Texas enacted a law in 2019 to protect people in state-regulated health plans from surprise medical billing — that is, outrageous bills for out-of-network care. The law, which goes into effect in January, creates an arbitration process for insurers and providers to negotiate so that fair prices are charged without involving patients. Rules implementing the […]
Author Archives: Allison Zieve
The CFPB's list of rules that it intends to propose or to finalize in the next year is now posted, here. The two rules it expects to finalize this spring are a rule rescinding the 2017 payday lending regulation issued to protect consumers from predatory lending (final rule expected in April 2020) and a cutting […]
At CreditSlips, Professor Adam Levitin writes that a rule proposed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency "provides that nonbank assignees of loans from banks may charge whatever interest rate the bank may charge." In effect, the proposal "green lights unregulated subprime lending nationwide. In particular, [it] allows unregulated payday lending (although […]
The Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday that it obtained a temporary restraining order halting an operation that bilked consumers out of millions of dollars by pretending to be affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education and falsely promising student loan debt relief. The FTC's press release, with a links to its complaint, is here.
In 2006, Congress enacted the Military Lending Act, which protects active duty troops by capping interest rates at 36% and provides other safeguards. Now, some members of Congress want to expand those safeguards to protect everyone from high-interest paydays loans with interest rates as high as 200%. NPR has the story, here.
Yesterday, the FTC released guide setting forth rules for when and how online influencers should disclose sponsorships to their followers. The guide is here.
AT&T Mobility and the FTC have settled a case charging that the company misled millions of its smartphone customers by charging them for “unlimited” data plans while reducing their data speeds. FTC filed the case in 2014, alleged that AT&T failed to adequately disclose to its unlimited data plan customers that, if they reach a […]
New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill explains that little-known companies are amassing your data — like food orders and Airbnb messages — and selling the analysis to clients. She also shares information about how to request a copy of the information that these companies have collected about you. The article is here.
More than 20 Democratic senators called on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to investigate a loan servicer Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency’s handling of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program for public service workers. According to recent reports, 99 percent of applicants have been denied loan forgiveness. A 2017 report by the CFPB’s student loan […]
A federal judge has held Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in contempt for violating an order to stop collecting loan payments from former Corinthian Colleges students.The judge imposed a $100,000 fine on the Education Department for violating a preliminary injunction; the money will be used to compensate the 16,000 people harmed by the federal agency’s actions. […]