The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants to know more about data brokers and their practices, as these entities gather and sell consumers’ personal and private information. The CFPB requests public feedback including information about the entities that collect personal consumer data, the types of data collected, sources that data brokers use to collect information, their […]
Author Archives: Christine Hines
Debt collectors and debt buyers should have basic facts about a consumer debt before contacting consumers or filing lawsuits against them to collect on the debt. But blatantly wrong information about accounts has long been one of the major, persistent problems in debt collection. It appears Visa recently issued a rule that touches on the […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in recent actions against entities it calls “repeat offenders” has zeroed in on flagrant violations of the Military Lending Act (MLA), which is meant to safeguard active-duty military members and their families from financial abuses. The MLA has features perfect for military families in search of a loan: it caps […]
Shady auto dealer practices take center stage in the Federal Trade Commission’s latest report on its 2022 enforcement activities related to fair lending. Each year, the FTC submits a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recounting actions it took tied to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, a law to combat discrimination in lending. Last […]
What are online tax preparation companies doing with customers’ data? Members of Congress sent a letter this week urging the IRS to investigate. A report published last fall in the publication, The Markup, disclosed that online tax filing services were sending taxpayers’ identities and financial information to Facebook through code called Pixel. Specifically, it found […]
The People’s Parity Project released a report, which reviews and assesses President Biden’s progress so far with judicial nominations. The organization, which describes itself as a “network of law students and new attorneys organizing to unrig the legal system and build a justice system that values people over profits,” emphasized the need for more professionally […]
Following a year of dramatic rent increases, growing scrutiny of tenant screening practices, and a general rise in housing insecurity, the White House recently issued a new Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights and announced new actions to bring more fairness to the rental housing market. In its declaration to promote tenants’ rights, the […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission are teaming up to fight “dark patterns” and “negative option” subscription charges. The regulators are concerned about deceptive practices that mislead people into subscriptions or other recurring payments for products and services they do not want. In a “circular” released this week, the CFPB described […]