Author Archives: Allison Zieve

Report describes problems with credit-card rewards programs

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau analyzed several hundred consumer complaints relating to the administration of credit card rewards programs and identified four recurring themes that resulted in consumers not receiving the rewards they were promised: (1) unexpected promotional conditions, (2) devaluation, (3) redemption problems, and (4) revocation. The report is here.

9th Cir. grants en banc review to consider personal jurisdiction over online businesses

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last week granted en banc review in a case called Briskin v. Shopify, to consider whether a state may exercise specific personal jurisdiction over a defendant that unlawfully uses its nationally accessible web platform to extract data from in-state consumers. As reporter Alison Frankel of Reuters wrote, “The court’s […]

Supreme Court upholds CFPB funding

The U.S. Supreme Court today, in a 7-2 decision, ruled in favor of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, rejecting a challenge brought by payday lenders to Congress’s decision about how to fund the agency. The case came to the Court after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ unprecedented ruling that funding for the Bureau’s violates […]

Colorado legislature passes AI bill

On Wednesday, Colorado lawmakers passed a sweeping artificial intelligence regulation bill. The legislation seeks to protect consumers from algorithmic discrimination when AI is used to make life-altering decisions, such as about a person’s employment, education or health care. It also included consumer rights provisions such as the right to know when AI is being used […]

Dep’t of Ed approves $6 billion in student loan relief for students of college shut down amid fraud allegations

The Department of Education today approved roughly $6 billion in student loan relief for more than 300,000 students who attended The Art Institutes, a network of for-profit colleges that was plagued by fraud allegations before completely shutting down in September 2023. The chain’s parent company, Education Management Corporation, reached a nearly $100 million settlement with […]

EPA bans consumer use of a toxic chemical used as a paint stripper

The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a ban on consumer uses of  methylene chloride, a chemical that is widely used as a paint stripper but is known to cause liver cancer and other health problems. The EPA said its action will protect Americans from health risks while allowing certain commercial uses to continue with robust […]

FCC fines the wireless carriers for illegally sharing customers’ location information

The Federal Communications Commission announced yesterday that it fined the nation’s largest wireless carriers for illegally sharing access to customers’ location information without consent and without taking reasonable measures to protect that information against unauthorized disclosure. Sprint and T-Mobile – which have merged since the investigation began – face fines of more than $12 million […]

CFPB identifies financial and privacy risks to consumers in video gaming marketplaces

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a report examining the growth of financial transactions in online video games and virtual worlds. “These platforms increasingly resemble traditional banking and payment systems that facilitate the storage and exchange of billions of dollars in assets, including virtual currencies. However, consumers report being harmed by scams or theft […]

FTC sends $62 million in refunds to sellers deceived by online real estate listing service

The Federal Trade Commission is sending nearly $62 million in refunds to sellers deceived by advertising and marketing claims made by online real estate business Opendoor Labs, Inc. According to the FTC’s August 2022 complaint, Opendoor cheated home sellers by tricking them into thinking that they could make more money selling their home to Opendoor than […]