. >> reporter: that's why david butler with consumers union, the policy division of "consumer report reports", warns against trial memberships, package deals and refundable processing fees. as ways websites try to make money. your credit report is a history of you. it shows your credit history, how much you owe on loans, mortgages, credit cards, and whether you pay your bills on time. and there is one legitimate website that offers your free credit report from all three credit bureaus. annual credit report.com. each bureau is obligated by law to send you a free credit report when requested every 12 months. >> you can get all three of them at the same time. some people suggest actually staggering them. and it's so important to check your credit report, one, to make sure it's accurate, two, to spot any potential criminal activity with your good name. >> reporter: but there's one substantial piece of information missing from a free credit report, and that's your credit score. a number that ranks how good or bad a credit risk you are. consumers know they have a score, they just don't kno

consumers union brought it to their attention this is happening. we hear from consumers all over the country. we have heard these types of stores. hopefully the cfpb will address this. host: illinois, sue, on the democrats' line. caller: maybe the government can check into regions bank. i have asked repeatedly to be opted out. when you talk to in -- when you opt in, the balance on the card is instantaneous. we knhen you opt out, it seems o not be instantaneous. if you have $100 in your account and have $90 of overdraft fees, they will pay the two big ones like the $40.10 and a $30.10. they will let the smaller transactions go in so they can make more money on the big ones. why not pay down the smaller ones and only let two of the higher ones go through? because they make more money that way. the government needs to check into regions bank. guest: certainly that is one of the biggest problems we have seen with overdraft protection, the reordering of checks. in our view, checks should be paid out chronologically. another thing i would suggest to you a

a coalition including consumer unions, public citizen, consumer federation of america, kids in danger and u.s. public interest research group sent this letter to the federal government this week urging officials to remove the potentially hazardous products from the market. the groups are waiting for a response. but a recall might shock legions of fans. >> it's great. it's handy. he's able to put my daughter in it and play with her. >> millions of parents love the bumbo because it let's babies sit up right and interact with the world its nice to be able to read to her. >> in five years after little heidi fell, her mother still feels the panic of that split second tumble. >> get rid of them. don't use them. don't use those bumbos. it's too risky. >> bumbo says the chair isn't meant to fully restrain children, it's made of safe foam with no safety strap. bumbo has not changed the design. here is an old chair on the left and the post recall bumbo on the right. they're exactly the same except old chair had this warning in small red print. never use on a raised surface. the new one has a si

coalition that includes consumer union, public citizen, consumer federation of america, kids in danger u.s. public interest research group sent this letter to the federal government this week urging officials to remove these potentially hazardous products from the market. groups are waiting for a response. but a recall might shock legion ons of fans. >> it's great. very handy. able to sit my daughter in it and play with her. >>reporter: millions of parents love the seat because it lets babysit up rate for the first time and interact with the world. >> nice to be able to reach to her. >>reporter: 5 years after also heidi fell from a seat her mother still feels the panic of that split second tumble. >> get rid of them. don't use them. don't use those seats. too dangerous. too risky. >>reporter: the company says the chair isn't meant to fully restrain children. it's made of soft foam and no safety strap. in spite of accidents the company has not changed the design. here's an old chair on the left and the post recall on the right. they are exactly the same except the old chair had this war

months, a political reporter discusses super-pac money and we will talk to pamela banks from consumers union about bank overdraft fees and a former louisiana governor and presidential candidate buddy roemer. "washington journal" is next. ♪ good morning, today is saturday,

financial industry to try to weaken dodd-frank, the bill passed after the disaster, outnumbers consumer, union, and other groups by a ratio of 25 to 1. the financial industry outspending everybody else 25 to 1 to try to weaken dodd-frank. >> i'm quite surprised that the political establishment would listen to groups that have been so discredited. >> you're saying despite what happened in 2008, wall street still has too much power? >> they have too much voice. they certainly are being listened to. i find it incredible. i would have guessed that society, at large, would have said, "hey, we made a mistake. let's get some rules." you know? i used to tell my kids, "why do you think a car has brakes?" and they all would say, "to stop." and i'd say, "no, a car has brakes so that you can drive fast. if you got into a car that had no brakes and you knew it, how fast do you think you would drive? you wouldn't drive very fast at all." and that's the same reason we have rules. you want the private sector to be free to be creative and exuberant and whatever, within a framework, okay? >> you testified in fr

i am delighted to be here offering support on behalf of my organization, consumers' union, the policy and add the cheese -- and advocacy arm of consumer reports. customers tell us one of the real concerns they have about the internet is privacy. in a recent poll conducted by consumer reports, 80% of consumers tell us they were concerned that online companies may be passing their personal information to third parties without information. if people do not trust that there online information will be handled with care and respect, they are going to be uncomfortable signing up for new services. that is going to be a killer for innovation and growth. today's privacy initiative recognizes this fact. we agree with the administration that companies of privacy administration would be the best legislation would be ideal. this action today puts us -- privacy legislation would be ideal. this action today puts us on track for controlling how private data is used online. we are pleased that industry is stepping up its efforts to respect consumer privacy choices. we delayed the administration's consu

unions. >>> a consumer alert, facebook and google have come under fire because of privacy issues so now the obama administration revealed a new plan. the plan stresses several rights including individual control. you will have control over whether and how much of your personal information is shared now with outside companies. companies would only keep as much information as they need for specific purposes, this onto heels of a bill, a coalition of internet companies including google announced today. they are working to embed a do not track buton onto most web browsers. >>> and the attorney general is challenging the new policy. he sent a letter to the google ceo out lining several concerns about the online search enginee changes. he wants to meet with the ceo as soon as possible. he thinks the changes lets google compromise a user a privacy. users will be giving the website the authority to use your information when they want. >> you are looking at -- there needs to needs to to be a line between the applications and to be able to target advertising. maybe you want targeted advertising but y

we will talk to pamela banks from consumer union. also, buddy roemer.ngton journal begins saturday at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. >> we got started because there were a lot of conservative think tanks that work across issues. there had been no single progressive think tank that works on economic and domestic policy, national security. >> neera tanden on the issue of the washington, d.c. think tank. >> we think there is often and radiology with very little facts behind them. part of our job is to make the arguments and the factual arguments and evidence based arguments. i think sometimes when the facts cannot argue for our position, we reexamine those positions. we think the most fundamental thing is to be right no matter what your views are. >> sunday at 8:00 eastern on c- &a."s "q >> he also commented on fighting in syria and iran banned nuclear program. nuclear program. >> this is the first time we have had a chance to meet. obviously, we have been very impressed with the first five months of her prime ministership. i shared with her how much michele and

so i am really delighted to be your offering support on behalf of my organization, consumers union, which is the policy and advocacy arm of consumer reports, and also representing consumer federation of america. our two organizations are all about listening to consumers. when consumers tell us that one of the real concerns they have about the internet is privacy, in a recent poll conducted by consumer reports, 80% of consumers told us they were concerned that online companies may be passing their personal information to third parties without permission. if people do not trust that their on-line information will be handled with care and respect, they will be very uncomfortable signing up for new services. that will be a killer for innovation and growth. today's privacy initiative recognizes that. we agree with the administration that comprehensive privacy legislation is the ideal. and we will work to that end. but this action today takes us on a path to taking credit control over how to our information is collected and used on-line. we preach it the administration posture leadership role a

union. >>> in china, consumer spending jumped during the chinese lunar new year holiday season and the annual inflation spiked to 4.5% in january. >>> the weekly unemployment claims information to be released this morning by the labor department is of special interest after the improved job creation report last week. >>> more than 2 million americans could benefit from at least 25 billion dollars in relief from the nation's biggest banks as part of a broad government foreclosure settlement. >>> cisco systems reported quarterly earnings and revenue higher than analyst estimate in large cut due to a billion dollars in cost cutting. the first announcement for groupon since last year is a disappointment missing on earnings but better on revenue. consumers slice their cards more and authorize are new 500 million share buyback program for visa. diamond foods remove top management after an investigation found the company improperly accounted for payments to walnut growers. mcdonald's revenues jumped more than 6% in january as they sold more breakfast items and chicken mcbites. listen up, guys. for v

so i'm really delighted to be here, offering support on the half of my organization, consumers union, which is the policy and advocacy arm of consumer reports. and also representing consumer federation of america. our two organizations are all about listening to consumers, and consumers to tell us one of the real concerns they have about the internet is privacy. in a recent poll conducted by consumer reports, 80% of consumers told us they were concerned that online companies may be passing the personal information to third parties without permission. if people don't trust that their online information will be handled with care and respect, they are going to be very uncomfortable signing up for new services. that's going to be a killer for innovation and growth. today's privacy initiatives recognize this fact. we agree with the administration that comprehensive privacy legislation would be ideal and we will work to that end. but this action today puts us on the path to getting greater control over how our information is collected and used online. we appreciate the administration's lead

we can also say there is no doubt the united states produced far more consumer goods than the soviet union. >> the standard of living was a tenth not -- >> that is why this was an important moment in cultural and political history because the soviets began to see the gap and even their leadership realized that this was a gap that could not be filled unless they made changes and that what is leads to some of the things that we discussed. are there any other questions? yes. >> i had a question about how the average american responded to the exhibit. when i read about in the 1950's, there is a dual image, yes, let's show them american prosperity, that will encourage them to move toward capitalism, others if we show them that, they will get our technology. just curious, articles in "life" magazine about the exhibit, what was the average reaction to it? >> tanya, you know about those articles in "life" magazine. >>> hard to say what the average american reaction was. it was publicized, "life" ran several story, it was a very big story we came through in the soviet union, kind of crossed the bar

union. >>> in china, consumer spending jumped during the chinese lunar new year holiday season and the annualtion spiked to 4.5% in january. >>> the weekly unemployment claims information to be released this morning by the labor department is of special interest after the improved job creation report last week. >>> more than 2 million americans could benefit from at at least 25 billion in relief from the nation's biggest banks as part of a broad government foreclosure settlement. >>> cisco systems reported quarterly earnings and revenue higher than analyst estimates, in large part due to a billion dollars in cost cutting. the first announcement for groupon since going public last year missed on earnings but better on revenue. visa reported a higher quarterly profit as consumers swiped their cards more and authorized a new 500 million share buyback program . diamond foods remove top management after an investigation found the company improperly accounted for payments to walnut growers. mcdonald's revenues jumped more than 6% in january as they sold more breakfast items and chicken mcbites. for

chair of the federal trade commission, and then finally from the federal policy director of the consumers union. we are thrilled to have them all. thanks. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you for being here. obviously, i want to thank a few people. i want to thank our science adviser, our former cto. i want to thank the secretary for his leadership on this and so many things since he has come. i hope i am not preaching the independence of the ftc to thank the chairman. you can find ways to stick it to us if i compromise deal in any way. thank you. i would like to thank the congresswoman for being here and her leadership. i am looking forward to working with her on advancing this blueprint. i would like to think some of the people who were driving forces behind it. larry strictland and cam kerry for their leadership and driving this through. obviously, the industry leaders and consumer groups who made this we have a few speakers. let me make a few basic points. when we ask ourselves, as we

do so in consultation with the community banks and credit unions. >> in november, the geo released their annual financial audit of the consumers bureau, fiscal year 2011 financial statements. the geo gave the cfpb a clean audit, the highest rating that not every agency receives, what steps will you take to make sure that the bureau continues to lead with it's own finances. >> mr. chairman, we were happy to get a clean audit and strong audit from the gao. subject to multiple audits and oversight by the federal reserve. it's important to me personally that we show a strong record of audits. in each of the offices i inherited problems in the prior audits, that i cleaned up and we had clean audits. it's important for me to maintain a similar record here in this federal agency. >> how will your recess appointment impact the work of the bureau? >> i don't know that it will impact it at all. i understand that i've been appointed as the director, it feels that my legal responsibility is to do the best job i can at that and that is what i'm focused on doing. >> leveling the playing field among financial institutions is an important par

we will talk to camelot banks of consumers union. also, former louisiana's governor and president of a candidate buddy roemer. "washington journal" begins live at 7:00 p.m. it -- a.m. eastern time on c-span. >> bobby jindal is expected to release his proposal for balancing the state budget -- $900 million in the red. in shreveport, it is mostly cloudy and 70 degrees at the airport. you are listening to shreveport news radio 710. >> next weekend, but tv and american history tv discuss shreveport, louisiana. author gary joyner from the union army far jury project -- on the union army's failure. then, a look at over 200,000 books housed at the lsu- shreveport archives. then, a walking tour of shreveport and a better city. -- bosseir city. from barksdale air force base, a look at the base's role on 9/11. also, this did the founding fathers autographed collection. from the pioneer heritage center, medical treatment and at madison during the civil war. shreveport, louisiana -- next weekend on c-span2 and c-span3. >> a panel discussed recen

the regulatory burden on small community banks and credit unions, how will you ensure the right balance is struck between protections for consumers and regulation for small institutions in the consumer bureaus rural areas ? what other actions can the agency take to minimize the impact of regulations on these institutions without sacrificing protections for consumers? >> thank you for raising that issue, mr. chairman, many of the members have raised that with us. first of all, i have made a promise openly at this committee hearing when i was up on my nomination that we would work to reduce the burdens on community banks and credit unions who i firmly believe and i have said before and will continue to say had very little to do, nothing really to do with bringing on the financial crisis. and have a traditional model of doing business that is customer service oriented, is community oriented and is the kind of model that we want to encourage in this marketplace. i've told the community banks that i'll create a special advisory committee that will raise their concerns with us and to inform us how we are doing, i plan to do the same wi

federal trade commission, jon leibowitz and then, finally, from the federal policy director of the consumers unionwe're thrilled to have them all, and i'm going to turn it right over to gene so we can get started. thanks. ms. . [applause] >> thank you very much. thanks for being here. obviously, i want to thank a few people. i want to thank our great science adviser, john holdren, our former cto there, iowa niece chopra. i want to thank secretary bryson and, for his leadership on this and so many things since he's came. and i hope i'm not breaching the independence of the ftc to thank chairman leibowitz too. [laughter] but you can find ways to stick it to us if you think -- [laughter] you know? compromised you in any way with that thank you. and i'd like to thank congresswoman mary bono mack for being here and her leadership and are looking forward to working with her on advancing this blueprint. and, of course, i'd like to thank some of the people who really were driving forces behind it. dan weitzer in at the white house, larry strickland and particularly cam kerry for their leadership and drivi

union. importing iranian fuel from. a new consumers account for around twenty percent of iran's oil output. shooting itself in the foot by cutting. washington. created to serve u.s. interests. what we're seeing here is not a decision that comes actually from european countries to spain never wanted to go to to prove to be put in place this is something that comes externally from the united states pressure on the european union european union actually had a very good relationship in terms of the economy and trade with iran it was retrieved in the last twenty years the connection of that has been lost after the iranian revolution and the situation was improving until we came to this new tension and he's not just to spain and italy also greece imports lots of oil from iran and it could be hard hit in a way that would bring them bankrupt in the coming future that would be a complete disaster for the european union and for the euro and that can happen because of these of these political move it has now become an economic issue and can have

union labor. >>> subaru tops "consumer reports'" consumer report card beating honda for the first time in four years scored big with outback and forrester models. mazda was a surprise with the cx5 model. showed the most dramatic improvement. mazda came in second followed by toyota and honda. "consumer reports" says that hondas and toyotas' coast-cutting measures on redesigned models are becoming noticeable. both companies maintain their most reliable brands on the road standing. >>> and one marine stationed in our area hit the big jackpot, making him a very lucky guy. >> the newest millionaire in maryland says it is good karma. the corporal is stationed at the naval support facility in indian head. earlier this month he won a $3 million jackpot playing slots in las vegas. he was in nevada for a training mission and decided to play the slots before heading to the airport. >> my friends were around me. and when it stopped on the dollar sign, i'm like -- dude, what does that mean? oh, my god, you won! so instantly, you know, we're taking pictures right there. and like, yeah, this is awesome. this is cr

look at what your community bank, your savings and loan, what your credit union is doing in your community. people and consumers can take their assets elsewhere. they can go and do their business elsewhere, and i mean this in terms of let's have some transparency about where this money is going in this settlement, what it did goes to, and u.s. consumers, if you don't like this principle or the policies of what your banks are doing, be vocal about it. it does have an impact, and i think this is a time for consumers to get he heducated a what they paid for using bank services. we tried to do that when we reached an agreement as we do here. i don't think this should be passed on to consumers. it is a market, and some of this happens. but consumers play a role here and i encourage you to get educated about some of these issues and stand up for your rights as consumers here. >> the new consumer protection bureau is out for a new rule for mortgage servicers in the "washington post" this morning. the government consumer watchdog outlined its plans to regulate mortgage servicers who come under fire for foreclosure prac

credit unions do not charge an additional loan or processing fee. processing time, on a small loan, -- consumer loans probably a few days. because we require a business plan, sometimes it takes longer. business plans take a while. especially bank statements. we need to see consistent income coming in. so far, a credit union delinquent rate is quite low because we are working with a client. we want to keep that low and as part of our mission. there is no application fee. if you are interested in an application or information, i have brochures, or you can give us a call. >> thank you. next is marked with wells fargo. >> hello, i work for wells fargo bank. i cover the northern california region. i usually focus on about $350 -- $350,000 of sbe loans. last year, for 2010, i did 43 loans. so we are lending. i usually focus on six different types of loans. start-ups, business acquisitions, real estate purchases with ti's, working capital, a partner buyouts, business expansion. when i am looking at a potential loan, i use the standard five c's of credit. the first one is character. what we are looking

take a look at what your community bank, your savings loan, what your credit union is doing in your community. people and consumers can take their assets elsewhere and do their business elsewhere. i mean this in terms of having transparency about where this money is going to, and p if you don't like the principles or policies of what your banks are doing, be vocal about it. it does have an impact. this is a time for consumers to get educated about what they pay for when they use banking services. we try to do that every day with consumer products when we reach an aagreement, as we do here. i don't think this should be passed along to consumers. it is a market, and some of this happens. but consumers play a role here, and i encourage you to get educated about some issues and stand up for your rights as consumers here. >> the new consumer protection bureau is out with a new prul for mortgage servicers in the "washington post" this morning. the new consumer watch dog on monday outlined the first steps of plan on regulate mortgage servicers which came under fire for fraudulent foreclosure practices. they will revamp t

comes amid a latest oil route between iran and the west european union's preparing to stop importing uranium fuel from july e.u. consumers account for around twenty percent of iran's oil output islamic states warns europe's shooting itself in the food by cutting off trade that you shared by the spanish ambassador to the ron and madrid based journalist. as the e.u. embargo was actually masterminded in washington and serves u.s. interest. what we're seeing here is not at the station but comes actually from the european countries to spain never want to do some bar go to to prove to be put in place this is something that comes externally from the united states pressure on the european union i mean it's not just displaying a need for me also greece imports lots of oil from iran it could be part of it in a way that would bring them bundled up in the coming future that would be a complete disaster for the european union and for europe done. can happen because the. political move it has now become an economic issue and can have even more. destructive effects if the iranians decide to say cut all through the straits of almost or

this oil route between iran and the west european union is preparing to stop importing iranian fuel from july e.u. consumers account for around twenty percent of iran's oil output the islamic state mourns europe's shooting itself in a suit by cutting off trade and that use shared by the spanish ambassador to tehran madrid days journalists mianyang marotta says the e.u. market was actually masterminded in washington and serves the u.s. interests. what we're seeing here is not at this station that comes actually from the european countries to spain never want to do some bar go to to prove to be put in place this is something that comes externally from the united states pressure on the european union the european union actually had a very good relationship in terms of the economy and trade with iran it was retrieved in the last twenty years the connection of that has been lost after the reign of revolution and the situation was improving until we came to this new tension and he's not just displaying the need to really also greece imports lots of oil from iran it could be hard hit in a way that would bring them

the main long term contracts between wrong and european consumers will be finished because you know. it's a serious dilemma because european union. usually is saying that there will be absolutely a new system it will be a sport market there will be no need in long term contracts but it's a serious question you have there will be no income complex what will be the level of consumption of russian gas after two thousand and twenty it's this question is extremely important because gazprom doesn't know what will be the level of consumption and it's a question to invest money for example the mountaineers for the project do invest money. or not maybe to invest money do you see being brought to increase the supply of gas to china to other asian countries so now we must understand what will be the rules of our business it is extremely important i understand it does sound like gazprom wants a certain level of predictability. wouldn't you say that europeans have a point gazprom does in that respect seem like a monopoly. so you know in the relative guest broom has very few assets in the european downstream we can speak about german you we c

add to the record a letter from the american civil liberties union that stresses that this is a civil liberties law, too, not just a consumer protection law. the video privacy protection act also makes sure that video companies don't keep information about what you've watched after that information is no longer needed. this protects that information from getting lost, stolen or hacked. finally, the law gives people the right to have their day in court to defend their rights of if a video company or the government violates these rights. so the video privacy protection act is a really important law for consumer privacy and for civil liberties. but things do change in a quarter century, and i'm calling this hearing to see if we can update the law so that it can protect our privacy for another 25 years. one way we need to update this law is to make sure that it is keeping up with technology. it used to be that if you wanted to watch a video you had to go to the video store or then wait for it in the mail after that. mail after that, now you can stream it directly to your computer in seconds. streaming is the future of video, bu

union address. we've seen consumer confidence sliding in the last couple of weeks, and that's when the president's job approval has slipped back down. obviously, consumer confidence in october and november is a lot more important than it is in february, but this is a good indicator of where things are today. megyn: bret? hi. >> hi. [laughter] megyn: see you in a couple hours, but i want to ask you this: what does this say that you now have all, all three of these gop contenders -- gingrich is behind when it comes by ten points when it come toss a match-up with president obama -- but what does it say after months of these gop candidates going after each other with these negative ads of romney, santorum, that they're all either beating president obama or within points of president obama this. >> well, it says a couple of things. one is the mitt romney argument that he's really the only one that can beat president obama i don't think stands up if you look at these polls. if you look at the average, president obama is still up a few points, but it's about the same between romney and rick santorum. two, th