In Recognition of National Consumer Protection Week, Attorney General Bonta Highlights Recent DOJ Consumer Protection Action, Urges Consumers to Know Their Rights

OAKLAND – In recognition of National Consumer Protection Week, California Attorney General Rob Bonta today highlighted ongoing efforts to protect California consumers and urged Californians to report misconduct or violations of state consumer protection laws to the California Department of Justice (DOJ) at oag.ca.gov/report. Complaints submitted by the public provide DOJ with important information about potential misconduct to help determine whether to investigate a business or individual.

“In California, we have strong consumer protection laws and a tremendous team working around the clock to protect Californians online, in their financial lives, in their efforts to find and keep housing and education, and across the marketplace. And we need your help,” said Attorney General Bonta. “This National Consumer Protection week I urge Californians to stand up with me and know their rights as consumers, and to let us know if they see misconduct in the market. Whether protecting data privacy, tenant protections, or stopping egregious bank fees, as the People’s Attorney, I am committed to enforcing consumer protections in the state of California and speaking out for consumer protections nationwide.”

STANDING UP FOR CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION:

In February, Attorney General Bonta issued letters to banks and credit unions not subject to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s supervision warning that overdraft and returned deposited item fees may violate California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL) and the federal Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). Some financial institutions charge up to $36 or more for each overdraft. California consumers paid an estimated $200 million in overdraft fees in 2022, with the financial burden disproportionately falling on low-income consumers and consumers of color.

In December 2023, Attorney General Bonta joined a bipartisan multistate coalition of attorneys general in submitting an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court defending states’ rights to enforce state consumer financial protection in Cantero v. Bank of America.

In May 2023, Attorney General Bonta, and a coalition of 24 attorneys general, filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) contention that the agency’s funding structure is constitutional and arguing that the court should not invalidate the CFPB’s past and ongoing regulatory and enforcement actions. Those regulatory and enforcement actions cover all aspects of consumer financial markets; if allowed to stand, the Fifth Circuit’s decision threatens to upend over a decade of enforcement and regulatory work by the CFPB and would be detrimental to consumers across the country.

HIGHER EDUCATION: 

There is a $1.7 trillion student loan debt crisis in the United States. DOJ is committed to supporting the efforts of the U.S. Department of Education to ease the burden of federal student loans and is committed to protecting California student loan borrowers and those seeking higher education from predatory colleges and lending.  

In February, Attorney General Bonta celebrated the decision by the California Court of Appeal affirming a lower court’s decision which found in the state’s favor in its lawsuit against Ashford University, an online, for-profit college, for violating California’s unfair competition and false advertising laws. In 2017, DOJ filed a lawsuit alleging that Ashford University and Zovio provided false and misleading information to students about career outcomes, cost and financial aid, pace of degree programs, and transfer credits, in order to persuade them to enroll to persuade them to enroll in the school and then used illegal debt collection practices when students struggled to pay their bills. As part of the decision, the court ordered Ashford University and Zovio to pay more than $21 million in penalties.

If you believe you have been the victim of a predatory loan, deceived by a for-profit college, or otherwise taken advantage of, you can file a complaint at oag.ca.gov/report. 

HOUSING: 

California is facing a housing shortage and affordability crisis of epic proportions. Almost 17 million Californians – 44% of all state residents – live in homes that are rented and over half of California renter households are housing cost-burdened, placing them at increased risk of housing instability and homelessness. Co-authored by Attorney General Bonta during his time as a state assemblymember, the Tenant Protection Act (TPA) limits rent increases and prohibits landlords from evicting tenants without just cause.

In February, Attorney General Bonta announced a settlement with two separate Bakersfield landlords and their property management company, Clemmer & Company, for multiple violations of the TPA and, in the case of the management company and one landlord, for violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act.

Also in February, Attorney General Bonta issued five housing consumer alerts advising California tenants of their rights and protections under state law, and alerting property managers and landlords of their obligations to tenants. One of the alerts, a Know Your Rights alert that notifies tenants of the TPA’s statewide rent increase cap, is available in 24 languages. The remaining four consumer alerts are available in English, Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. All of the alerts are available here, near the bottom of the page.

In January, Attorney General Bonta announced a settlement with Invitation Homes to resolve allegations that the company violated the TPA and California’s price-gouging law by unlawfully increasing rents on approximately 1,900 households.

In June 2023, Attorney General Bonta announced a settlement against Green Valley Corporation, a San Jose-based housing developer and property manager to resolve allegations that the company violated the TPA by issuing unlawful rent increases to nearly 20 of its employee tenants and serving unlawful eviction notices to six of those employee tenants.

In addition to statewide protections, some cities and counties have additional rental protections, including stricter limits on rent increases than the TPA and additional just cause requirements. Californians should check what protections are in place where they live. For more information and resources, visit the Resources for Tenants tab here.

PROTECTING CHILDREN ONLINE:  

In January, Attorney General Bonta, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, and Senator Nancy Skinner introduced the California Children’s Data Privacy Act (AB 1949 (Wicks)), and the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act (SB 976 (Skinner)), landmark legislation seeking to protect youth online. These two bills would, respectively, limit the harms associated with social media addiction and provide more robust protections for kids’ data privacy.

In October 2023, Attorney General Bonta co-led a bipartisan coalition of 33 attorneys general in filing a federal lawsuit against Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates (Meta), alleging that Meta designed and deployed harmful features that addict children and teens to their mental and physical detriment. Unredacted documents from this lawsuit demonstrate Meta is aware and purposefully utilizing algorithmic content delivery to target and addict children to social media — actions that they know is causing harm. 

DATA PRIVACY:

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) provides consumers with groundbreaking rights over their personal information, including:

• Right to Know – Consumers may request that a business tell them what specific personal information they have collected, shared, or sold about them, and why it was collected, shared, or sold.
• Right to Delete — Consumers may request that a business delete personal information that the business collected from the consumer, subject to some exceptions.
• Right to Opt-Out — If a business sells their personal information, consumers may request that it stop doing so.
• Rights for Minors — A business cannot sell the personal information of minors under the age of 16 without their permission and, for children under 13, without parental consent.
• Right to Non-Discrimination — A business may not discriminate against consumers who exercise their rights under the CCPA.

Earlier this year, as part of ongoing efforts to enforce the CCPA, Attorney General Bonta announced an investigative sweep, and sent letters to businesses with popular streaming apps and devices, alleging that they fail to comply with the CCPA. The sweep focused on the compliance of streaming services with CCPA’s opt-out requirements for businesses that sell or share consumer personal information, including those that do not offer an easy mechanism for consumers who want to stop the sale of their data.  

In February Attorney General Bonta announced a settlement with DoorDash, resolving allegations that the company violated the CCPA and the California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA) by selling its California customers’ personal information without providing notice or an opportunity to opt out of that sale.

For more information about the CCPA, visit oag.ca.gov/ccpa. To report a violation of the CCPA to the Attorney General, submit a complaint at oag.ca.gov/report.

TELEMARKETING:

Telephone scams, like robocalls and robotexts, can result in people losing millions through phishing texts, imposter scams, and links containing ransomware. In 2023 alone, consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud, this marks a 14% increase over reported losses in 2022. 

In February, Attorney General Bonta joined a coalition of 51 bipartisan attorneys general in issuing a warning letter to Life Corporation, a company that allegedly sent New Hampshire residents scam election robocalls during the New Hampshire primary election. The calls allegedly used artificial intelligence to impersonate the president and discourage voters from participating in the primary. 

In January, Attorney General Bonta joined a coalition of 26 attorneys general in filing a comment letter responding to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) notice of inquiry related to the potential impact of emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technology on efforts to protect consumers from illegal robocalls or robotexts. 

For more tips and information on consumer protection, please visit https://oag.ca.gov/consumers.