Author Archives: Christine Hines

Texas court ends federal medical-debt credit reporting rule

A Texas district court, in response to a joint request from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and trade industry associations, just vacated the bureau’s own rule that had prohibited most medical debt on credit reports. The Biden-era CFPB finalized a rule in January to ban medical bills on credit reports and to prohibit lenders from […]

Eighth Circuit cancels FTC’s subscription rule

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday nullified the Federal Trade Commission’s Click-to-Cancel rule. The rule addressed unfair and deceptive practices in subscriptions (or negative options marketing). The FTC aimed to remove misrepresentations in subscription practices and to generally make canceling subscriptions as easy as it is to sign up for them. In reversing the […]

CFA releases annual report of top consumer complaints

Consumer Federation of America just released its annual report of consumer complaints submitted to state and local agencies. Auto sales and auto repair issues tops the list for the ninth year in a row, the report said. The Top Ten1. Auto Sales and Repair2. Retail Purchase Issues3. Home Improvement4. Consumer Credit5. Landlord/Tenant Issues6. Frauds and […]

Arbitration provider marks FAA’s 100th year

The arbitration firm JAMS posted a piece this week recognizing the 100th anniversary of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). Indeed, Congress passed the FAA in Feb. 1925 to facilitate resolution of business to business disputes, validating the ability of commercial parties of relatively equal bargaining power to agree in their contracts to resolve their disputes […]

FTC warns ticket reseller on new ‘junk fees’ rule

The Federal Trade Commission this week began work to enforce its new rule on unfair and deceptive fees. The Commission sent a warning letter to ticket reseller StubHub alleging that the company may have already violated the rule which went into effect May 12. The rule, which specifically applies to live-event ticketing and short-term lodging, […]

Nonprofit groups oppose CFPB’s attempt to reverse redlining settlement

The National Fair Housing Alliance, joined by fair housing, civil rights, and consumer protection organizations, filed an amicus brief last Friday in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Townstone, an enforcement action that the bureau previously had successfully settled but that it now seeks to reverse in favor of the corporate defendant. In the original case, […]

Congress carries on with votes to stamp out consumer protections

U.S. senators are on their way to approve of big banks burdening constituents with excessive overdraft fees. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently issued a rule to limit overdraft fees charged by the largest banks to $5. But in a late-night move yesterday, the Senate voted to advance a Congressional Review Act resolution that would […]

Law professors support CFPB, its employees, the rule of law

Law professors who study, teach, and work on consumer protection matters, including this blog’s co-coordinator Prof. Jeff Sovern, sent a letter this week to Russell Vought, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “We urgently call upon the Trump administration to follow the rule of law and allow Bureau employees to return to their […]

State AGs, friends of the CFPB, show up

In the wake of the chaotic shutdown of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the lawsuits filed to fight its apparent closure, 22 states and the District of Columbia filed two amicus briefs within days in support of the bureau and its statutory functions. On Feb. 19, the state attorneys general banded together in an […]

CFPB employees, supporters fight for the agency

This week, ~1,000 people—employees and supporters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—stood in the cold at a rally to protest the attempted ransacking of the agency. In the middle of the supportive speeches, agency employees broke out into chants: “Let. Us. Work,” demanding that they be allowed to continue to protect the American public from […]