Chris Jay Hoofnagle of Berkeley has written Privacy and Security Through the Lens of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Economics. Here's the abstract: At the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), all privacy and security matters are assigned to a consumer protection economist from the agency’s Bureau of Economics (BE). The BE is an important yet […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
Kevin M. McDonald of VW Credit, Inc. has written Who's Policing the Financial Cop on the Beat? A Call for Judicial Review of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Non-Legislative Rules, 35 Review of Banking and Financial Law, 224 (2015-2016). Here's the abstract: This law review article addresses administrative power in the context of financial services. The Dodd-Frank Act […]
From the announcement: Key Industry and Policymaker Questions to be Addressed at the Conference: Is subprime financing fueling a bubble in the market for used cars? What are the parallels and differences between subprime auto lending today and subprime mortgage lending leading up to the financial collapse? What are bank regulators, […]
Here. Here's the beginning of the piece: Bill Doak and his wife, Linda, were preparing to buy a new house this spring when a mortgage broker made an ominous declaration after scanning their credit report: “Oh my God, you’re in trouble.” The couple discovered five late payments on the loan on the home they were selling in […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. Excerpt: The draft bill approved by the House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee on Wednesday included a provision that would change the CFPB from a director-led agency to a bipartisan commission, as well as language that would make funding for the bureau subject to the annual appropriations process. Both measures largely pit […]
by Jeff Sovern From a BBC News report: The average Norwegian has 33 apps, the Norwegian Consumer Council says, whose terms and conditions together run longer than the New Testament. To prove the "absurd" length, the council got Norwegians to read each of them out in real time on their website. The reading finished on […]
Here (behind a paywall, unfortunately).
A few weeks ago, we posted an item headed Announcement for Students and Others:Antitrust and Consumer Protection State Legislation Monitoring Initiative. The deadline for submissions has been moved to June 10. For convenience, I've reposted the announcement below the fold.
by Jeff Sovern The House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services has released the draft of a bill it is considering that would hamstring the CFPB and at least temporarily preserve pre-dispute arbitration clauses, among other things. Here is how the Subcommittee describes the CFPB portion of the bill: The bill includes a provision […]
Here. In the Maryland Bar Journal. And here is the abstract: This article examines current trends in debt buyer litigation, including a review of recent regulatory actions and the impact of debt buyer lawsuits on individual consumers and on small claims courts. The article calls for a ban on the sale of consumer junk debt […]