Here. Excerpt (but the whole piece is worth reading): Young servicemembers are often easy targets for financial firms marketing loans with ultra-high interest rates. Tens of thousands of servicemembers have benefited from the CFPB’s actions. The agency worked with state attorneys general to secure debt relief for 17,000 servicemembers tricked into taking out high-cost loans for computers, video […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
Here. Excerpts: “There has been talk of getting rid of Cordray, but I think they're trying to figure out what they can do and what [Trump] will actually go along with,” said a person close to the administration. Lawyers who say they’re providing guidance to the White House declined to comment for the record or […]
The petition for review, filed in the DC Circuit, is here. Press release here. Excerpt from the press release: “We’re optimistic that the Court will rein in the FTC’s dangerous and irresponsible abuse of its authority. Instead of protecting consumers, the FTC is protecting unscrupulous auto dealers who engage in false and deceptive advertising about […]
Here (behind paywall). House Financial Services Committee Chair's Financial Choice Act, passed last fall by the committee, is expected to be introduced again in a revised version as soon as this week. While Senate Democrats can usually block legislation by using the filibuster, as long as they hold together, the WSJ reports that some aspects of […]
Here (behind paywall). Net neutrality is in danger.
by Jeff Sovern As well-covered on this blog and elsewhere, Wells Fargo employees opened millions of sham accounts for customers, for which they have paid fines and suffered reputational damage. During the House Financial Services Committee September hearing on the Wells fiasco, some Republican committee members berated Wells Fargo's then-CEO, John Stumpf, for giving ammunition to […]
Here. This is about the resolution we reported about on Thursday to block the CFPB's prepaid debit cards rule from going into effect. The resolution has now drawn the support of seven senators. Excerpt: A spokesman for Sen. Mike Lee said that the “CFPB’s prepaid card rule is overly broad” and would increase compliance costs. […]
Another claim without a source, but the story is here (behind a paywall).
Omri Ben-Shahar and Lior Strahilevitz, both of Chicago, have written Interpreting Contracts via Surveys and Experiments. Here's the abstract: Interpreting the language of contracts is the most common and least satisfactory task courts perform in contract disputes. This article proposes to take much of this task out of the hands of lawyers and judges, entrusting […]
Here. This has been up since December, but I only just saw it. It offers a perspective from an economist. An excerpt: I can see three principles that can justify consumer financial protection beyond simple contract enforcement: Duping people is fraud even if they wouldn’t have been duped had they had infinite time and infinite […]