Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

Senator Moves to Block CFPB Prepaid Card Rule Day After CFPB Fines Card Issuers for Harming Consumers

by Jeff Sovern Who needs fiction when we have this?  Information about the resolution, introduced under the Congressional Review Act, and so filibuster-proof, is here.  It's sponsor is GOP Senator David Perdue of Georgia.  The CFPB's press release is here.  Here' s the first paragraph of the press release: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today took action […]

Cooper & Shepherd Paper: Economic and Emprical Analysis of State Consumer Protection Acts

James C. Cooper of George Mason and Joanna Shepherd of Emory have written State Consumer Protection Acts: An Economic and Empirical Analysis.  Here's the abstract: Consumer protection acts (CPAs) developed with the goal to protect American consumers from fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices. Initially, Congress, through the FTC Act, sought to define and deter […]

Law360’s Evan Weinberger: If CFPB Loses PHH Case, Trump’s EO Requiring Elimination of Two Regs for Every New Reg Will Apply to CFPB

Here (behind paywall, I think). Excerpt: The White House later confirmed to Reuters that the executive order did not touch independent regulatory agencies. * * * That exclusion means that the Fed, the CFPB and other independent financial regulators, as well as the Dodd-Frank rules, are safe from the executive order for now. * * * […]

CNN: Trump pledges to ‘do a big number’ on Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform

by Jeff Sovern Here.  Trump criticized Dodd-Frank on the campaign trail, but as far as I know still hasn't said very much about which aspects of the statute he would change.  Consequently, it remains unclear what his views of the CFPB are. While he complained about the difficulties small business have in getting loans from […]

Will Todd Zywicki Replace Cordray as CFPB Director?

So speculates Joseph Rubin in the American Banker here (free content).  Here is the paragraph with the speculation: The Washington rumor mill has already focused on potential CFPB successors preferred by the Trump administration, such as Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, and George Mason University professor Todd Zywicki. Both are critics of the CFPB, and would likely […]

Columbus Dispatch Report: Trump treasury pick Mnuchin misled Senate on foreclosures, Ohio cases show

Here.  Excerpt: "OneWest Bank did not 'robo-sign' documents," Mnuchin wrote in response to questions from individual senators, "and as the only bank to successfully complete the Independent Foreclosure Review required by federal banking regulators to investigate allegations of 'robo-signing,' I am proud of our institution's extremely low error rate." But a Dispatch analysis of nearly […]

Danielle Beavers on Charges of Discrimination at CFPB: Consumer financial protection is under attack by phony claims

Here, in The Hill. Beavers is director of diversity and inclusion at The Greenlining Institute.  Excerpt: Some critics—not previously known as leaders on diversity or civil rights—claim that the CFPB has become “a breeding ground” for discrimination that devalues employees of color and women. As an advocate for diversity—and specifically as an advocate for communities of color—I have […]

NY Times: How to Buy a Used Car in an Age of Widespread Recalls

Here. Excerpt: [L]ast month the Federal Trade Commission made it easier for cars to be billed as “certified,” even if they were under recall and hadn’t been fixed yet. * * * Buyers who wonder how safe it is to drive with a recalled Takata airbag and check the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website […]

Dean Baker: The Economic Efficiency Argument for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Here.  Excerpt: The basic story is that if it's possible to make lots of money by using deceptive contracts to ripoff consumers, then many very talented and hard-working people will spend their time developing schemes to ripoff consumers. Instead of doing things that contribute to consumers' well-being (e.g. developing better products), these people will be […]

Dee Pridgen, Christopher L. Willis, & I to Speak at Ballard Spahr Webinar on the Trump Administration and Consumer Protection

by Jeff Sovern It's scheduled for February 8, 2017, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm ET. More information here. Alan Kaplinsky will moderate. Some of the questions we hope to address:    *   What might prevent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray from serving out his full term which expires in July 2018 […]