The Hill reports that the Federal Trade Commission is ordering the largest broadband providers to turn over information on their handling of consumer data as the agency launches an extensive review of privacy practices. "Comcast, Verizon and AT&T were among the companies that received orders from the FTC following a 5-0 vote by the agency's […]
Author Archives: Allison Zieve
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported on their 2018 activities to administer the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The report highlights both agencies’ law enforcement, education and public outreach, and policy initiatives. The report is here.
The online journal FairWarning this week reported on how lobbyists from the law firm Bracewell LLP have "specialized in helping product makers thwart rulemaking by the Consumer Product Safety Commission." One after another, industries have turned to Bracewell to fight unwanted federal standards, and they have not been disappointed. Along with the [recreational off-highway vehicle] […]
In the first Consumer Financial Protection Bureau oversight hearing of 2019, "Democrats repeatedly hammered Director Kathy Kraninger and GOP lawmakers for supporting recent changes at the agency." Rollcall has the story, here.
The American Banker reports on state efforts to pass consumer privacy laws, including laws passed others under consideration. The article is here.
The CFPB has released a report on financial exploitation of the elderly by people ranging from offshore scammers to family members. The report compiles information from Suspicious Activity Reports submitted by banks, credit unions, casinos, and other financial services providers. The 180,000 elder financial exploitation SARs reviewed for the report were submitted from 2013 to […]
The Federal Trade Commission announced its first case challenging a marketer’s use of fake paid reviews on an independent retail website. In a settlement announced at the same time, Cure Encapsulations and its owner resolved allegations that they made false and unsubstantiated claims for their garcinia cambogia weight-loss supplement and that they paid a third-party […]
According to a report issued by the Federal Trade Commission last week, between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018, the agency’s law enforcement actions yielded more than $2.3 billion in refunds to defrauded consumers, including $122 million mailed directly by the FTC to 2.2 million people. The report is here.
Scammers who use love to target consumers can take both an emotional and a financial toll on their victims. New complaint data from the Federal Trade Commission shows romance scams generated more reported losses than any other consumer fraud type reported to the agency in 2018. The FTC reports that romance scammers "often find their […]
Seven million Americans are at least 90 days behind on payments for automobile loans, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. According to the study, more people are now delinquent or late on loan payments than at the height of the 2008 financial crisis. A blog post by the study's […]