants a line of credit to the cardholder, from which the cardholder can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance.

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The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is a United States government agency created in part by the National Housing Act of 1934. The FHA sets standards for construction and underwriting and insures loans made by banks and other private lenders for home building. The goals of this organization are to improve housing standards and conditions, provide an adequate home financing system through insurance of mortgage loans, and to stabilize the mortgage market. The Commissioner of the FHA is Brian Montgomery.

Financial regulation

Financial regulation is a form of regulation or supervision, which subjects financial institutions to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the integrity of the financial system. This may be handled by either a government or non-government organization. Financial regulation has also influenced the structure of banking sectors by increasing the variety of financial products available. Financial regulation forms one of three legal categories which constitutes the content of financial law, the other two being market practices, case law.

Loan transfer of money that must be repaid

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Car dealerships in North America

In the United States and Canada, a franchised new-car and -truck dealership is a retailer that sells new and also possibly used cars, including certified preowned vehicles, employs trained automotive technicians, and offers financing. In the United States, direct manufacturer auto sales are prohibited in almost every state by franchise laws requiring that new cars be sold only by dealers.

Eversource Energy is a publicly traded, Fortune 500 energy company headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut and Boston, Massachusetts, with several regulated subsidiaries offering retail electricity, natural gas service and water service to approximately 4 million customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

A savings and loan association (S&L), or thrift institution, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings, deposits, and making mortgage and other loans. The terms "S&L" or "thrift" are mainly used in the United States; similar institutions in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries include building societies and trustee savings banks. They are often mutually held, meaning that the depositors and borrowers are members with voting rights, and have the ability to direct the financial and managerial goals of the organization like the members of a credit union or the policyholders of a mutual insurance company. While it is possible for an S&L to be a joint-stock company, and even publicly traded; in such instances it is no longer truly a mutual association, and depositors and borrowers no longer have membership rights and managerial control. By law, thrifts can have no more than 20 percent of their lending in commercial loans — their focus on mortgage and consumer loans makes them particularly vulnerable to housing downturns such as the deep one the U.S. experienced in 2007.

Truth in Lending Act

The Truth in Lending Act (TILA) of 1968 is a United States federal law designed to promote the informed use of consumer credit, by requiring disclosures about its terms and cost to standardize the manner in which costs associated with borrowing are calculated and disclosed.

A credit bureau is a data collection agency that gathers account information from various creditors and provides that information to a consumer reporting agency in the United States, a credit reference agency in the United Kingdom, a credit reporting body in Australia, a credit information company (CIC) in India, Special Accessing Entity in the Philippines, and also to private lenders. It is not the same as a credit rating agency.

NiSource Inc. is one of the largest fully regulated utility companies in the United States, serving approximately 3.5 million natural gas customers and 500,000 electric customers across seven states through its local Columbia Gas and NIPSCO brands. The company, based in Merrillville, Indiana, United States, has more than 8,000 employees.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed a health care reform law in 2006 with the aim of providing health insurance to nearly all of its residents. The law mandated that nearly every resident of Massachusetts obtain a minimum level of insurance coverage, provided free and subsidized health care insurance for residents earning less than 150% and 300%, respectively, of the federal poverty level (FPL) and mandated employers with more than 10 full-time employees provide healthcare insurance. The law was amended significantly in 2008 and twice in 2010 to make it consistent with the federal Affordable Care Act. Major revisions related to health care industry price controls were passed in August 2012, and the employer mandate was repealed in 2013 in favor of the federal mandate. Because Mitt Romney was the governor of Massachusetts at the time, the law has colloquially been called Romneycare, a reference to the nicknaming of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as "Obamacare".

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Bank regulation in the United States is highly fragmented compared with other G10 countries, where most countries have only one bank regulator. In the U.S., banking is regulated at both the federal and state level. Depending on the type of charter a banking organization has and on its organizational structure, it may be subject to numerous federal and state banking regulations. Apart from the bank regulatory agencies the U.S. maintains separate securities, commodities, and insurance regulatory agencies at the federal and state level, unlike Japan and the United Kingdom. Bank examiners are generally employed to supervise banks and to ensure compliance with regulations.

Bank financial institution

A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates credit. Lending activities can be performed either directly or indirectly through capital markets. Due to their importance in the financial stability of a country, banks are highly regulated in most countries. Most nations have institutionalized a system known as fractional reserve banking under which banks hold liquid assets equal to only a portion of their current liabilities. In addition to other regulations intended to ensure liquidity, banks are generally subject to minimum capital requirements based on an international set of capital standards, known as the Basel Accords.

Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition organization

The Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition (MassCann), the state affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, is a non-profit public education organization working for the moderation of marijuana laws. MassCann/NORML organizes the Freedom Rally on Boston Common every third Saturday in September. The MC/N newsletter, Mass Grass, is published six times annually. Membership is open to the public and leadership is democratically elected at the annual winter membership meeting, usually held in March.

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Charlie Baker 72nd Governor of Massachusetts

Charles Duane Baker Jr. is an American businessman and politician serving as the 72nd Governor of Massachusetts since January 8, 2015. A Republican, he was a cabinet official under two Governors of Massachusetts and served ten years as chief executive officer (CEO) of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

Public Citizen Texas is the Texas branch of Public Citizen, a nonpartisan, ideologically progressive, nonprofit, public interest advocacy organization. Public Citizen Texas is based in Austin, Texas. Since its founding in 1984, it has concerned itself with ideologically progressive issues such as: environmental enforcement policies, global warming, promoting renewable/clean energy, product safety, nuclear safety, medical safety, auto safety/quality, pesticide safety, insurance reforms, campaign finance/ethics issues, improving state government agency operations and fair trade policies. In recent years the organization has been primarily concerned with global warming and energy policy in Texas. Public Citizen Texas opposes expanding coal burning and nuclear power plants in Texas1.

Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act Regulatory act implemented by the Obama Administration after the 2008 Financial Crisis.

The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a United States federal law that was enacted on July 21, 2010. The law overhauled financial regulation in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, and it made changes affecting all federal financial regulatory agencies and almost every part of the nation's financial services industry.

The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI) is one of 15 principal departments in New Jersey government. The department’s mission is to regulate the banking, insurance and real estate industries in a professional and timely manner that protects and educates consumers and promotes the growth, financial stability and efficiency of these industries. The current Commissioner of DOBI is Marlene Caride.

Communications law refers to the regulation of electronic communications by wire or radio. It encompasses regulations governing broadcasting, telephone and telecommunications service, cable television, satellite communications, wireless telecommunications, and the Internet.

References

  1. ↑ See generally "About Us", Massachusetts Consumers' Coalition
  2. ↑ "Consumer Aid Officers Kept Busy by Auto Disputes, Home Improvements", Worcester Telegram Gazette, April 27, 1989.
  3. ↑ "Gillette, Wal-Mart drop plan for radio ID chips", Boston Globe, July 10, 2003.
  4. ↑ See, e.g., "Seniors cautioned in wake of security breach", South Coast Today, Nov. 30, 2007.
  5. ↑ "Insurance Chief Pulls Credit-Scoring Plan", Boston Globe , July 22nd, 2003.
  6. ↑ "Comcast will raise Boston-area subscribers' cable rates in 2005", Boston Globe, Nov. 24, 2004.
  7. ↑ "House OK's Legislation to Regulate Contractors", Boston Globe, Oct. 9, 1991.


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