The New York Times reports that Equifax has agreed to a consent order with eight state financial regulators in response to the breach that allowed hackers to steal sensitive personal information on more than 147 million people last year. The order describes specific steps that Equifax must take, including conducting security audits at least once […]
Author Archives: Allison Zieve
A new report from the think tank New America finds that basic banking services such as opening and maintaining a checking account can cost substantially more if you are black or Latino. For instance, community banks in predominantly black neighborhoods require an average minimum opening deposit of about $80, compared with about $68 in white […]
The Hill reports that a judge has ordered the Department of Education to stop collecting debts from all students defrauded by the for-profit Corinthian College, which shut down in 2015. "The court ruled in May that the Department of Education had violated privacy laws by using Social Security Administration information to help it determine how […]
In a case brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the State of New York, a judge in the Southern District of New York held today that the structure of the CFPB is unconstitutional because it is an independent agency that has substantial executive power and a single director. Judge Loretta Perska further held […]
Verizon, AT&T and Sprint will no longer share customers' location information with several third-party companies who failed to handle the data appropriately, the Washington Post reports. The move follows an investigation by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) into the commercial relationships between Verizon; a pair of obscure data vendors, LocationSmart and Zumigo; and those companies' corporate customers. "Wyden's investigation found […]
The Wall Street Journal reports that, although bankruptcy judges have in the past refused to consider reducing student loans, some judges are now looking for ways to help people struggling to repay their debt. "Outright cancellations remain rare, but judges said they have other tools at their disposal, including encouraging lawyers to represent borrowers for […]
Politico reports that Joseph Otting, the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a federal agency is responsible for enforcing fair lending laws, refused to say directly that discrimination exists, during questioning at a House Financial Services hearing on Wednesday. Among the laws that the OCC oversees is the Community Reinvestment Act, […]
Courthouse News reports: Education Secretary Betsy Devos need not provide full debt relief to more than 60,000 defrauded students, but she must stop collecting on their loans, a federal judge said in court Monday. Lawyers for a proposed class of borrowers had asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim to revive an Obama-era policy that promised […]
David Lazarus of the LA Times writes today about the possibility that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will cut off public access to its consumer complaint database. The comment period closed this week on the CFPB's request for comment on possible changes to its complaint system. Meanwhile, "Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s budget chief who’s serving as […]
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Mick Mulvaney has dismissed the members of the agency’s Consumer Advisory Board. The CFPB's Policy Associate Director for External Affairs informed board members of the decision on a conference call Wednesday. The members were told that their terms were terminated and they were not permitted to reapply. Politico has the story.