We received the following announcement: The Section on Financial Institutions and Consumer Financial Protection is pleased to announce a Call for Papers from which up to two presenters will be selected for our program to be held during the AALS 2017 Annual Meeting in San Francisco on Friday, January 6, 2017 at 8:30 a.m. The topic […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
We received the following announcement: ALBANY LAW SCHOOL invites applications for an entry-level tenure-track position to teach a range of commercial, consumer and business law courses. We are especially interested in candidates with experience and expertise in the following subject matter areas: sales, payments, consumer law, mortgages and liens, corporations, regulatory compliance, creditor’s rights, and/or […]
by Jeff Sovern The Senate letter, signed by more than a third of the Senators, is here, and the House letter with 65 signers, is here. The letters are more than pro forma expressions of support. They are extensively footnoted (and the House letter cites the law professor letter joined by more than 200 professors). Some excerpts […]
Here. Excerpt: Even before the November election, warning lights were flashing. Jeb Hensarling, the Republican member of Congress who chairs the House financial services committee, has declared he won’t rest until he tosses post-financial crisis reforms like the Dodd-Frank Act “on to the trash heap of history”. Hensarling is also a fierce opponent of the […]
by Jeff Sovern Smart guns–guns that block anyone other than their owner from shooting them– would save lives. Children would not be able to grab them and shoot themselves by accident. People couldn't turn them on their owners. Smart gun technology exists, just as iPhones can be personalized using fingerprints and passcodes. But gun manufacturers won't sell […]
Chris Hoofnagle has posted online Chapter 6, titled Online Privacy, from his excellent book, Federal Trade Commission Privacy Law and Policy (I'm still making my way as my schedule permits through the book and hope to post a review someday). Here's the abstract: This is the full text of Chapter 6 (Online Privacy) from Federal Trade […]
Journalist Bob Sullivan emailed Advance Cash Services to elicit a comment on a consumer's story of how she had been dunned for a phantom debt. He didn't get the comment, but the collector sent him an email demanding he repay a payday loan that he never took out, for $935.76. His story is here.
Back in February, Gregory Gauthier wondered why Starbucks changed its arbitration clause. Now, he writes: I was looking through the Q2 2016 Consumer Arbitration Statistics for the American Arbitration Association, and I found a case filed against Starbucks on January 18, 2016 (case #011600001646, row 5053). The Colorado pro se consumer in that case brought […]
by Jeff Sovern Brian posted this morning on the CFPB's debt collection proposal. I wanted to focus just on the validation requirements. Appendix F to the Bureau's proposal speaks to the validation notice. The Proposal indicates that the Bureau has conducted and continues to conduct extensive consumer testing of validation notices. I don't know what […]