Yonathan A. Arbel of Alabama has written Adminization: Gatekeeping Consumer Contracts, Vanderbilt Law Review, Forthcoming. Here's the abstract: Large companies and debt collectors frequently file unmeritorious claims against consumers. Recent high-profile actions brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) against JP Morgan, Citibank, and large debt collectors illustrate the breadth and importance of this phenomenon. Due to […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern The title of the piece, in The New Republic, is The Left’s Misguided Debate Over Kamala Harris. Perhaps non-Californians will be less interested in the parts about Kamala Harris and more interested in the parts about foreclosure victims (recall that Dayen wrote the excellent book Chain of Title about the foreclosure crisis). Here […]
Julapa Jagtiani and Catharine Lemieux of the Fed have written Fintech Lending: Financial Inclusion, Risk Pricing, and Alternative Information. Here's the abstract: Fintech has been playing an increasing role in shaping financial and banking landscapes. Banks have been concerned about the uneven playing field because fintech lenders are not subject to the same rigorous oversight. There have also […]
by Jeff Sovern Here, in The News-Press. Debt buyers use small claims courts to get judgments to enforce debts even though it is not clear how often those debt buyers can prove the facts pertaining to the debt. Excerpt: Of more than 1,800 small claims cases filed in Lee County over the first five months […]
Chuck Muth has written If Congress Won’t Protect Us from Wells Fargo, then at Least Get Out of the Way. Here's an excerpt: Now, as a conservative I fully support the right of private individuals to freely and voluntarily contract with each other * * * But to require someone to sign away a CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT […]
Here. The graph in the article is mind-boggling.
Here. Excerpt: [S]upport [to overturn the rule] in the Senate is uncertain. No Democrats are likely to back the effort, and Republicans, with their slim majority, can’t afford to lose more than two GOP votes. Several Republican senators have expressed reservations about voting to overturn the regulation, worried they may be portrayed as siding with […]
Jean R. Sternlight of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has written Hurrah for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Consumer Arbitration As a Poster Child for Regulation, 48 St. Mary's Law Journal 343 (2016). Here is the abstract: Drawing on economic, psychological and philosophical considerations, this Essay considers whether consumers should be "free" to "agree" […]
by Jeff Sovern According to Politico, President Trump first used the phrase "drain the swamp" in a speech on October 17, 2016, in which he announced an ethics plan to, in fact, drain the swamp. Here's the Washington Post's quote of what he said draining the swamp meant: First: I am going to re-institute a […]
Here. Excerpt: Big Lie No. 1: Bank lobbyists claim that people recover more in arbitration than in class actions: $32 per person in class actions versus $5,400 per person in arbitration, citing the CFPB’s study. * * * The very few people who take the time and expense to pursue an individual arbitration — only […]