ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN RITTERBuilding a Better World, Together Join with us to make a safer, fairer, healthier marketplace
Safer Sleep
for Infants
what’s at stake
In April 2019, CR released the
findings of an investigation
into the Fisher-Price Rock ’n
Play Sleeper (published in the
July 2019 issue of Consumer
Reports). The product was
designed—without independent
safety testing—to soothe infants
with acid reflux by enabling
them to sleep at an incline.
But we highlighted that doing
so contradicts medical advice,
and we found that the product
had been tied to dozens of
infant deaths. A government-
funded study has since shown
that inclined sleepers increase
the risk of infant suffocation.
The CR report prompted
the recall of all 4.7 million
Rock ’n Play Sleepers, and
other manufacturers pulled
their inclined sleepers from
retail shelves as well. Then,
in October, the Consumer
Product Safety Commission
began advising caregivers
not to use any infant inclined
sleepers and voted to begin
the process of banning
them altogether.
how cr has your back
Despite all this, CR and other
organizations have found that
many inclined sleepers remain
for sale and in use. And it may
take months or longer for a
government ban to kick in.
That’s why CR continues
working to rid the market
of these inherently unsafe
products. In November, CR
president Marta Tellado wrote
to nine juvenile product
manufacturers, urging them
to recall all infant inclined
sleepers immediately. We also
asked consumers to email
the companies with the same
request; by Thanksgiving, more
than 13,500 had sent some
125,000 messages. Finally, we
wrote 13 retailers and online
platforms, urging them toremove the products from
shelves and marketplaces. As of
Dec. 5, Amazon, Buy Buy Baby,
eBay, and Walmart had agreed.
what you can do
Sign our petition urging
manufacturers to recall all
infant inclined sleepers, and
sign up to help check if local
stores still stock them, at
CR.org/infantsleep0220.Protecting
Personal Data
what’s at stake
The massive 2017 Equifax data
breach prompted Congress to
pass a law letting consumers
place a free security freeze on
their credit reports.
That was important because
without a freeze, credit bureaus
will sell your data to any lender
that asks. With a freeze in place,
they can’t do so without gettingyour explicit consent—making
it harder for identity thieves to
open an account in your name.
Security freezes are optional,
however, and consumers must
actively set up a freeze at each
of the three major bureaus.
how cr has your back
CR believes the system is
backward: Consumers should
have to opt in before their
credit reports are shared, not
opt out to keep them private.
That’s why we’re supporting a
new bill, the Consumer Credit
Control Act, which would make
security freezes the default for
all credit reports. If passed,
credit bureaus would have to
get your affirmative consent
and verify your identity before
giving creditors access to files.
When applying for a loan or
credit account, you’d be able
to lift the freeze temporarily,
generally by creating an
online account at the credit
bureau websites.what you can do
Go to congress.gov to contact
your state’s U.S. Senators and
ask them to support the Con-
sumer Credit Control Act.Backing Better
Lending Laws
what’s at stake
For decades, CR has warned
about so-called predatory
lenders. Purporting to offer a
lifeline to people desperate to
pay bills or cover unexpected
expenses, these companies
often use deceptive tactics to
trap borrowers in an endless
cycle of high-interest debt and
huge fees. As many as a third
of customers end up deeper in
debt than when they started.
how cr has your back
California has long set a legal
limit on interest rates for
certain loans below $2,500,
but rates on larger loans
have gone unchecked. Some
lenders in the state charge
more than 200 percent a year.
But that loophole will soon
close. In October, Gov. Gavin
Newsom signed a law that CR
supports, the Fair Access to
Credit Act. The law caps rates on
loans over $2,500 (at 36 percent
plus the federal funds rate,
which is currently about
2 percent) and bans several
practices, including prepayment
penalties, known to ensnare
borrowers in revolving debt.
The new law is “a crucial first
step toward reining in abusive
lenders and promoting fairer
financial services,” says CR
senior policy counsel Suzanne
Martindale, who was on hand
when the bill was signed.
what you can do
Find your representatives
at congress.gov and ask them
to support the Veterans and
Consumers Fair Credit Act
of 2019, which would
extend a 36 percent rate cap
to all U.S. consumers.Shielding Your Data
CR is advocating for
security freezes to be
the default status for
all credit reports.FEBRUARY 2020 CR.ORG 7