Author Archives: Allison Zieve

Dep’t of Education announces student-loan forgiveness of disabled borrowers

The Department of Education announced yesterday: "Over 323,000 borrowers who have a total and permanent disability (TPD) will receive more than $5.8 billion in automatic student loan discharges due to a new regulation announced today by the U.S. Department of Education. The change will apply to borrowers who are identified through an existing data match […]

Amazon adopts new policy for injuries caused by products of third-party sellers

Consumer Affairs reports: "Starting September 1, Amazon will pay customers who suffer injury or damages caused by products sold by its third-party sellers. It will not admit liability and will limit claims to $1,000. The policy is intended to head off lawsuits that consumers have filed over the years that seek to hold the multi-billion […]

CFPB reports that companies’ spotty responses undermine COVID-19 consumer relief

Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a report on "several areas of concern related to relief provided in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eviction moratorium. Some consumers reported facing homelessness because of the negative impact of an eviction on their credit history reported by […]

Executive order on antitrust scheduled for today

Politico reports that President Biden is scheduled to to issue an executive order today "to promote competition throughout the U.S. economy in the most ambitious effort in generations to reduce the stranglehold of monopolies and concentrated markets in major industries." The order is part of an effort "to focus on competition as part of the […]

Congress passes resolution to overturn OCC’s fake lender rule

This afternoon, the House of Representatives voted to overturn the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s “fake lender” rule, which allows predatory lenders to evade state interest rate laws by putting a federally-chartered bank’s name on the paperwork. The Senate passed the same resolution on May 11. It now heads to President Biden for […]

Study on beneficiaries and benefits of student-loan forgiveness

Countering assertions that student-loan forgiveness would primarily benefit wealthy people, a new study from the Roosevelt Institute determined that "student debt cancellation would provide more benefits to those with fewer economic resources and could play a critical role in addressing the racial wealth gap and building the Black middle class." The study, titled “Student Debt […]