This is What Democracy Looks Like!

Oregon consumers who stood up and called for change were handed a major win today with the news that US Bank’s new contract to disburse unemployment and child support benefits will be free of several current fees.

Treasurer Ted Wheeler announced the improved ReliaCard contract this morning, and the story was quickly picked up as a consumer rights victory by The Oregonian, OPB and The Portland Business Journal.

According to Treasurer Wheeler’s office Oregon’s new contract eliminates several of the penalties currently in place, such as overdraft enrollment and charges to use a US Bank ATM or visit a US Bank teller more than twice per month. The new contract will begin on January 1, 2012.

The negotiation process wasn’t one structured to include public commentary, but Oregonians were able to insert themselves into the conversation and make their voices heard. Special thanks goes out to the courageous Oregonians who came forward to share their experiences with us and the media to help illustrate exactly why change was so necessary. Great work all around!

Fighting Foreclosures

Legislators will get the chance to tackle Oregon’s ongoing foreclosure crisis in the upcoming February session. A recent hearing in Salem drew a packed panel of leaders from around the state, and included a dozen speakers who spoke on the issue for more than two hours. Luckily, we’ve condensed the highlights into a much, much shorter video:

In other viewing news, Bend homeowner Tim Collette will be on MSNBC's Politics Nation tomorrow evening, featured in a live segment from 6-7 p.m. He'll be sharing his foreclosure experience and his subsequent lawsuit against Chase Bank, as well as his fight to win foreclosure reform here in Oregon.

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Economic Fairness Oregon is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to consumer protection and fair lending laws. Our goal is to restore a financial system built to work for the people, not against them.

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On the web: www.economicfairnessoregon.org
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