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Consumer and Licensee Highlighted Resources

CONSUMER RESOURCES

  • April is the 12th Annual California Financial Literacy Month - “Helping Californians Make Informed Financial Decisions”
    This coordinated consumer education campaign encourages individuals throughout the state to take full advantage of free resources designed to improve financial literacy and increase decision making power. This year’s theme – “Helping Californians Make Informed Financial Decisions” -- highlights the importance of making well-informed financial decisions to achieve financial goals.
    • California Financial Literacy Month – Office of the Governor.
    • Visit the new CAFLM Web Portal.
  • FDIC Consumer News - Winter 2012
    FDIC Consumer Newsletter features banking tips for small businesses and information on preventing elder fraud and overcoming problems managing a checking account. The latest issue can be read or printed online at www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnwin1112
  • Franchise Tax Board's Free VITA/TCE Site Search
    The Franchise Tax Board Web site provides a site search for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) locations. VITA volunteer sites provides assistance to taxpayers regardless of age. TCE volunteer sites devote special attention to those taxpayers 60 years of age or older. You will be able to search for the addresses of sites where IRS and FTB trained volunteers prepare basic personal income tax returns for low to moderate income taxpayers free of charge. Most VITA/TCE sites open after February 1, 2012. Search for a VITA/TCE location near you.
  • Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Questions and Answers
    What is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)? Who can claim the credit? Where can I get more information?
  • Stay informed! DFI's communication efforts now include online media and social networks. The goal of utilizing these online services is to expand our outreach to include a wider segment of consumers. Follow DFI on Twitter! For general information, follow @CaliforniaDFI; to follow financial literacy efforts, follow @CAFLM; and to follow Alana Golden, Public Information Officer, follow @DFI_Alana. If you are interested in financial literacy, you might also enjoy reading some of our thoughts and ideas, as well as links to news articles, reports, surveys, government sites, events and more on the CAFLM Blog. Check it out now! Go to http://caflm.blogs.ca.gov/. DFI also provides RSS and a Listserv. Visit the following links to sign up. http://feeds.feedburner.com/dfipressreleases and http://www.dfi.ca.gov/publications/bulletins/email_subcription.asp.
  • More than half of all enlisted Service Members report that they have experienced some type of financial difficulty. We can help reduce this number! The California Department of Financial Institutions and Army OneSource (AOS) are working together to build awareness and support among California financial institutions regarding the unique financial challenges faced by Soldiers and their Families. Learn more.
  • DFI's California Financial Literacy Month (CAFLM) Blog Every day, consumers conduct some type of financial transaction requiring a well-informed and educated decision. The month of April has been designated California Financial Literacy Month (CAFLM) to highlight the importance of financial literacy and economic empowerment and to encourage all Californians to increase their understanding of saving, investing and credit choices. We hope you enjoy reading some of our thoughts, ideas, and links to news articles, reports, surveys, government sites, events and more. Subscribe to the CAFLM Blog or visit it frequently to stay informed. Check it out now! Go to http://caflm.blogs.ca.gov/.
  • Follow DFI on Twitter!The Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) is now on Twitter. Join the conversations on Twitter at www.twitter.com. To follow general information, follow @CaliforniaDFI; to follow California Financial Literacy Month efforts, follow @CAFLM; and to follow Alana Golden, Public Information Officer, follow @DFI_Alana. By following us on Twitter, you will be able to track the latest news and happenings at DFI. It's very easy to follow someone on Twitter. And you do not need to send out tweets yourself. Go to www.twitter.com. Join the conversation, by clicking on Sign up now. Set up your account. Select any of the DFI user names to follow, again California_DFI or CAFLM or DFI_Alana. You can follow all three! To help keep you informed, DFI also provides RSS and a Listserv. Visit the following links to sign up. http://feeds.feedburner.com/dfipressreleases and http://www.dfi.ca.gov/publications/bulletins/email_subcription.asp. For more information on DFI's communications efforts, including social networking, please contact Alana Golden, Public Information Officer, agolden@dfi.ca.gov or 916-323-7012.
  • Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) The CFPB is still in the construction phase, but launched a website to kick off their virtual listening tour. They want to hear from you, see Open for Suggestions. The CFPB plans to make consumer financial products and services clearer—putting in place building blocks that will enable us to improve disclosures, enforce new consumer protections established by Congress, protect consumers from deceptive, unfair, and abusive practices, and allow financial services providers to compete on a level playing field. You can follow the CFPB on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr, and provide an email address when you visit their site to receive important updates.
  • National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) DFI is joining other government agencies and organizations to promote consumer education during National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW), March 6-12, 2011.  Visit ncpw.gov for consumer tips, materials and free resources from government agencies and nonprofit organizations.  And be sure to read the NCPW blog while you’re there for expert analysis of the latest consumer issues.
  • America Saves Week America Saves Week set for February 20-27, is an annual opportunity to encourage saving, debt reduction, and wealth building among adults, particularly those in low-to-moderate income areas. Consider getting involved locally in the upcoming America Saves campaign by hosting motivational workshops or featuring savings related posters, brochures, and other information in your branches. For more information on how your financial institution can get involved, visit America Saves Week online at www.AmericaSavesWeek.org.
  • Military Saves Campaign Military Saves is a campaign to encourage military families to save money every month, and to convince leaders and organizations to be aggressive in promoting automatic savings. The campaign is a growing network of organizations and individuals committed to helping and supporting military members and their loved ones build personal savings arsenals to provide for their immediate and long term financial needs. For information on how your financial institution can support the Military Saves Campaign, visit  www.militarysaves.org or send an email to info@militarysaves.org.
  • Federal Agencies Form Financial Education PartnershipEarlier this week the Department of Education, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and National Credit Union Administration announced a new partnership to encourage schools, financial institutions, federal grantees and other stakeholders to work together to increase financial literacy and access to deposit accounts. Financial Education Partnership Press Release and Fact Sheet.
  • Quiz on Financial Scams; Deposit Insurance Issues; Dealing with Debt Problems are in Fall 2010 FDIC Consumer News Con artists are very good at tricking consumers into parting with money or divulging personal information that can be used to commit fraud.  Test your knowledge about financial scams by taking a quiz on common frauds and their warning signs.  Other timely articles discuss deposit insurance coverage, solutions to mortgage and other debt problems, “credit protection” offers, student loans, ways to save money at tax time, and automated overdraft payment programs.
  • HUD Advances Fight Against Loan Modification Scams - Report a Scam!- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in partnership with the Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network has launched an online fraud prevention and reporting tool, PreventLoanScams.org. To report a loan scam in English and to report a loan scam in Spanish. For information on preventing and reporting loan scams in California.
  • Keep Your Home California The U.S. Treasury Department has approved CalHFA's plan to use nearly $2 billion in federal funding to help California families struggling to pay their mortgages. The Keep Your Home California programs are focused on assisting low and moderate income families stay in their homes, when possible, and leveraging additional contributions from mortgage servicers.
  • Consumers Warned to Avoid Forensic Loan Analysis Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., California Department of Real Estate (DRE) and State Bar of California are warning Californians to avoid forensic loan audits, the loan-modification industry's latest "phony foreclosure-relief service," in which homeowners pay up-front fees for a forensic review of their lender's practices, but are provided no actual foreclosure relief.
  • Mortgage Modification ProgramThe U.S. Department of the Treasury and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) kicked off a nationwide campaign to help borrowers who are currently in the trial phase of their modified mortgages under the Obama Administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) convert to permanent modifications. The modification program, which has helped over 650,000 borrowers, is part of the Administration’s broader commitment to stabilize housing markets and to provide relief to struggling homeowners and is a primary focus of financial stability efforts moving forward. Roughly 375,000 of the borrowers who have begun trial modifications since the start of the program are scheduled to convert to permanent modifications by the end of the year. Through the efforts being announced today, Treasury and HUD will implement new outreach tools and borrower resources to help convert as many trial modifications as possible to permanent ones.
  • Foreclosure Prevention Toolkit - FDIC and other bank regulators are offereing a free tool kit of information that will help borrowers, community stakeholders and the banking industry avoid unnecessary foreclosures and stop foreclosure "rescue" scams that promise false hope to consumers at risk of losing their homes. The tool kit includes critical information to help borrowers know who to contact and what documents they need to have available to apply for a loan modification that could save their home from foreclosure. This tool kit also describes the warning signs of potential foreclosure "rescue" scams and how consumers, community stakeholders, and bankers can report scammers and prevent fraud.
  • California Foreclosure Prevention Act - The California Foreclosure Prevention Act modifies the foreclosure process to provide additional time for borrowers to work out loan modifications while providing an exemption for mortgage loan servicers that have implemented a comprehensive loan modification program.
  • DFI Consumer Brochures now available in English, Spanish, Chinese/Cantonese/Mandarin, Korean, Russian, Tagalog and Vietnamese - Read and learn about: Who regulates my financial institution? How do I file a complaint? Tips for financial transactions and information on sending money to other countries.
  • Financial Tips for Women - Educate yourself, set financial goals, get out of debt.
  • 8 Tips for Financial Success - A solid grounding in fiscal responsibility is basic self-defense. Taking the time to learn and practice saving and budgeting, managing credit — controlling our personal finances rather than vice versa — will pay off in the long term. The following tips are reminders of how we can control our finances and improve our financial success. (CCEE, Dept. of Corporations, Dept. of Financial Institutions)
 

LICENSEE RESOURCES

  • Clean Energy Upgrade Program - California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority (CAEATFA)On August 2, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed ABX1 14 (Skinner) into law. ABX1 14 authorizes the CAEATFA to administer a Clean Energy Upgrade Program (Program) using up to $50 million from the funds originally appropriated to the SB 77 PACE Bond Reserve Program. Under this Program, the CAEATFA may provide financial assistance in the forms of credit enhancements to financial institutions providing a loan to finance the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, or energy or water efficiency improvements on homes or small commercial properties. CAEATFA anticipated establishing a loan loss reserve program to support these loans. CAEATFA also anticipates it will solicit proposals from interested parties who have ideas on additional credit enhancement structures the program should consider to support energy efficiency and renewable energy loans.
    - CAEATFA Financial Institutions Stakeholder Workshops
    CAEATFA will host public workshops for local government and financial institutions to solicit input on the Program regulations and credit enhancement structures from stakeholders and interested parties. The Financial Institutions Stakeholder Meeting will be conducted on December 2, 2011: RSVP to attend meeting, view a draft agenda, and see information on previous Workshops. You may sign up for CAEATFA email updates. For additional information, please contact Martha Alvarez at (916) 651-5105.
  • Treasury Department’s Small Business Lending Fund Enacted into law as part of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (the Jobs Act), the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF) is a $30 billion fund that encourages lending to small businesses by providing Tier 1 capital to qualified community banks with assets of less than $10 billion.  Through the SBLF, Main Street banks and small businesses can work together to help create jobs and promote economic growth in local communities across the nation.
  • 2011 Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Serving the Needs of LMI ConsumersThe FDIC’s new Chairman’s Award for Excellence recognizes and honors the work of individuals or small groups at FDIC-insured financial institutions who are instrumental in creating and promoting programs that meet the credit and deposit needs of low- and moderate-income (LMI) consumers. Please visit the following Web site to view the nomination criteria and application information: http://www.fdic.gov/about/comein/lmiaward.html. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2011.
  • Unclaimed Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Each year an estimated $1 billion in EITC goes unclaimed by California taxpayers. The EITC is a refundable federal income tax credit for low-income working individuals and families. When the credit exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax refund to those who qualify for and claim the credit. EITC can bring money into communities. The IRS EITC Assistant is now available at irs.gov and can help people determine if they qualify. Help your community by spreading the word about EITC. DFI posted information on becoming an EITC partner on our blog at http://caflm.blogs.ca.gov.
  • Federal Agencies Issue Final Rules to Implement S.A.F.E. Act Requirements for Registration of Mortgage Loan OriginatorsFederal agencies issued final rules requiring residential mortgage loan originators who are employees of national and state banks, savings associations, Farm Credit System institutions, credit unions, and certain of their subsidiaries (agency-regulated institutions) to meet the registration requirements of the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (S.A.F.E. Act).
  • Responding to the Foreclosure Crisis - An Interim Report, June 2010 (FRBSF) - The Federal Reserve has been working to respond to the foreclosure crisis, leveraging its research, community affairs, and supervision and regulation functions to support innovative foreclosure prevention and neighborhood stabilization strategies at the local level.
  • SCO Summer Newsletter and New Holder HandbookThe State Controllers Office (SCO) has requested that DFI assist them with notifying business and financial institutions of various changes concerning California’s Unclaimed Property Program by forwarding the following information to DFI licensees and others that hold unclaimed property.
  • Basic FDIC Insurance Coverage Permanently Increased to $250,000 Per Depositor - To help consumers, bankers and others understand how the new law affects deposit insurance coverage and to help consumers verify whether their deposit accounts are fully protected, the FDIC provides the following resources: Information on deposit insurance on the FDIC Web site: Updated brochures on deposit insurance coverage (including the basic guide, Deposit Insurance Summary, and the more comprehensive guide, Your Insured Deposits) and a new version of the "Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator" (EDIE), an interactive service that allows consumers to quickly and easily check whether their accounts are fully protected, are now available on the FDIC's Web site (www.fdic.gov). A toll-free consumer assistance line: Help and information about deposit insurance and other matters of interest to bank customers are available at 1-877-ASK-FDIC (1-877-275-3342) Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Eastern Time. For the hearing-impaired, the number is 1-800-925-4618.
  • On June 30, 2010, DFI has posted the translated forms required by AB 1160 (Fong 2009) that residential mortgage lenders and finance lenders who negotiate primarily in Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese must provide to consumers for loans secured by residential real property, beginning July 1, 2010. The forms contain a summary of key terms in each of these five languages and are based on the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Good Faith Estimate (GFE) form. Additional information regarding the forms can be found at Civil Code Section 1632.5.
    - Good Faith Estimate Form (GFE). Available in the following languages: Chinese - 汉语; Korean Korean; Spanish - Español; Tagalog; Vietnamese - Tính Từ and English.
  • FDIC Small-Dollar Loan Pilot Results Released - Pilot Study Results in Creation of Safe, Affordable and Feasible Template for Small-Dollar Loans - The FDIC has issued the attached report to summarize the final results of the FDIC's Small Dollar Loan Pilot Program, and outline lessons learned and potential strategies for expanding the availability of affordable small-dollar loans. The pilot was a two-year case study designed to illustrate the feasibility of banks offering alternatives to high-cost credit products, such as payday loans and fee-based overdraft programs. The pilot, which was completed in the fourth quarter of 2009, resulted in the creation of a template for safe, affordable and feasible small-dollar loans. The full text of the report can be found at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/analytical/quarterly/2010_vol4_2/FDIC_Quarterly_Vol4No2_SmallDollar.pdf. The Safe, Affordable, and Feasible Template for Small-Dollar Loans can be found at http://www.fdic.gov/smalldollarloans/
  • Go Direct® - NEW Tips to Promote Electronic Payments Are Available- Is your organization on Twitter or Facebook? If so, check out Go Direct® brief tips promoting the benefits of electronic payments. Use these to easily share Go Direct® campaign information through your social media channels, websites and newsletters. Specific tips are available for banks and credit unions. The tips can be used year-round and focus on a variety of topics, including: caregiving, preparing for natural disasters, living green, simplifying life, financial control, and preventing identity theft. For more information, contact your local campaign representative at (952) 346-6055. The Go Direct® campaign is a national initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Banks to motivate people who get Social Security and other federal benefits by check to switch to direct deposit.
  • New FDIC Study Shows One in Four U.S. Households Currently Unbanked or Underbanked - Low-income and Minority Households Disproportionately Represented- FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households - The survey, conducted on behalf of the FDIC by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, was a supplement to the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey during January 2009. The study, which is the most comprehensive survey to date of the unbanked and underbanked, reveals that more than one quarter (25.6 percent) of all households in the United States are unbanked or underbanked and that those households are disproportionately low-income and/or minority.