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    The OCC has taken the lead among bank regulatory agencies in developing effective approaches to protecting America’s consumers.

    Protecting Personal Financial Information
               There is a new type of Internet piracy known as "phishing." Thieves using phony e-mails and web sites are extracting personal financial information, including account numbers and passwords, from unwary consumers. The good news is that consumers have the power to stop them. A new brochure, prepared by the OCC and the federal bank, thrift and credit union regulatory agencies, explains how.

    Combating Abusive Lending

                The OCC is pioneering a new approach to combating predatory lending that effectively deals with abusive practices without impairing the flow of credit to low-income and subprime borrowers.

    Unfair and Deceptive Practices

                The OCC took the lead among the federal bank regulatory agencies in addressing abusive marketing practices. In a landmark case in 2000, the OCC required a bank to pay more than $300 million in restitution to consumers.

     

    Pay Day Lending

                When payday lenders tried to “rent” a national bank charter as a means of evading state and local consumer protection laws, the OCC took a series of enforcement actions to halt that practice.

     

    Help for Consumers: The OCC’s Customer Assistance Group

    This year the OCC’s CAG unit expects to recover about $7 million for individual bank customers who filed complaints against their bank. Find out what else the CAG group is doing to help national bank customers.

    We know that it's possible to deal effectively with predatory lending without putting impediments in the way of those who provide access to legitimate subprime credit…. We believe a far more effective approach would be to focus on the abusive practitioners, bringing to bear our formidable enforcement powers where we find abusive practices.      

    -- Comptroller of the Currency
    John D. Hawke, Jr.
    July 24, 2003

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