The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday said it's considering a proposal that would prohibit financial services firms from including mandatory arbitration clauses common in many consumer contracts. The watchdog agency contends these agreements are essentially “free passes” for companies because they thwart consumers from taking their claims to court. The CFPB claims “tens of millions” of consumers have been affected by the agreements. In a study released earlier this year by the CFPB, 75 percent of consumers surveyed didn’t know if they were bound by an arbitration agreement through their credit card contract. If the CFPB moves forward with the proposal, it would not ban arbitration clauses outright but would require companies to provide customers with the opportunity to go to court if they so choose.
Riskalyze Integrates With RetireUp
Riskalyze added yet another company to it’s ever-growing roster of partners. This time, it’s Chicago-based RetireUp, a cloud-based financial planning software for clients in the distribution phase of retirement. Advisors use RetireUp to generate various income models in real time when considering various retirement scenarios, such as market sequence risk, inflation, healthcare expenses and premature death. With the Riskalyze integration, advisors can tailor portfolios to a client’s risk preferences and demonstrate that risk to clients. In a statement, RetireUp said this puts portfolio risk and volatility at the center of retirement planning. The companies will host a webinar next week to discuss the integration in greater detail.
Jimmy Carter Steps In to Mediate MLK Estate Fight
In a headline that reads like a Mad Lib, former president Jimmy Carter, in spite a recent brain cancer diagnosis, is set to mediate the dispute between the children of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. over the proposed sale of their father’s bible and Nobel Peace Prize, according to The Washington Times. The items in question initially belonged to all of the children; however, under a 1995 agreement, the heirs signed over ownership of many inherited items to the estate. The estate, controlled by Dr. King’s sons, Dexter and Martin Luther King III, is attempting to complete a sale to a private buyer, but King’s Daughter, Bernice, has physical control of the Bible and Prize and refuses to relinquish them. The court ordered mediation. How former-president Carter became involved is unknown.
The United Kingdom is best country to die in, according to the Economic Intelligence Unit, which measures 20 aspects of end-of-life care to determine a quality-of-death index. Among the attributes studied by the EIU are quality of palliative care, affordability, health care, and community engagement. The UK was the highest out of 80 countries studied with a score of 93.9 out of 100. The U.S. ranked 9th with a score of 80.8.