Consumer Action is a nonprofit, consumer education and advocacy center, serving consumers in the United States. Founded in 1971, the mission of Consumer Action is to help individual consumers assert their rights in the marketplace and to advance pro-consumer industry-wide change for the benefit of all. Consumer Action primarily achieves that mission by providing multi-lingual education, outreach, and advocacy services.

It has offices in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

Mission

Consumer Action's mission is to educate and advocate for consumers, publish and disseminate free multilingual consumer educational materials and fight for laws and regulations that benefit consumers — not large businesses and corporations.

Overview

Consumer Action's frequent focus is consumer credit—and the related areas of credit cards, banking and finance, money management, and pricing; as well as health, housing, scams, fraud, privacy, and more. Consumer Action is well known for its annual Credit Card Survey

Consumer Action works in collaboration with numerous consumer protection, consumer advocacy organizations, and coalitions to file commentary on government legislation and briefs, such as Fair and Reasonable Fee for Credit Score Disclosure and for the publication of education and informational resources, such as Consumer Privacy Guide published jointly with: the Center for Democracy & Technology, Common Cause

Common Cause

Common Cause is a self-described nonpartisan, nonprofit lobby and advocacy organization. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican former cabinet secretary under Lyndon Johnson, as a "citizens' lobby" with a mission focused on making U.S. political institutions more open and...

, the National Consumers League

National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is an American consumer organization. The National Consumers League is a private, nonprofit advocacy group representing consumers on marketplace and workplace issues....

, and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse is a project of the , an American 501 non-profit consumer advocacy organization. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse is devoted to upholding the right to privacy and protecting consumers against identity theft and other privacy crimes.It was established in 1992 by Beth...

.

Consumer Action is a consumer protection

Consumer protection

Consumer protection laws designed to ensure fair trade competition and the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. The laws are designed to prevent businesses that engage in fraud or specified unfair practices from gaining an advantage over competitors and may provide additional...

, education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, and advocacy

Advocacy

Advocacy is a political process by an individual or a large group which normally aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an...

 organization, as quantified by the Urban Institute

Urban Institute

The Urban Institute is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that carries out nonpartisan economic and social policy research, collects data, evaluates social programs, educates the public on key domestic issues, and provides advice and technical assistance to developing governments abroad...

's National Center for Charitable Statistics It is often cited in consumer education campaigns and interviews, like ABC's the View from the Bay.

Credit Card Survey

In June 1986, in collaboration with the Consumer Federation, Consumer Action introduced the Consumer Action Credit Card Survey, an annual survey of credit cards, banks, and lending practices. The survey has become well known for highlight hidden practices of credit card vendors that are anti-consumer.

The annual survey has highlighted predatory lending

Predatory lending

Predatory lending describes unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent practices of some lenders during the loan origination process. While there are no legal definitions in the United States for predatory lending, an audit report on predatory lending from the office of inspector general of the FDIC broadly...

 practices; and has been used to gain the attention of lawmakers. Don Oldenburg, of the Washington Post sites the highlighting of questionable lending and payment practices as one of the resources used for Congress and federal bank regulators to these questionable and costly practices.

Congress, a House bill called "The Consumer Credit Card Protection Act" would prohibit arbitrary universal default penalties. Another bill, "The Loan Shark Prevention Act," would establish a fair cap on credit card interest

Credit card interest

Credit card interest is the principal way in which credit card issuers generate revenue. A card issuer is a bank or credit union that gives a consumer a card or account number that can be used with various payees to make payments and borrow money from the bank simultaneously...

 rates.

The survey has been quoted and used local and national sources, such as Smart Money, CNN Money, and the New York Times.