Here . Excerpt: The Equifax revelations come at exactly the wrong time for Republicans, who had been hoping as late as Thursday to rapidly push ahead next week on a vote to overturn the rule. * * * * * * The Equifax breach—and its controversial mandatory arbitration clause—could push some . . . Republicans […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern Scott posted yesterday about the Equifax data breach, which may end up being as significant a consumer scandal as the Wells Fargo unauthorized account fiasco. As has been pointed out elsewhere, the disclosure of the Equifax announcement is extraordinary, coming on the same day Congress considered a bill to limit damages against […]
From Paul Bland in HuffPo, CFPB Rule Fight Forces Senators to Choose: Military Families or Big Banks. Excerpt: When Gary Childress of Raleigh, North Carolina learned in July 2008 that he was being deployed to Iraq as part of his Army National Guard service, one of the things he did before reporting for duty was to […]
Brian D. Feinstein a Bigelow Fellow at Chicago has written Judging Judicial Foreclosure. Here is the abstract: For the third time in the last several decades, policymakers are contemplating an overhaul of mortgage-finance regulations. Despite the considerable attention paid to how ex ante regulations affect the availability of credit and the appropriateness of the mortgage […]
by Jeff Sovern Housing Wire reports on mortgage origination costs in a report headlined MBA: The cost to produce a mortgage falls closer to historic lows, with a subhead reading "Independent mortgage bank production profitability improves." Reports like this make it difficult to justify claims that the CFPB is significantly adding to lending costs.
Stephen J. Ware of Kansas has written The Centrist Case for Enforcing Adhesive Arbitration Agreements, Forthcoming in the Harvard Negotiation Law Review. Here is the abstract: "The Politics of Arbitration Law and Centrist Proposals for Reform", 53 Harvard J. on Legislation 711 (2016), explained how issues surrounding consumer, and other adhesive, arbitration agreements became divisive along predictable political lines […]
Here, at The Clearinghouse Blog. Excerpt (footnote omitted): Recently, one hears opponents of regulatory reform arguing that there is no need for regulatory reform because banks are making "record profits." The argument is quite puzzling, but we’ve heard it enough to think it deserved a quick response. Just for starters, step back and think […]
by Jeff Sovern Last week, we reported on a Law360 article by Gary Mason finding benefits to class actions. Mayer Brown's Andrew Pincus has responded to the Law360 piece, also on Law360. Here's an excerpt (with footnotes omitted): The critical question is whether class actions generally deliver relief to class members. The answer: They don’t. * […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. Excerpt: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, still under the leadership of an Obama-appointed director, is expected to scale back its new rule on small-dollar lending as it rushes to complete the regulation * * * * * * The rule is now expected to focus on short-term payday loans that are […]
Colin Hanna, President of Let Freedom Ring USA, has penned Forced arbitration: Big banks' 'Star Chamber' in the Washington Examiner. Excerpt: Elbridge Gerry was a colonial-era plutocrat who became a patriot, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a champion of equal justice under the law. * * * One of his more famous sayings was […]