Author Archives: Allison Zieve

Judge gives preliminary approval to Wells Fargo settlement

The Washington Post reports: Wells Fargo has received preliminary approval to pay out $142 million to customers affected by the bank’s sales practices scandal. A federal judge gave preliminary approval Saturday to the deal that would settle claims over fraudulent accounts going back to 2002. The San Francisco-based bank and lawyers for customers reached the […]

Re De’pt of Educ efforts to eliminate protections for student borrowers

I try not to use the blog to tout Public Citizen's own work, but nonetheless want to provide two updates on our work to maintain protections for student borrowers in the face of a Department of Education no longer interested in doing so: First, on Friday, Public Citizen and Harvard's Project on Predatory Student Lending […]

Recent FTC consumer protection efforts

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission announced two actions potentially of interest to readers: The FTC announced that it halted an operation that unlawfully shared and sold consumers' sensitive data. The operators of a lead generation business agreed to settle charges brought by the FTC that the company misled consumers into filling out loan applications and […]

Recent announcements of DOJ’s Consumer Protection Branch

June 26, 2017 – Owner of New England Compounding Center Sentenced for Racketeering Leading to Nationwide Fungal Meningitis Outbreak June 22, 2017 – Pharmacy Owner and Director of Compliance Charged with Defrauding United States and Distributing Adulterated Drugs June 15, 2017 – Department of Justice Observes World Elder Abuse Awareness Day June 15, 2017 – […]

CFPB acts against credit repair companies for charging illegal fees and misleading consumers

Still at work, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today filed two complaints and proposed final judgments in federal court against four California-based credit repair companies and three individuals for misleading consumers and charging illegal fees. The CFPB alleges that the companies charged illegal advance fees for credit repair services, and also misrepresented their ability to […]

Fix sought for heat deaths of children left in cars

Each year, roughly three dozen children die of heatstroke in unattended vehicles. Yesterday, three congressmen and a coalition of safety groups announced proposed legislation to require alerts in cars as a reminder that there may still be a child in the back. FairWarning has the story. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers said it would review […]

CFPB’s Cordray threatened with contempt charges by House panel

American Banker reports: The House Financial Services Committee is threatening to file contempt charges against Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray for allegedly lying about the bureau's investigation into the Wells Fargo scandal. In a 15-page report released Tuesday by Republican staff, the committee claimed that the CFPB has not produced records showing that […]

FTC and Florida take action against robocall ring that pitched worthless credit card rate-reduction programs

The Federal Trade Commission announced today that, in a case filed by it and the Florida Office of the Attorney General, a federal district court judge has entered eight orders against an intertwined web of Orlando-based individuals and companies that bombarded consumers with illegal robocalls from “Card Member Services,” pitching worthless credit card interest rate […]

Department of Education considers delaying two important regulations

Politico reports today that the Department of Education is considering delaying two rules that are scheduled to go into effect on July 1 — the borrower defense rule, which concerns student loans, and the gainful employment rules, which cuts off federal funding for for-profit colleges that provide students with more debt than benefit. The article […]