National Consumer Law Center

10/20/2026

Webinar Nov 10, 7-8:15pm EDT - We'll examine the harms payday loan apps cause consumers, particularly Black and Latino borrowers, the specific ways these communities are targeted, and will showcase the community and faith-based financial solutions. https://loom.ly/bs9xx50

10/20/2026

A new issue brief, 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘋𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘙𝘦𝘯𝘵-𝘚𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘰𝘢𝘯𝘴, identifies measures states should take to address housing unaffordability and strengthen tenant protections to ensure tenants do not have to resort to high-cost credit products. They must also strengthen existing laws governing these rent-splitting loans.

“Like payday loans and other short-term loans, 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭-𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐭, reborrowing, and multiplying fees that are hard to escape,” said Lauren Saunders, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center.

“Rent Now, Pay Later” Loans Can Carry High Fees and Trap Renters in Cycles of Debt

10/19/2026

10/19/2026

Nashville Managing Partner Mark Chalos will speak at the 2026 NCLC Class Action Symposium in Atlanta on October 24, leading a session on the revival of Rule 23(b)(1)(B) limited fund class actions.

See more details: https://www.lieffcabraser.com/2026/10/mark-chalos-nclc-atlanta-class-action-symposium/

National Consumer Law Center / National Association of Consumer Advocates

10/16/2026

More workers can now use pay advance apps for quick cash to cover expenses between paychecks. The apps may offer no-cost options, but most users end up paying fees that can total hundreds of dollars a year, recent analysis from the Center for Responsible Lending finds.

“People are struggling, and it’s hard to make it paycheck to paycheck,” said Lauren Saunders, a senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. The New York Times

The loans tide borrowers over until their next paycheck. The apps offer no-cost options, but most users end up paying high fees, a report finds.

10/15/2026

A new issue brief, Black Families Likely to See Steep Rise in Medical Debt, looks at how recent legislation will increase medical debt and deepen existing racial disparities. The brief examines a self-reinforcing cycle in which poor health leads to debt and debt leads to poorer health among Black adults.

“Medical debt is a prescription for poor health and financial trouble,” said Berneta Haynes, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC). ”It limits wealth-building opportunities, destabilizes housing, makes it difficult to make ends meet, and hurts Black families the most.”

A new issue brief looks at how recent legislation will increase medical debt and deepen existing racial disparities.

10/14/2026

State unfair and deceptive acts and practices (UDAP) statutes offer a powerful tool. A new NCLC Digital Library article describes how to use UDAP statutes to combat private companies’ financial exploitation of incarcerated people and their loved ones, including price gouging, unfair contracts, and denial of free services to force paid services.

A new NCLC Digital Library article describes how state unfair and deceptive acts and practices (UDAP) statutes offer a powerful tool to combat private companies’ financial exploitation of incarcerated people and their loved ones, such as price gouging, unfair contracts, and denial of free services...

10/13/2026

Medical debt is expected to grow in coming years as Republican-led health cuts come into force this winter. As it does, a changing world of medical billing and debt collection awaits patients: one where artificial intelligence increasingly listens, codes, bills and collects.

Artificial intelligence takes notes in exam rooms, codes visits, sends out billing messages and powers AI agents who text patients in billing portals – all changing the debt-collection ecosystem.

Medical debt will grow among “both the insured and uninsured, because of how we’re increasingly putting more costs onto individuals for those plans”, said April Kuehnhoff, a senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center.

“It’s people who lose their coverage because they can’t afford it, or they can’t meet these new stringent requirements. It’s people who maybe they can afford it but the plan they get isn’t as good, and they are asked to have a higher deductible, higher co-pay, so they just have a higher out-of-pocket [cost],” she said. AP

The debt-collection ecosystem will change as AI takes notes in exam rooms, codes visits and sends billing messages

10/09/2026

The Federal Communications Commission is reviewing a petition submitted by the organization Club for Growth. The proposal would allow certain political groups to make prerecorded robocalls, including calls using AI-generated voices, without obtaining the recipient's permission first.

"There's an important aspect of privacy, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞," said Patrick Crotty, senior attorney at NCLC. "The low cost of placing AI-generated calls means that in the run-up to an election, political callers could use to bombard us." NBC10 Philadelphia

The FCC is reviewing a petition to let some political groups send prerecorded robocalls, including AI-generated voices, without consent.

10/08/2026

"Campaigns could use AI technology to replace the staff, vendors, or volunteers that they rely on for things like polling and phone banking, potentially reducing costs and increasing scale," Patrick Crotty, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, told Newsweek. "Existing AI models could be repurposed relatively cheaply and easily to perform these tasks – albeit with great risk of obtaining biased results or spreading misinformation."

An FCC petition could let political groups call voters’ cellphones with AI-generated voices without prior consent, raising questions