The Wall Street Journal reports that More than at any time in their history, banks are being asked to work hand-in-hand with the U.S. government, serving as deputized watchmen for suspicious activity. That has been happening to some extent since legislation passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but banks’ responsibilities have steadily increased. […]
Author Archives: Allison Zieve
The Hill reports: The entire federal government is exempt from consumer protection laws that limit unwanted robocalls, the Federal Communications Commission decided in a ruling issued Tuesday night. While the Telephone Consumer Protection Act bars businesses from making numerous autodialed or prerecorded calls to a person’s cellphone—and similar telemarketing calls to a person’s home phone—the […]
The Washington Post has two articles today about payday loans. First, an opinion piece by Mike Calhoun, the director of the Center for Responsible Lending, is entitled "Think there’s no good alternative to payday loans? Think again." Mr. Calhoun begins: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed rule requiring payday and car title lenders to assess […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today released a monthly "complaint snapshot" highlighting complaints about consumer loans, including vehicle loans and leases, installment loans, title loans, and pawn loans. The report shows that consumers continue to complain about issues managing their loans and problems they encounter when they are unable to pay off the loans. The […]
Confirming the reports last week of a settlement of the VW emissions lawsuit, the parties today announced that VW will pay $14.7 billion to settle allegations of cheating emissions tests and deceiving customers. Volkswagen will offer consumers a buyback and lease termination for nearly 500,000 model year 2009-2015 2.0 liter diesel vehicles sold or leased […]
The Washington Post reports that Volkswagen has agreed to pay $10.2 billion to settle a lawsuit brought against it for cheating on U.S. emissions tests. The case stems from the carmaker’s 2015 admission that 11 million vehicles worldwide had cheating software designed to get around emissions tests. The settlement will compensate owners of 482,000 vehicles […]
NPR reports: Just a week before a Vermont law kicks in requiring labels on food containing genetically modified ingredients, U.S. Senate agriculture leaders announced a deal Thursday that takes the power out of states' hands — and sets a mandatory national system for GM disclosures on food products. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, the chairman of […]
The Wall Street Journal reports: Small businesses have been a growing source of revenue for online lenders. Now, federal regulators are exploring whether they should intensify oversight of these loan deals. “These are basically mom-and-pop operations getting, you know, very small loans,” John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, told The […]
A new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau supervision report finds that some mortgage servicers continue to use failed technology that has already harmed consumers, putting those companies in violation of the CFPB’s new servicing rules. In its examinations covering numerous mortgage servicers since the new CFPB rules took effect in January 2014, CFPB examiners have found […]
Reuter's reports: Bank of America Corp's Merrill Lynch unit will pay $415 million and admit to wrongdoing to settle charges that it misused customer cash to generate profits and failed to safeguard their securities from creditors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday. An SEC investigation found that Merrill Lynch violated the SEC’s […]