Chris Arnold

Richard Cordray, the head of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is stepping down at the end of the month. The bureau was created in the wake of the financial crisis and has recovered $12 billion from financial firms on behalf of consumers, but Republicans have fought Cordray and the bureau, claiming its very existence is illegal and that it has harmed consumers by stifling lending.

The plan would raise taxes on graduate students, who make very little money to begin with. Analysts say the provision could discourage students from seeking advanced degrees, hurting economic growth.

The Republican tax plan is being sharply criticized by home-builders and realtors. They say the plan would discourage home-buying and push down home prices.

Nearly a third of Latinos say they've experienced discrimination when seeking housing, according to a poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Vice President Pence cast the tie-breaking vote last night in the Senate to repeal a rule that made it easier for Americans to sue their banks and credit card companies for wrongdoing. Wiping out the rule affects tens of millions of Americans who will be sent to arbitration on disputes over a credit card, checking account or prepaid card. It also dismantles the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has been working on this for years.

Republicans in Congress are talking behind closed doors about a plan that would affect millions of Americans who are saving for retirement — and not in a good way according to many critics. The idea is to drastically lower the amount of money that Americans can set aside before taxes in their 401(k) accounts.

The largest known theft of Social Security numbers in history has lawmakers, law enforcement and identity theft victims angry. They're calling for better security and other changes in the system.

Equifax is taking a customer help Web page offline as the company investigates reports that the site directed people to download fraudulent Adobe Flash updates.

Republicans and Democrats alike are upset about the massive hack of Social Security numbers and other sensitive information at the consumer credit reporting company.

Top executives of Wells Fargo and Equifax faced lawmakers on Capitol Hill to answer questions about ongoing scandals at both companies.

The Equifax CEO resigned earlier this week, and now the interim CEO says consumers will be able to lock and unlock access to their Equifax credit files free of charge for life. While that will provide some protection, there are still ways to exploit the stolen data and harm consumers.

Equifax's CEO Richard Smith is resigning following a backlash over the hack at the company that compromised the data of 143 million Americans. He joins several other executives who have left the company over the scandal. Smith will continue to advise the company on an unpaid basis. It's not known yet whether he will appear at a congressional hearing next week about the massive breach.

The transport authority said Uber's approach and conduct "demonstrate a lack of corporate responsibility in relation to a number of issues that have public safety and security implications."

Americans owe more than ever before, with household debt hitting nearly $13 trillion. Some economists say the lessons of the credit bubble that led to the financial crisis are being forgotten.

Equifax says it suffered a massive data breach involving as many as 143 million people in the U.S. Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and drivers licenses were apparently exposed, thus making this one of the worst hacks ever reported.

Wells Fargo just can't get past its fake account scandal. The bank acknowledged on Thursday that it created more bogus customer accounts than previously estimated. An outside review discovered an additional 1.4 million potentially unauthorized accounts opened between Jan. 2009 and Sept. 2016. That's nearly twice as many accounts as the bank previously acknowledged. This comes on the heels of other embarrassing debacles as the bank struggles to repair its image.

The Trump administration begins renegotiating NAFTA this month. Despite the rhetoric of the campaign and talk of tearing it up, the administration's actual plans appear less dramatic than expected.

Later this week, White House officials begin the process of renegotiating changes and updates to NAFTA, which President Donald Trump has called "the worst deal ever made."

It's unclear whether the Consumer Product Safety Commission will finally pass a rule requiring all new saws to have an active injury prevention monitoring system built into them.

Wells Fargo is facing another scandal. This time, the bank acknowledges it signed up nearly 500,000 auto-loan customers for insurance they didn't need. Thousands lost their cars to repossession.