Affordable Car & Home Insurance

Consumer Group Calls For FBI Probe Of AIG

SANTA MONICA, CA -- A consumer group called on the U.S. Justice Department to form a special FBI unit to investigate the controversial bonuses being paid to executives at AIG. Consumer Watchdog said in a written statement Wednesday that the bureau should take the lead in determining whether there was any misconduct on the part of American Insurance Group employees who claim they have a contractual right to a bonus.

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Congress Should Preserve State Insurance Regulation That Kept Insurers Stable While Financial Firms Crumbled Under Federal Oversight, Says Consumer Watchdog

Washington, D.C. -- Congress should reject any proposal that would deregulate insurance or otherwise override state insurance laws that have successfully protected consumers during the current economic crisis, said the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog today in advance of an insurance hearing in the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

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AIG Bonuses Should Be Delivered by FBI, Consumer Watchdog Says

Advocates Say No Bonuses Should Be Paid Until Law Enforcement Conducts Detailed Review Of Any AIG Employee Who Wants to Enforce Contract
 
Santa Monica, CA -- Consumer advocates said that federal law enforcement agencies should create a special investigative unit dedicated to unearthing any fraud or misconduct attributable to AIG employees paid bonuses since taxpayers bailed out the company.  The nonpartisan, nonprofit Consumer Watchdog said that AIG executives and employees who claim a "contractual right" to a bonus should be subject to the strictest scrutiny by the FBI and Department of Justice.  

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Consumer Lawyers Fighting Against Legal Tide

California Supreme Court Will Decide Key Proposition 64 Case on Class Action Consumer Suits
"It's some kind of a twilight zone where insurance gets to live and no one can touch them," said Harvey Rosenfield, founder of the nonprofit advocacy group Consumer Watchdog and the author of the 1988 voter-approved Proposition 103, which cut insurance rates statewide. "It's very disturbing to see what the courts are doing."

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Move Afoot At Federal Level That Could Gut California's Prop. 103

The plan has drawn fire from the Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog, formerly the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, which believes the Royce-Bean plan would dramatically weaken regulation of California’s insurance industry. In particular, the group  believes the proposal would gut Proposition 103, the 1988 California ballot initiative authored by the group's leader and backed by national consumer advocate Ralph Nader. The proposition created California’s first elected insurance commissioner, sought to outlaw unfair and discriminatory rates and beefed up the state’s regulatory landscape.

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Insurance Industry Not On The Same Page With Latest Optional Federal Charter Pitch

Insurer, Producer Groups Remain At Odds On Renewed Push For National Oversight

Chiming in with its own letter to Mr. Geithner was Santa Monica, Calif.-based Consumer Watchdog, which wrote that "while the need for a financial regulatory overhaul is clear, it should not be used as a stalking horse for insurance deregulation." Consumer Watchdog -- formed by Prop. 103 organizer Harvey Rosenfield, and formerly known as the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights -- said the aim of those who seek federal oversight is to avoid stringent state regulations.

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Brace Yourself For Higher Insurance Rates

Insurance industry critic Harvey Rosenfield, author of Proposition 103, questioned some of what Poizner is doing. "The tentative changes I've seen would let the insurance companies estimate their future losses and also let them choose which years to include as the basis for that," he said. "It's basically deregulation."

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Financial Services Reform Could Be "Launching Pad" For Federal Insurance Deregulation, Group Warns

A consumer advocacy group says it fears Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s financial services reform could become “a launching pad” for the federal deregulation of insurance.

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Red-Flagged: Sagging Credit Scores Could Pull Wheels Off Economy

One detail effectively missing from the mainstream economic debate is consumer credit scores and their use for everything from buying homes to getting a cell phone. Credit scores should not be used to determine who is an insurance risk since they have no connection to someone’s propensity to file a claim, said Harvey Rosenfield, founder of Consumer Watchdog, a California public advocacy group.

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Consumer Group Attacks OFC Concept

Insurance regulation should remain with the states, and switching to an optional federal insurance charter (OFC) would be tantamount to deregulation, according to a letter sent yesterday to the Treasury Department by Consumer Watchog, a consumer advocacy group.

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Consumer Group Calls For FBI Probe Of AIG

By Wire Reports, UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL (UPI)
March 18, 2009

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AIG Bonuses Should Be Delivered by FBI, Consumer Watchdog Says

CONTACT: Jamie Court, (310) 392-0522 ext. 327; or Doug Heller, ext. 309
March 16, 2009

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Consumer Lawyers Fighting Against Legal Tide

By Laura Ernde, LOS ANGELES DAILY JOURNAL
March 2, 2009

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Obama On Tonight Show Hints At Tomorrow's Regulatory Agenda

The president talked and joked easily with America from Jay Leno's couch last night, as close to a fire side chat as it gets in these times. Leno is no Jon Stewart but Obama did offer some clues as to where his financial regulatory approach is going. 

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Will the politicians give back their AIG bonuses'?

After Enron's fraud on California during the 2001 electricity crisis became clear, a lot of politicians felt they had to give back their Enron contributions.  Our consumer group was the beneficiary of a few of those returned dollars, since we fought the energy industry's deregulation schemes.  Now Open Secrets reports AIG's contributions, from employees and related political action committees, to federal lawmakers totaled $9.3 million over the last decade, with an exact 50%-50% split between Democrats and Republicans. AIG sure knows how to hedge its bets.

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OTS admits fault in AIG oversight

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Insurance policyholders not at risk because of the financial crisis

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