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The Consumer Protection & Affordability Agenda Explained

Sarah Edwards | January 16, 2024

Sarah Edwards
Legal Expert
Sarah Edwards, BS

Sarah Harris is a professional researcher and writer specializing in legal content. An Emerson College alumna, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication from the prestigious Boston institution.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

Hannah Locklear
Editor at SoloSuit
Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

Summary: New York Governor Kathy Hochul is making it her mission to protect New York consumers. The Consumer Protection & Affordability Agenda aims to regulate unfair business practices, tighten regulations on buy now, pay later loans, increase paid medical leave, combat medical debt, and reduce or eliminate co-pays for insulin wherever possible. SoloSuit explains.

Between rising inflation, soaring healthcare costs, and unscrupulous businesses, New Yorkers are feeling financially pinched more than ever. Fortunately, New York Governor Kathy Hochul is aiming to make things a little easier with the Consumer Protection & Affordability Agenda, a set of proposed new laws for 2024.

If you live in New York, pay attention. If these laws are passed, you might see a change for the better in your financial well-being. Let’s take a look.

Stand up for your consumer rights in court.

What consumer protection laws are on the consumer protection & affordability agenda?

If passed, New York’s agenda wouldn’t be the first statewide consumer protection act in the U.S. The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act of 2023 helped regulate how consumers’ data was used by businesses. In a similar vein, the nationwide Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 restricted business use of robocalls and automatic dialing systems.

Each of these laws had a somewhat narrow focus, however. Here’s a look at five main goals of New York’s proposed consumer credit protection acts.

1. Protect consumers from unfair and abusive business practices

New York already protects residents from deceptive business practices, but it’s one of eight states with no protections against unfair or abusive practices. These might all sound like the same thing, but the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defines deceptive, unfair, and abusive practices differently. A business practice is deceptive if:

  • There’s a material misleading omission or misrepresentation.
  • There’s a business practice, representation, or omission that would likely mislead a customer.
  • The consumer’s interpretation of the communication is reasonable.

To better understand what a deceptive business practice looks like, let’s consider an example.

Example: Steph gets a letter in the mail from a bill collector. The letter says that she will be arrested if she doesn’t pay her bill within a week. Because she’s afraid of that outcome, Steph pays the bill. Non-payment of a bill is not a crime, and a consumer can’t be arrested for it. The bill collector has misled Steph by saying it can arrest her, so it’s using a deceptive business practice.


Business practices defined as “unfair” aren’t as necessarily as egregious as deceptive practices. That said, a business practice can be both deceptive and unfair. Unfair practices are likely to cause significant damages or injury to consumers, and their benefits don’t outweigh those damages.

As a side note, if you think you’ve been targeted by deceptive or unfair practices, it’s worth talking to a consumer protection attorney or a consumer protection agency to find out what recourse you might have. Finding an attorney is as simple as searching for a “consumer protection lawyer near me.”

2. Regulate buy now, pay later loans

Any consumer protection lawyer will tell you that buy now, pay later loans are financially dangerous. This industry often targets people with lower incomes and poor credit, and high interest rates make loan balances snowball quickly. New York is aiming to pass legislation to better regulate the industry and protect consumers from debt accumulation and credit damage.

Respond to a buy now, pay later lawsuit.

What percentage of your gross salary does the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggest should go to loan payments? As you might have guessed, the CFPB doesn’t recommend buy now, pay later loans at all, but when it comes to student loans, it recommends you spend no more than 8% of your gross salary on payments.

Most buy now, pay later loans have incredibly high interest rates and sometimes higher monthly payments than student loans. As such, it’s easy to see how a large buy now, pay later loan — like the loans offered by some shady car dealers — can quickly get you into financial trouble.

3. Expand paid medical leave and disability leave

New York offers paid weekly benefits to people who need to take time off work due to disabilities. However, since 1989, that weekly benefit has had a cap of $170. The new legislation aims to raise that cap.

In addition, it will raise the medical leave benefit to match the family leave benefit. For the first 12 weeks of medical leave, employees receive up to 67% of their weekly wage, although that can’t exceed 67% of the State Average Weekly Wage.

4. Eliminate or reduce co-pays for insulin

Without insulin, people with diabetes are at risk of serious health complications or death. Unfortunately, high copays serve as a barrier to accessing this life-saving medication.

The Consumer Protection & Affordability Agenda aims to eliminate insulin copays. In doing so, it will ensure that even those struggling financially will be able to get the medication they need.

5. Protect against medical debt

If passed, this new legislation will expand financial assistance programs offered by hospitals. It also will limit the required monthly payments and interest rates on medical debt.

Debt lawsuits can cause considerable stress and hardship, so the Consumer Protection & Affordability Agenda also makes it harder for hospitals to sue for medical debt if you make less than 400% of the federal poverty line. It may not completely eliminate the problems with New York debt collection laws, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

Watch the following video to learn how to make debt collectors prove your debt is valid.

Protect your financial well-being with SoloSuit

If you’re in New York, the Consumer Protection & Affordability Agenda’s consumer protection laws can protect you from future financial harm. But what if you’re already struggling with loan or medical debt that’s been sent to collections?

Dealing with debt collectors can be stressful, but SoloSuit has your back. Whether you’re dealing with repeated calls from debt collectors or have already been sued for a debt, we can help.

Ready to end your debt once and for all? Check out SoloSettle.

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