National Consumer Protection Week 2019 Kicks off Sunday, March 3

"The Federal Trade Commission and its federal, state and local partners, together with consumer groups and national advocacy organizations, will participate in the 21st annual National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) from March 3-9, 2019. NCPW is a nationally coordinated campaign to help consumers understand their rights while giving them access to free educational materials.

“As the nation’s primary consumer protection agency, we take pride in working with our partners and providing free educational resources to remind consumers of their rights,” said Chairman Joe Simons. “We encourage informed consumers to share their knowledge and help others avoid scams.”

The FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection (BCP) focuses its resources to protect Americans from scams, identity theft, and other unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent business practices.

Along with BCP, the Bureau of Competition protects the interests of consumers by promoting vigorous competition, which can deliver lower prices, enhance innovation, and increase quality and choice for consumers.

During NCPW, the FTC joins its partners to bring consumers information and advice on scams, identity theft, and other fraudulent business practices. Below is this year’s schedule of activities:

Wednesday, March 6 at 3:00 p.m. ET: Twitter chat with Federal Student Aid

The FTC (@FTC) and Federal Student Aid (@FAFSA) will co-host a Twitter chat discussion on how to avoid student loan repayment scams using the #NCPW2019 hashtag.

Thursday, March 7 at 12:00 p.m. ET: Facebook Live with Social Security Administration

FTC staff will join colleagues at the Social Security Administration (SSA) on Facebook Live to discuss scams that involve fraudsters pretending to be SSA officials. Consumers will learn about these imposter scams and how to avoid them.

Friday, March 8 at 11:00 a.m. ET: Twitter chat with Identity Theft Resource Center

The FTC (@FTC) and the Identity Theft Resource (@ITRCSD) will co-host a Twitter chat on how consumers can protect themselves against tax identity theft this tax season using the #NCPW2019 hashtag..."
Consumer protection

CFPB Outlines Principles For Consumer-Authorized Financial Data Sharing and Aggregation

"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today outlined principles for protecting consumers when they authorize third party companies to access their financial data to provide certain financial products and services. These principles are intended to help foster the development of innovative financial products and services, increase competition in financial markets, and empower consumers to take greater control of their financial lives. The principles reiterate the importance of protecting consumers to all stakeholders that provide, use, or aggregate consumer-authorized financial data.

“Today, the Bureau released its consumer protection principles for the consumer-authorized data-sharing market,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “These principles express our vision for realizing an innovative market that gives consumers protection and value.”

Many companies, including “fintech” firms, banks, and other financial institutions, get authorization from consumers to access their account data that reside in separate organizations to provide a variety of products and services. These include fraud screening and identity verification, personal financial management, and bill payment. Such products and services could help consumers make smarter spending, savings, and investment decisions and live their lives more efficiently and effectively. The Consumer Bureau has been studying consumer-authorized data access and issued a Request for Information in 2016 to gather feedback from wide range of stakeholders. The Consumer Bureau received feedback from large and small banks and credit unions, their trade associations, aggregators, “fintech” firms, consumer advocates, and individual consumers..."

Consumer financial data sharing

CFPB Issues Guide and Best Practices to Help Communities Create Protection Partnerships for Seniors

"Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a report that found that hundreds of counties around the country have developed coordinated community-based efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to elder financial exploitation. The report also found that a strong collaboration among community stakeholders – like financial institutions, adult protective services, and law enforcement – can be very effective in protecting their older residents from financial exploitation. To help other communities across the country create their own protection partnerships to fight elder financial abuse, today the CFPB also released a resource guide and best practices..."
Consumer protection for seniors

National Consumer Protection Week , March 2-8, 2014

"The Federal Trade Commission, in collaboration with 74 federal, state and local agencies, consumer groups, and national organizations, celebrates National Consumer Protection Week, beginning Sunday, March 2, and running until Saturday, March 8.

Now in its 16th year, NCPW encourages American consumers to learn about their rights in the marketplace and to recognize and report scams, identity theft, and unfair business practices. Visitors to NCPW.gov can find information about a range of consumer topics, including managing credit and debt, staying safe online, stopping telemarketing calls, and the latest scam alerts..."

National consumer protection week