The Hill reports that the White House Office of Management and Budget completed its review of the organic livestock and poultry practices Wednesday, giving the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service the green light to release the final rules on treatment of animals whose meat will be sold as “certified organic.” Under the rules, proposed […]
Author Archives: Allison Zieve
Patch.com reports: [New York] Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced Thursday the resolution of a four-year investigation of a Citigroup subsidiary that had overcharged over 47,000 of its customers more than $22.5 million in fees. After the Attorney General’s Office launched its investigation, Citigroup Global Markets, Inc revised its policies and procedures to address the […]
"The Federal Communications Commission is alerting consumers to be aware of callers falsely offering lower credit card payments or interest rates, credit card debt relief, and improved credit scores. These scams can be more common during and after the holiday season when many consumers carry more debt than at other times of year. The FCC […]
The Washington Post reports: If you've used or heard of programs such as T-Mobile's Binge On or Music Freedom, then you're familiar with an increasingly common business tactic known as zero rating: the decision by a cellphone carrier to let you stretch your data plan by exempting some services, such as Spotify or Netflix, from your […]
The Federal Trade Commission announced today: Damian Kutzner, one of the operators of a mortgage relief scheme that bilked millions of dollars from financially distressed homeowners, has agreed to a court order banning him from the debt relief business. The stipulated order resolves the [FTC's] complaint and the contempt charges against Kutzner. It also bans […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week took action against two medical debt collection law firms and their president for falsely representing that letters and calls were from attorneys attempting to collect on a debt when no attorney had yet reviewed the account. The law firms also did not ensure the accuracy of the consumer […]
We have seen a lot of articles and columns lately about the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its director Richard Cordray. Jeff posted one such piece below. The American Banker yesterday posted this defense of the CFPB by Jeannette Quick, who has served as senior counsel to the Senate Banking Committee and […]
The Washington Post reports: Some of the nation's biggest Internet providers are asking the government to roll back a landmark set of privacy regulations it approved last fall — kicking off an effort by the industry and its allies to dismantle key Internet policies of the Obama years. In a petition filed to federal regulators Monday, a top […]
In an opinion issued yesterday, the Ninth Circuit held that a named plaintiff need not demonstrate, to support a motion for class certification, an "administratively feasible" way of identifying individual class members. In Briseno v. ConAgra, the plaintiffs argued that Wesson Oil's “100% Natural” label was false or misleading because Wesson oils are made from […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken enforcement action against Equifax, Inc., TransUnion, and their subsidiaries for deceiving consumers about the usefulness and actual cost of credit scores they sold to consumers. The CFPB found that the companies also lured consumers into costly recurring payments for credit-related products with false promises. The CFPB ordered TransUnion […]