by Jeff Sovern Here, an op-ed by people from Ohio State, Catherine Montalto, Associate Professor of Consumer Sciences, and Anne McDaniel , Senior Associate Director there. Excerpt: [D]ata from our study showed over half of student loan users tried to borrow as little as possible (52 percent). Additionally, 38 percent considered the total amount of debt that […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
Here. Excerpt from the Issue Brief: Although opponents of financial reform often claim that it has harmed community banks, a closer and more comprehensive review of the economic evidence shows that community banks remain healthy. Critics typically point to declining numbers of community banks as evidence that new regulatory requirements are too restrictive. In reality, […]
We received the following announcement: Consumer Protection and Economic Development July 16th to July 19th, 2017; Porto Alegre (UFRGS), Brazil The Conference celebrating the 25th year of IACL will begin an Opening Session with its Founders, on the Sunday of July 16th, 2017, from 5PM to 8PM, and a Welcome Cocktail. The Conference will run from Monday, […]
by Jeff Sovern Consumers have no legal obligation to pay time-barred debts and suing on such a debt or threatening to sue on one violates the FDCPA. But are consumers ever better off, aside from feeling better for meeting their obligations, by paying such debts? When a statute of limitations is less than seven years, as is […]
Here. Excerpt: While ACA maintains that its 3,500 members have "long been committed to making debt collection a more consumer-friendly experience," its idea of friendly stretches credulity. While the consumer bureau has proposed that collectors limit phone attempts to reach debtors to six a week, the ACA's idea was quite different — to limit "collection call attempts to no more […]
Here (free access). Excerpt: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called for a temporary suspension of all new federal regulations during a speech Tuesday, but even if he wins the White House, stalling or rolling back financial rules may prove to be beyond his reach. * * * "I don't think a full-on moratorium is even […]
We received the following call for papers: The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is hosting a research and policy conference on Financial Innovation: Online Lending to Households and Small Businesses, to be held in Washington, DC on December 2, 2016. The purpose of the conference is to bring together academics, industry participants, […]
Richard Warner of Chicago-Kent and Robert H. Sloan of the University of Illinois at Chicago's Computer Science Department have written Defending Our Data: The Need for Information We Do Not Have. Here's the abstract: Data breaches occur at the rate of over two a day. The aggregate social cost is high. Security experts have long […]
Max N. Helveston of DePaul has written Consumer Protection in the Age of Big Data, 93 Washington University Law Review (2016). Here is the abstract: The Big Data revolution is upon us. Technological advances in the degree to which third parties can record information about individuals, along with increases in the use of predictive analytics, are transforming […]
Max N. Helveston of DePaul has written Regulating Digital Markets, NYU Journal of Law & Business, Forthcoming. Here is the abstract: It has become popular for scholars and non-academic commentators to claim that technological advances have reshaped consumer markets and empowered individuals. Some have argued that the digitization of commerce has leveled the playing field […]