by Jeff Sovern Here. The article reports GOP criticism of the CFPB in connection with the Wells scandal. Excerpt: “Why does it take the L.A. Times to break this story, when we’re paying federal investigators to investigate?” [House Financial Services Committee Chair Jeb] Hensarling recently told Fox Business Network. “Where was the CFPB? Why did they […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
Here is the Consumer Reports story. Excerpt: If a bank employee opens fake accounts and credit cards in your name, as recently happened at Wells Fargo, you may be charged fees for those fake accounts, which you didn't pay because you didn't know the accounts existed. And since you didn't pay those fees, your credit report […]
SCOTUSblog has more on the case here. CL&P Blog's co-coordinator Deepak filed the cert petition. Clarification: Brian Wolfman points out that it would be more precise to describe the issue as to how the surcharge ban can be described without violating the first amendment.
Jim Hawkins of Houston has written Exploiting Advertising, Law and Contemporary Problems, Forthcoming. Here's the abstract: Advertising’s goal, we all know, is to cause people to spend more money. Often, it exploits bad decision-making to accomplish it. This Article hopes to turn the tables and offer a way for policymakers to exploit the information presented […]
by Jeff Sovern The country faces many issues which merit attention during the debates. Among them is consumer protection. Failures of consumer law contributed to 2008's Great Recession. Consumer protection is regularly in the headlines (just ask Wells Fargo or Volkswagen). The choice of the next president is likely to have a huge impact on consumer […]
by Jeff Sovern As we noted yesterday, on Tuesday, Wells Fargo CEO John G. Stumpf testified before the Senate Banking Committee about the Wells Fargo Customer Fraud Fiasco. Video is available here and Senator Elizabeth Warren's two rounds of questioning, by themselves, here. I have now listened to Mr. Stumpf's testimony, and I learned that Wells engaged in cross-selling to […]
Here. Excerpt: Republicans don’t like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They opposed the very idea of the watchdog when Elizabeth Warren first proposed its creation, and they have been trying to defang and defund it ever since Congress made her vision into a reality. * * * But CFPB is still facing heat from Republicans […]
A continuing issue in consumer protection is that disclosures may convey the required information, but consumers may ignore them, so they have no impact. The FTC held a workshop last week to look at how to test disclosures to make them more effective. Ad Law Access has posted a report on the Workshop, Beyond “Clear […]
That's a point made in an op-ed in The Hill, Why Wells Fargo Got Away with It So Long by Public Citizen's Robert Weissman and AFR's Lisa Donner. The whole piece is worth reading, but here's an excerpt: [M]ore than three years ago, a Wells Fargo customer named David Douglas sued in California, contending that the bank's employees […]