SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Attorneys General from 20 states, including California's Xavier Becerra, have signed a letter to Congress, slamming two bills that would gut current state laws meant to protect people from predatory lenders.

HR 3299 and HR 4439 would clear the way for payday lenders to evade state usury laws and make loans with triple-digit interest rates, by making deals to operate under a bank's charter. Diane Standaert, executive vice president and director of state policy with the Center for Responsible Lending, called it a "rent-a-bank" scheme that would void any state consumer-protection laws that cap interest rates.

"The reality is that their passage would open the floodgates to predatory lending, with annual interest rates of 100-400 percent,” Standaert said; “even in states where they're currently not allowed."

One of the bills has already passed the House. Supporters claim they would improve access to credit for low-income families and promote innovation in the financial sector. Opponents say ultra-high-interest loans only trap people in a cycle of worsening debt.

Standaert said California has weak usury laws that cap interest rates on loans under $300 but allow them to be rolled over into multiple loans that end up costing the borrower big-time if they are unable to pay off the initial loan. A bill to cap interest rates on car-title loans has passed the California Assembly and awaits a vote in the state Senate.

Standaert said Congress could supersede any such effort.

"This bill would essentially eviscerate California's ability to ever take action to rein in the cost of these really high-cost predatory loans,” she said.

Recent efforts to strengthen the California usury laws have foundered. Assembly Bill 2500, which would have capped interest rates on some loans at 36 percent, failed in the state Assembly about a month ago.


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DENVER -- The days of exponentially high increases in health-insurance costs may finally be in the rearview mirror. The Colorado Division of Insurance's preliminary plans for 2022 project only slight premium increases.

Gov. Jared Polis credited the state's reinsurance program for helping save consumers money.

Adam Fox, deputy director of the Colorado Consumer Initiative, said the program, which allows insurance companies to defray the costs of the most expensive claims, has helped keep rates stable in the individual market.

"On average, Coloradans are going to see around a 1.4% increase in plan premiums, which is a far cry from some of the double-digit premium increases that we saw several years ago," Fox explained.

Savings from the reinsurance program increased this year. Grand Junction and other parts of the Western Slope, and communities on the Eastern Plains, saw health-insurance premiums drop by more than 35% on average. Rates in Front Range cities dropped between 20% and 30%.

Critics of legislation establishing the program worried the cost of fees collected to finance reinsurance would just be passed along to consumers.

Fox noted so far, there has been little evidence consumers are being negatively impacted by how the program is funded. Even if fees collected from insurance companies were being passed along to consumers, Fox added the program's benefits are far greater.

"On average, Coloradans are saving 24% on their premiums because of the reinsurance program, and the fee is 2% of premiums being collected," Fox outlined.

The reinsurance program is one of a host of policy tweaks state lawmakers have crafted under the Affordable Care Act in an effort to keep costs down and increase coverage.

Polis promised even greater savings when the Colorado Option comes online. The measure requires insurers, health-care providers and hospitals to reduce premiums by an additional 15% by 2023.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- As more North Carolinians resume travel and take vacations this summer, most will be relying on their debit and credit cards, and smartphones, and experts say fraudulent activity from financial data aggregation services such as PayPal and Venmo are a growing concern.

Joe Mecca, vice president for communication at Coastal Credit Union, said criminals can steal login credentials from less secure websites, and then attempt to use them to hack into other accounts or obtain bank information.

"Fraudsters are getting more and more sophisticated in how they target people," Mecca outlined. "They're getting a combination of publicly available information, as well as information that may have been stolen from different data breaches, and they start to cobble that all together to create profiles. "

Mecca advised never using the same password on multiple websites, and emphasized a strong, unique password is your first line of defense.

According to a report from Safety.com, North Carolina ranks fifteenth in the nation for the frequency of cybercrime, with losses estimated at more than $48 million.

Mecca added sharing seemingly harmless information on Facebook such as your first car, favorite pet or second-grade teacher's name may reveal common security question answers.

"What they don't realize is your friends who went to school with you that you're connected with on Facebook that a fraudster can see, might be using that information, or your family members might be using that information," Mecca explained.

Jonathon Striley, vice president for information security at Coastal Credit Union, recommended just like getting your vehicle's oil changed every few months, take the time to regularly update your computer, change your passwords and delete old accounts.

"Security is going to continue to be a major threat, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it," Striley asserted. "Now everything that we do is entirely dependent on computers. Therefore, our security and our well-being is dependent on keeping them safe."

Losses from identity-theft cases increased 42% to more than $700 billion last year, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Experts say the spike was fueled by the high rate of unemployment identity theft during the pandemic, as increased and extended unemployment benefits became a magnet for fraudsters.

DENVER -- When this winter's power outages in Texas' deregulated electric grid caused shockingly high utility bills for customers, Xcel Energy was also forced to pay inflated prices to continue serving its customers in Colorado, and now, the bill is coming due.

Luke Ilderton, deputy director of Energy Outreach Colorado, explained Xcel and other utility companies across the U.S. had to buy natural gas in the same wholesale energy market that saw large spikes in demand as power stations in Texas not equipped to withstand freezing temperatures went offline.

"And therefore prices increased, and utilities needed to pay the elevated pricing for natural gas, in order to meet the needs of Coloradans to heat their homes that weekend," Ilderton noted.

Xcel has asked the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to approve rate increases to cover this winter's spike in prices, as well as investments it has already been making for improvements and updates.

Residential customers could see an increase of more than $9 on their monthly electric bills, with small businesses paying close to $15 more, starting in September 2022.

Ilderton pointed out for many Coloradans, an increase of $9 a month can force families to make tough decisions about which bills to pay. He emphasized people can find out if they are eligible for assistance by calling Energy Outreach Colorado's Heat Help Hotline, at 866-HEAT-HELP. And he added there are ways for families to reduce energy costs now.

"That starts with evaluating the efficiency of your home," Ilderton outlined. "Determining what energy conservation practices can be implemented in your home, and thinking about what you as a household can do to control your own home energy usage."

If the PUC approves Xcel's request, the company said it will use part of the $343 million generated to prevent wildfires by clearing vegetation near power lines, and will install smart meters to allow families to monitor their energy use in real time. The increase will also support investments in a 500-megawatt wind farm on Colorado's eastern plains.