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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on June 13 released its annual report on the top financial concerns facing servicemembers, veterans, and military families, based on the complaints they submitted to the CFPB, according to a press release. Servicemembers told the CFPB about billing inaccuracies and that debt collectors used aggressive tactics to recover allegedly unpaid medical bills. Servicemembers also reported failures by credit reporting companies in helping to resolve inaccuracies and other credit reporting issues. “Errors on credit reports can jeopardize servicemembers’ financial readiness, and ultimately, their ability to protect our nation,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “No servicemember, veteran, or military family should be subject to credit reporting rumors and innuendo, nor should they feel coerced to pay a bill they do not owe.” Servicemembers, veterans, and military families have now submitted more than 250,000 consumer complaints since the CFPB began collecting complaints in 2011. In 2021, they submitted more than 42,000 complaints to the CFPB. The most common types of complaints — more than 60% — were about credit reporting and debt collection.

The cost of renting an apartment or home is climbing quickly, keeping inflation high and making life tougher for households on a tight budget, the New York Times reported. The price of renting a primary residence climbed by 5.2 percent in the year through May, with the cost rising 0.6 percent compared with the prior month, matching its quick pace in April. A measure that uses rents to estimate the consumption value of owning a home is also picking up rapidly, and actually accelerated slightly on a monthly basis. Housing costs make up a big part of the overall inflation index, so they are keeping pressure on prices overall even as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to cool inflation down. In fact, there could be a period when higher mortgage rates prevent renters from moving into homeownership, keeping the rental market stretched. Further rent inflation is a near inevitability. Market rents increased sharply throughout 2021, and those trends seep slowly into the official inflation data, since they measure not just new leases but also existing rentals.

The costs of gas, food and other necessities likely shot up in May, giving Americans no respite from the worst outbreak of inflation in four decades, the Associated Press reported. Economists have forecast that overall consumer prices jumped 8.2% last month compared with a year earlier, according to data provider FactSet. That would be barely below the 8.3% year-over-year surge in April and the 8.5% increase in March, which was the most since 1982. And on a month-to-month basis, prices are expected to have jumped 0.8% from April to May, up sharply from a 0.3% increase from March to April. The acceleration would almost certainly be due to gas prices, which had declined in April but leaped more than 10% in May alone and have since reached an average of nearly $5 a gallon nationwide. America’s rampant inflation is imposing severe financial pressures on families, forcing them to pay much more for such items as food, gas and rent. Lower-income and Black and Hispanic Americans, in particular, are struggling because, on average, a larger proportion of their income is consumed by necessities. High inflation has also forced the Federal Reserve into what will likely be the fastest series of interest rate hikes in three decades. By raising borrowing costs aggressively, the Fed hopes to cool spending and growth enough to curb inflation without tipping the economy into a recession. For the Fed, it will be a difficult balancing act. Surveys show that Americans regard high inflation as the nation’s top problem, and a substantial majority disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy. Inflation has remained high even as the sources of rising prices have shifted. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen rejected the idea that corporate greed is causing the U.S. inflation surge, differing with fellow Democrats who have accused big businesses of price gouging, Bloomberg reported. “Demand and supply is largely driving inflation,” Yellen said, when asked about the view that corporate greed is a key cause. She said that it’s true that price-to-cost margins have gone up, but she said that’s not what’s driving inflation. President Joe Biden has threatened price-gouging probes in gasoline, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed a bill in her chamber aimed at combating that practice — saying last month that there was “a major exploitation of the consumer” taking place. Yellen said that she supports a “strong” antitrust policy. She reiterated that, in the battle against inflation, the administration looks “first and foremost” to the Federal Reserve to deal with it. She warned that there’s a risk of higher food and energy prices, including for gasoline. But she said there’s “nothing to suggest a recession is in the works.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has taken action against the owner of a student-loan debt relief company for allegedly withdrawing hundreds of thousands of dollars from student borrowers’ bank accounts, without authorization, according to a press release on the agency’s website. The CFPB alleges that Frank Gebase, Jr. controlled a company that took the borrowers’ money after obtaining their names and account information from a previous student-loan debt-relief scammer that the CFPB shut down. The CFPB’s proposed settlement, if entered by the court, would ban Gebase from the debt-relief industry and order him to pay a penalty. On March 30, 2016, the CFPB ordered Student Aid Institute to shut down its debt-relief operations and rescind all of its consumer agreements. Gebase had leased office space to Student Aid Institute, and he was a longtime associate of its principal. In 2016, Gebase founded Processingstudentloans in San Diego, and he was the founder, sole owner, CEO, and sole corporate officer. The CFPB alleges that from approximately May 20, 2016 to April 5, 2017, Processingstudentloans was a non-bank provider of student-loan debt-relief services. As alleged in the complaint, without authorization, Processingstudentloans collected recurring fees from customers, typically $39 per month, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in total fees from hundreds of student loan borrowers. In addition to controlling Processingstudentloans and facilitating the debits, Gebase was aware or should have known that the debits were unauthorized and unlawful. By April 2017, under this scheme, Gebase’s company had unlawfully debited more than $240,000 from hundreds of student borrowers’ accounts.

President Biden is likely to decide later this summer whether to partially forgive student-loan debt for millions of borrowers, according to administration officials and others familiar with the matter, after the president said more than a month ago that he would weigh in on the issue in the next couple of weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported. The officials said Mr. Biden is likely to announce his plans in July or August, closer to when the pandemic-related pause in federal student loan payments is scheduled to lapse, as the president and his senior advisers continue to weigh the political and economic fallout of any such move. The Biden administration earlier this year extended the pause, which has been in effect since March 2020, until Sept. 1. The delay means the roughly 40 million people who owe about $1.6 trillion in federal student debt may have to wait to find out whether they may see all or part of their loans erased. The White House declined to comment on the internal discussions. “The administration is continuing to assess options for cancellation and no decision has been made,” a White House official said. Mr. Biden has long been skeptical of using his executive authority to wipe away student loan debt. Officials said he remains concerned about the possible effects the move could have on record inflation, cautious about doing anything that could be perceived as contributing to high prices. Some people close to Mr. Biden said he had nonetheless warmed to the idea in recent months as advocates inside and outside the administration made impassioned pleas for him to take action.

U.S. consumer credit rose more than expected in April as Americans maintained a strong pace of credit card usage to fund purchases at a time of high inflation, data showed on Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported. Total consumer credit increased by $38.07 billion after rising by a downwardly revised $47.34 billion in March, the Federal Reserve said. Economists polled by Reuters had expected consumer credit to rise by $35 billion after a previously reported $52.43 billion advance in March. Annual consumer prices are rising at rates last seen 40 years ago, leaving many households scrambling to cover expenses. Revolving credit, which mostly measures credit-card use, increased by $17.78 billion after rising by $25.63 billion in the prior month. The strong credit card usage together with massive savings are helping to keep consumer spending solid even as inflation is eroding wage gains.

A potential move by the Biden administration to cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt would not do much to alleviate the heavy debt burden many lawyers face, law graduates and policy experts said, Reuters reported. Nearly 71% of law students leave campus with student loans, according to the U.S. Department of Education, and their average debt hovers around $138,500 — higher than any other field besides medicine. A 2020 American Bar Association survey found that student debt leads many lawyers to put off getting married or buying homes and can drive lasting stress and anxiety. “When you have six figures in debt, $10,000 is a drop in the bucket,” said Marcella Jayne, a single mother of two and an associate at Foley & Lardner who has a student loan balance of $173,000 after graduating from Fordham University School of Law in 2018. President Joe Biden is reportedly moving to finalize a plan that would erase $10,000 from student borrowers' existing federal loan balances. The details have not been announced, including whether the government will impose an income cap that would reduce the number of law graduates who are eligible. The administration could also opt to apply forgiveness only to undergraduate loans. But even if they are eligible, some lawyers say a one-time debt cancellation deal would not help future borrowers or address underlying issues that leave law grads particularly indebted. The Bureau of Labor Statistics last year estimated the mean annual wage for all U.S. lawyers at $148,030, but that figure is skewed by high salaries at a relatively small number of law firms and corporations.

Surging home prices and rents are cascading down to the country’s mobile home parks, where heightened demand, low supply and an increase in corporate owners is driving up monthly costs for low-income residents with few alternatives, the Washington Post reported. At the same time, private-equity firms and developers are often circling nearby, looking to buy up such properties and turn them into more lucrative ventures, including timeshare resorts, wedding venues and condominiums. Mobile homes have long been one of the country’s most affordable housing options, particularly for families who do not receive government aid. About 20 million Americans live in manufactured homes, which make up about 6 percent of U.S. residences, according to federal data. Some experts suggest those numbers could soon rise as more people are priced out of traditional houses and apartments. Mobile homes prices range from less than $25,000 in Nebraska, Iowa and Ohio, to more than $125,000 in Washington state. Overall, they tend to be three to five times cheaper than traditional single-family homes, according to an analysis of census data by LendingTree. But rising demand for affordable housing has put particular pressure on the market. Nationally, the average sales price of manufactured homes has risen nearly 50 percent during the pandemic, from $82,900 to $123,200, census data shows. Meanwhile, average new home prices rose 22 percent in that period, according to government figures. However, less is known about how much mobile homeowners pay to rent the land under their homes. Lot rents typically rise between 4 and 6 percent a year, according to industry sources, though there is little data on exact costs or price increases. That lack of transparency is complicated by the fact few cities or states have rules governing rent increases at mobile home parks. “Land prices are going up, housing costs are going up and that’s spilling into mobile homes,” said Casey Dawkins, a professor of urban studies and planning at the University of Maryland. “There’s also an overall shortage of affordable housing, particularly in cities and the suburbs around them.”

In its largest student loan forgiveness action ever, the Education Department said on Wednesday that it would wipe out $5.8 billion owed by 560,000 borrowers who attended Corinthian Colleges, one of the nation’s biggest for-profit college chains before it collapsed in 2015, the New York Times reported. The debt cancellation will be automatic, meaning former Corinthian students will not have to apply to have their debts canceled. The Education Department will eliminate any remaining balance on the federal student loans of those who attended any Corinthian campus or online program during the chain’s 20-year existence. “For far too long, Corinthian engaged in the wholesale financial exploitation of students, misleading them into taking on more and more debt to pay for promises they would never keep,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said. Corinthian became one of the most prominent examples of bad behavior in the often-troubled for-profit-college industry. Founded in 1995, the company acquired a string of schools nationwide and at its peak enrolled 110,000 students at more than 100 campuses. But allegations of illegal recruiting tactics, shoddy educational programs, and false promises to students about their career prospects and potential future earnings shadowed the company for years, leading to a string of investigations and lawsuits by state and federal agencies.