by Jeff Sovern On a party line vote of 31-21, the House Appropriations Committee passed the Financial Services Appropriation bill. Section 930 of the bill repeals the CFPB's authority to regulate arbitration. Section 926 would subject the CFPB to the congressional appropriations process, thereby making it more accountable to lobbyists. Section 927 would gut the […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
Here. Seems like there's another one of these kinds of stories every year. Here's an excerpt: 22,000 people have now found themselves legally bound to 1000 hours of community service, including, but not limited to, cleaning toilets at festivals, scraping chewing gum off the streets and “manually relieving sewer blockages”. The (hopefully) joke clause was […]
The hearing was held by the House Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on Financial Services and Consumer Credit. The ACA has a report here. Nine bills were under discussion. Excerpt: “Just to give everyone an idea, H.R. 864, the Stop Debt Collection Abuse Act, was a bipartisan effort on behalf of myself, [U.S. Reps. Keith Ellison, […]
by Jeff Sovern Gene DeSantis served 12 years as Counsel to the Assembly Consumer Protection Committee and also taught Consumer Law for 15 years at Syracuse University and 5 years at Albany Law school. During his time as Counsel, he drafted the NYS law prohibiting the use of mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer contracts, which is preempted by […]
by Jeff Sovern My latest, here. Excerpt: The Wells Fargo case shows the difference between arbitration and class actions: the difference between getting nothing and getting something. * * * Critics of the rule claim that class actions are just giveaways to lawyers. It’s true that not all class actions work as well as the Wells […]
In the SF Chronicle. The indefatigable Ted teaches consumer law at Berkeley. Here is his conclusion: So why did Director Cordray [issue the Arbitration Rule despite opposition from the powerful financial lobby]? Maybe he believes that the American people know a sharp practice when they see one, and that they won’t stand for the undoing […]
by Jeff Sovern Yesterday, according to The Hill, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, announced that he would seek to block the CFPB's Arbitration Rule using the Congressional Review Act, saying: “The Bureau’s new rule on arbitration clauses ignores the consumer benefits of arbitration and treats Arkansans like helpless children, incapable of making business decisions in […]
by Jeff Sovern Here's what David Lazurus says in his LA Times column, Banks and credit card companies can't try to stop you from joining a class action lawsuit — for now: Consumer advocates — who for months have been gearing up for this fight — tell me they have little doubt the House will […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. Call it a long op-ed or a short magazine article, in The Conversation, a forum for academics writing for the public. I co-authored it with my colleagues Gina Calabrese and Ann Goldweber. It discusses life before the CFPB, what the CFPB has done, and the attacks on the Bureau.
by Jeff Sovern House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling has already called for Congress to invalidate the CFPB arbitration rule by using the Congressional Review Act while the US Chamber of Commerce calls it a "Prime Example of [an] Agency Gone Rogue." Sigh.