The Dallas Morning News reports that Think Finance Inc., a Fort Worth financial firm, will cancel its outstanding loans and pay nearly $40 million to consumers after engaging in an alleged payday lending operation that used Native American tribes as shields from state laws. Think Finance serviced loans that charged interest rates over 375% and […]
Author Archives: Allison Zieve
More than 20 U.S. senators are calling on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to reconsider a proposal to allow debt collectors to send unlimited texts and emails to consumers, and to call consumers seven times a week per debt, USA Today reports. “By allowing debt collectors to send consumers unlimited text messages and emails without […]
Public Citizen, along with the Center for Responsible Lending and several other consumer-advocacy groups, submitted a lengthy comment objecting to the CFPB's proposal to rescind many aspects of the agency's own payday lending rule, issued in 2017 to protect consumers from harmful payday lending practices. The comment is here. If you are not up for […]
In a letter responding to an inquiry from Senator Warren, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says that the Education Department is hampering the CFPB's efforts to protect borrowers by performing oversight of the student loan industry. The Senators' letter has asked whether the federal regulator had "abandoned its supervision and enforcement activities" […]
On Friday, Connecticut and a coalition of 44 states sued the biggest generic drug manufacturers, accusing them of a systematic conspiracy to bilk consumers out of billions of dollars. Last night's 60 Minutes covered the story, here. The Connecticut Attorney General's press release is here.
The Center for American Progress today released a report discussing structural reforms to the court system and suggesting reforms to restore access to the courts — two topics that are discussed separately in the report but are surely related. The reforms suggested to restore individuals' access to the civil justice are not new ideas but […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing a new rule that would allow debt collectors to send consumers an unlimited number of texts and emails. The agency says that its rule would be good for consumers. The Washington Post reports, however, that consumer advocates worry the CFPB is giving the industry a new way to […]
This morning, in a unanimous opinion in a case is called CFPB v. Seila Law, Inc., the Ninth Circuit decided a challenge to the CFPB's structure. The CFPB is headed by a single Director who exercises substantial executive power but can be removed by the President only for cause. Relying on the Supreme Court’s separation-of-powers […]
ProPublica and WNYC are investigating whether the Consumer Financial Protection Agency is enforcing federal consumer financial laws and holding companies accountable. They want to hear from people who work at the agency and those who have left recently, particularly people who are familiar with enforcement actions, supervisory exams, and proposed rules like those governing payday […]
Section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act generally requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission to get permission from a manufacturer before releasing to the public any information about a defective product that would reveal the identity of the manufacturer. Even when the CPSC announces an alert or recall, companies often can restrict the information […]