Author Archives: Allison Zieve

CFPB opens inquiry into “Buy Now, Pay Later” credit

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a series of orders to five companies offering “buy now, pay later” credit. The orders to collect information on the risks and benefits of these fast-growing loans went to Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal, and Zip. The CFPB explained that it is concerned about accumulating debt, regulatory arbitrage, and […]

Jack Gillis retiring after 38 years at Consumer Federation of America

Consumer Federation of America has announced that long-time consumer advocate Jack Gillis is retiring in January. Here is the press release: After 38 years with the Consumer Federation of America, long-time consumer and auto safety advocate, Jack Gillis, will be retiring as CFA’s Executive Director in January 2022. Gillis has been with CFA since 1983, […]

CFPB request for comment on Request for Big-Tech payment platforms

On October 21, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered six large technology companies that operate payments systems in the United States — Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Square, and PayPal — to provide information about certain of their business practices. The agency seeks the information to help it better understand how these companies use personal payments […]

CFPB, DOJ, and OCC take action against Trustmark National Bank for discrimination

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Department of Justice, in cooperation with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, have entered into a settlement to resolve allegations of redlining by Trustmark National Bank. The CFPB and DOJ allege that Trustmark discriminated against Black and Hispanic neighborhoods by deliberately not marketing, offering, or originating home […]

FTC report finds many internet service providers collect troves of personal data

A recent report by the Federal Trade Commission staff shows that many internet service providers (ISPs) collect far more data about their customers than many consumers may expect — including access to their Internet traffic and real-time location data — while failing to offer consumers meaningful choices about how they may use the data. Focusing […]

CFPB report on consumer complaints finds variations by race and wealth

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a report analyzing, by U.S. Census tract, patterns in the consumer complaints submitted to the CFPB between 2018 and 2020. The report finds that the complaints from wealthier communities and communities with higher percentages of white, non-Hispanic residents were more frequently about loan origination and performing servicing, while […]

Webinar: The Rise in Debt Collections Litigation and What States can Do

The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program and Pew will hold a webinar on Thursday, October 28 at 1:00 pm ET on the debt collections litigation system and ways to create better outcomes for people. Here is the description: The system for collecting unpaid debts is broken. One in three American adults had debt in collections […]