The Washington Post has a lengthy article today on payday lending by American Indian tribes. With some two-dozen tribes now offering installment and payday loans, Native Americans have found themselves wrestling with the merits of this lifeline. Following the formula used in casino gambling, tribes capitalize on their right to govern themselves in an otherwise […]
Author Archives: Allison Zieve
From the website Main St.: A newly released Harvard study indicates that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has given Wall Street an advantage over Main Street – the opposite of what was intended. Two researchers at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government of the John F. Kennedy School of Government […]
The Wall Street Journal's "Pharmalot" reporter Ed Silverman reports on a bill introduced in the California legislature that is aimed at elucidating the mysteries of prescription drug pricing: As the prices of prescription medicines strain budgets, one California lawmaker wants to force drug makers to reveal their costs in a bid to provide some transparency […]
From the Bangor Daily News: A federal judge has overturned Maine’s first-in-the-nation law allowing residents to purchase medication by mail from other countries. U.S. Chief District Judge Nancy Torresen’s ruling Monday comes more than a year after several Maine pharmacy groups filed suit against the state over the 2013 law, arguing it jeopardizes the safety […]
From the New York Times: After two years of imposing increasingly stiff penalties on automakers that overstate their fuel economy ratings, federal regulators on Monday said they would tighten guidelines used in determining the mileage advertised to consumers. Next year, automakers will face stricter rules for conducting a crucial test or face an audit by […]
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Chairman Richard Cordray spoke yesterday at a meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General. His remarks are posted here. Chairman Cordray discussed CFPB's efforts to address deceptive marketing, debt traps, "dead ends" (a discussion of credit scores and debt collection), and discrimination.
Read Warren: Wall Street using small banks to weaken rules in today's The Hill.
The Federal Trade Commission announced its annual summary of activity enforcing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: Over the past year, the Federal Trade Commission has continued its vigorous work on behalf of U.S. consumers suffering from unlawful debt collection practices, including bringing law enforcement actions against abusive and fraudulent operations, conducting education and public […]
Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released "a report highlighting the top complaints for reverse mortgages. According to the report, consumers are frustrated with their loan terms, servicer runarounds, and foreclosure problems. To help consumers who already have a reverse mortgage, the CFPB [also issued] an advisory with tips on how to plan ahead to […]
Business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce are pushing the Federal Communications Commission to loosen standards under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act — the law that bars unwanted telemarketing calls and junk faxes. If the groups are successful, the result, say consumer advocates, would be more robocalls calls coupled with more difficultly suing for […]