The economy may be growing again, but many Americans are still in a cash crunch. In the past year, 40% of low- and middle-income households used credit cards to pay for basic living expenses, such as rent or mortgage bills, groceries, utilities, or insurance, according to survey released Tuesday by

With anti-regulatory fervor gripping Washington, it’s difficult to imagine both parties working together to enact successful public safeguards that protect Americans. But it wasn’t that long ago that strong, bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate took action to defend consumers against

The Credit CARD Act is helping households pay down balances faster, with a third of low- and middle-income households that carry credit card debt reporting that new disclosures have caused them to pay down their balances faster.

Not everyone, however, buys the argument that medical credit checks are beneficial to consumers. For example, consumer advocates worry that the credit checks open an avenue for health care providers to pressure patients into immediate payment. "The danger, really, is that health care providers

Job-seekers beware — whether you're applying to do maintenance work in Denver, telephone tech support in Littleton, plumbing in Fort Collins, work as a home care aide in Aurora, or even just scoop frozen yogurt in Colorado Springs — there's one qualification you'll need regardless of your skills or

New York, NY--Demos views the mortgage servicing deal reached today between a coalition of state Attorneys General and 5 major Wall Street banks as an important stepping stone in the effort to secure justice for homeowners victimized by the foreclosure crisis.

In the past 15 years the ramifications of poor credit have grown, as credit score "mission creep" has set in, said Amy Traub, a senior policy analyst with the New York-based think tank Demos and author of the recently released report " Discrediting America." Credit scores determine not just the

Amy Traub, a senior policy analyst at watchdog group Demos, says that credit-based insurance scores hurt lower-income people more because they are more likely to have lower scores. She noted a study that showed while those with lower scores made more claims because they couldn't swallow the costs

In its bombshell of a report “Discrediting America,” the nonpartisan public policy research group Demos sums up the problem for black and Latinos: Credit reports largely mirror racial and economic divides, with African Americans and Latinos disproportionately likely to have lower scores. In turn

“If you’re out of work for a long time, you have difficulty paying your bills,” says Amy Traub, coauthor of a June report from the think tank Demos that calls for reform of the credit reporting industry. “If potential employers are looking at credit scores, how on earth are you going to pay your