Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

It's the question every incumbent up for reelection has had to answer since challenger Ronald Reagan first posed it to President Jimmy Carter in 1980. But in this 2012 campaign, the answer is not so simple, for all the rhetoric on both sides.

It's not hard to get copies of your credit report: You can even get them free from the major credit-reporting agencies. But each one of us has more than one credit score, and the one you're given may be very different from the ones lenders and other businesses actually use.

American Express is paying $112.5 million in refunds and fines to settle regulators' accusations that it charged unlawful late fees and deceived customers to pressure them to pay off old debts or buy extra credit card services.

The consumer-friendly CARD Act is saving credit card holders hundreds of millions of dollars and almost as many headaches, but it has some flaws. For example, it made life more difficult for roughly 5 million stay-at-home spouses by making it hard for them to get credit. That's going to change soon.

Discover Bank is paying $214 million to settle charges that it pressured credit card customers to buy costly add-on services like payment protection and credit monitoring.

As far as bad habits go, smoking is a popular example of one to give up. Now there's a new report that makes a dramatic financial case for quitting: In New York State, low-income smokers are spending roughly one-quarter of their income on cigarettes.

Reloadable prepaid cards, which work like debit cards without a bank account, have been growing in popularity. But prepaid cards are riskier than you'd realize, and most come with between 7 and 15 fees - many of which aren't disclosed - reveals a new study from a nonpartisan think tank.

The government's consumer lending watchdog proposed new rules Friday aimed at protecting homeowners from unexpected costs and shoddy service by companies that collect their monthly mortgage payments.

More than 80% of parents of 16- to 18-year-olds believe college is important to their child's future -- and a similar number are worried about how to pay for it. Here are a few tips that could make solving the college financing puzzle a little easier.

It has never been more important to have good credit, but it's no easy task to go against the ratings agencies when your credit report is wrong. Now though, you have an ally in your corner: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.