Consumers Rights League

From SourceWatch

This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

The Consumer Rights League (CRL) appears to be a front group for the credit card industry that was created to do battle with industry critics such as the Center for Responsible Lending and ACORN.

On July 17, 2008, CRL ran a full-page advertisement on page 5B of USA Today, arguing against a bill before Congress that it claimed would "pickpocket consumers" at the gas pump. The ad implied that the bill, the "Credit Card Fair Fee Act" (H.R. 5546) is anti-consumer (the same position taken by the Visa International credit card company.^[1]

The "Consumers Rights League" does not disclose on its Web site that it was started by Terry L. Kibbe, a former chief fundraiser for the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute. A March 2008 article in Forbes omits the details about Kibbe's background, while quoting her Kibbe's criticism of Self-Help Credit Union,^[2] the North Carolina-based relative of the Center for Responsible Lending,^[3] which advocates against payday loans. According to Forbes:

Terry L. Kibbe, a former think tank fundraiser who last year started a libertarian consumer advocacy outfit, Consumers Rights League, notes that Self-Help's high delinquency rate--it's seven times that of the typical credit union--proves that Eakes is as bad at judging borrowers' ability to pay back loans as anybody else. Self-Help says less than 1% of its loans ultimately default.^[4]

CRL's website contains several examples of anti-consumer-group rhetoric, but discloses no information about the group's own funding, the site's origins or who runs it.^[5]

A research report^[6] on the site appears to argue on behalf of the credit card industry, stating, "Most importantly, credit cards can provide inexpensive access to credit for low-income Americans, many of whom take advantage of 0% and low-interest rates to pay down debt."

Board of directors

• Jason Rowe
• Mike McKay
• Mike Flynn
• Dwayne DeCara

Contact information

http://www.consumersrightsleague.org

References

1. ↑ "Visa Exec. Explains Stance on Credit Card Bill", Convenience Store News. Retrieved on July 27, 2008. 
2. ↑ Self-Help Credit Union home page. Retrieved on July 27, 2008.
3. ↑ Center for Responsible Lending home page. Retrieved on July 27, 2008.
4. ↑ Stephane Fitch and Matthew Woolsey (March 10, 2008). "Subprime's Mr. Clean", Forbes. Retrieved on July 27, 2008. 
5. ↑ Consumer Rights League home page.
6. ↑ PIRG Misleads U.S. House Antitrust Task Force (PDF). Consumer Rights League (June 2008). Retrieved on July 27, 2008.