Closing Small Claims Doors of Consumer Justice |
Wednesday, 15 April 2015 |
Tyranny of the Arbitrators -
And the End of Small Claims Court
After a minor banking dispute in 2010 forced me to file a small claim, Citibank removed my small claim to private arbitration against my objections and in violation of my agreements and the arbitratorâs rules.I am sharing my story to help others...
Citibank removed my small claim to arbitration to avoid an undesirable but public outcome in small claims court â knowing full well the depth of the hole it was putting me in.
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Foreclosure - No Mortgage Payments |
Wednesday, 15 April 2015 |
Foreclosure to Home Free, as 5-Year Clock Expires
In September, Susan Rodolfi celebrated an unusual anniversary: five years of missed mortgage payments.
She is like a ghost of the housing marketâs painful past, one of thousands of Americans who have skipped years of mortgage payments and are still living in their homes.
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Uninhabitable House Getting Old |
Thursday, 26 March 2015 |
New Jersey Man Sues Builders Over $1.6 Million 'Uninhabitable'
When the house in Florham Park, New Jersey, was completed in 2007, Humayun Akhtar, 66, discovered the homeâs interior and exterior had cracks and that the house was âsliding down the hill it was built on,â he told ABC News today. The house is âunrepaired and uninhabitable,â according to court findings, which added the soil the home was built on was âof insufficient load-bearing capacity to hold the building.â
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Wednesday, 25 March 2015 |
Family Fights to Get Crumbling Retaining Wall Fixed
Back in 2010, Pulte offered to buy back 27 of their homes in San Antonio when a similar retaining wall collapsed.âYou would think after going through that that they would at least follow their own formula for resolution.,â Kristyn said. âWe want for Pulte to buy back our home.â |
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Pulte Homeowner Goes From Bad to Worse |
Wednesday, 18 March 2015 |
Cibolo homeowner wants buy-back from Centex Homes
Manny Martinez and his wife Laura
thought they were buying their forever home. Now they're afraid they may be
stuck in it forever. Just one month.... Pulte Group hired a contractor to do the work and repair the leaking line,...When the contractor began pumping the material in the tunnel, the garage floor exploded and the material flooded into the garage....Martinez now wants Centex Homes, a subsidiary of the Pulte group to buy the home back. The company instead is dead set on making what it calls cosmetic repairs. |
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CBS Ch 11 Ft Worth: Pulte-Centex Walls Came Tumblein Down |
Tuesday, 17 March 2015 |
Homeowners Fight To Get Falling Retaining Wall Fixed, Before Itâs Too Late
âWe caught this in time. It was caught in time. And in San Antonio for a lot of the home builders it wasnât,â Kristyn added. âRegardless of whether you have a retaining wall, or foundation issues, or whatever, this applies to everyone. If you
own a home
, you could easily wake up tomorrow and be in this boat. Related:
Photo: Pulte-Centex Rivermist Press Conference Rally Pulte-Centex Homes wrong about wall threat |
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SEE LATEST PHOTOS: Ft Worth Pulte-Centex Wall |
Monday, 16 March 2015 |
San Antonio to Forth Worth Pulte-Centex Wall Failure
Irizarry Family worries as more rain approaches and the crumbling wall looms with danger. Same story different City, same builder. See latest Irizarry wall photos, plus the San Antonio Rivermist Story
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Wednesday, 11 March 2015 |
Tweets by Public Citizen
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YouTube Marching Band - Stop Forced Arbitration. |
Tuesday, 10 March 2015 |
Memo to Big Banks: Don't Piss off Marching Bands
Urge the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to Stand Up to Wall Street and Defend Consumer Rights. The federal Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau (CFPB) has the authority to restore our rights by
banning these predatory terms. Big Banks and powerful
financial institutions are using the fine print in the terms for
checking accounts, credit cards, prepaid cards, student loans and other
financial products to deny ripped-off consumers their constitutional
right to hold the banks accountable in court.
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MBA - Ease strict underwriting standards "extremely positive" |
Wednesday, 22 October 2014 |
Mel Watt and Julian Castro announce housing policy changes
FHFA continues to evaluate ways to refine and improve the loss mitigation and foreclosure prevention policies at the Enterprises, because we understand that many individuals and families are still facing the possibility of foreclosure and are looking for alternatives to stay in their homes." ....Compass Point listed the biggest winners of this kind of credit box expansion as originators, private mortgage insurers and home builders. ...challenging the regulators to ease the incredibly strict underwriting standards now required to originate a mortgage loan.
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Home Builders bill with Fraudulent Intentions |
Sunday, 12 October 2014 |
HOA homeowners oppose construction defects legislation
âSenator Ulibarri is about to introduce a bill that should be called the âHorrors of Homeownership Act,ââ said Molly Foley-Healy, chair of CLAC. âSenator Ulibarriâs stated goal is to create more affordable housing, but this bill has nothing to do with affordable housing. Instead, it hurts the very people he said he wanted to help. It effectively blocks homeowners from holding builders responsible for their shoddy construction and leaves homeowners living in HOAs to pick up the tab for repairing the defects.â |
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Home Owners for Better Building call on HUD Secretay Julian Csstro To Enforce Federal Codes |
Saturday, 04 October 2014 |
Local homeowners call on Julian Castro to overhaul HUD
The Mirasol homes were built
using HUD money, and homeowners said if builders had followed HUD's federal
building guidelines, the builders would have avoided lawsuits and the wasted,
taxpayer money. |
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Arbitration Impenetrable Roadblock by Business Interest |
Saturday, 18 January 2014 |
When the little guy gets shut out of court
The trend toward mandatory arbitration clauses has been accelerating for years, but attempts to curtail it have run into an impenetrable roadblock from business interests that are understandably eager to stay out of court. Their point might be justified if the arbitration process was fair, transparent and accountable. It is not.
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Forced Binding Arbitration - Builder Get Out Of Jail Free |
Thursday, 09 January 2014 |
Consumer advocates: Fine print could rob consumers of right to sue
Consumer advocates warn that a provision in an increasing number of consumer contracts robs consumers of their basic right to sue. Greg Cole said he was forced into arbitration when his homebuilder, John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, wouldn't fix construction mistakes to his home in a development in East Cobb. Cole said cracks in walls and ceilings caused leaks that created a mold problem that sickened his family. |
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CFPB Monitor - FTC challenging arbitration |
Sunday, 29 December 2013 |
CFPB Monitor - FTC files amicus challenging arbitration
provision
Last year, the DOJ filed an
amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in American
Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant in support of the
merchants who were challenging the class action waiver in American Expressâ
arbitration agreement. (The Supreme Court ruled against the merchants in
a 5-3 decision.)
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