Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

House Continues War on Consumer Protection

by Jeff Sovern The House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services has released the draft of a bill it is considering that would hamstring the CFPB and at least temporarily preserve pre-dispute arbitration clauses, among other things. Here is how the Subcommittee describes the CFPB portion of the bill: The bill includes a provision […]

Peter Holland’s Powerful Piece: Current Trends in Consumer Junk Debt Buyer Litigation

Here.  In the Maryland Bar Journal.  And here is the abstract: This article examines current trends in debt buyer litigation, including a review of recent regulatory actions and the impact of debt buyer lawsuits on individual consumers and on small claims courts. The article calls for a ban on the sale of consumer junk debt […]

ALTA Survey Finds Increase in Consumer Review of Mortgage Disclosures Under New TRID (TILA/RESPA) Disclosures

by Jeff Sovern A press release is here. ALTA is the American Land Title Association. I haven't read the study (I couldn't find the actual report of the study on the web site), but it reports an increase in consumers who read the mortgage disclosures from 74% to 92% since the TRID disclosures went into effect. The […]

Chris Peterson Article on CFPB Enforcement

Christopher Lewis Peterson of Utah has written Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Law Enforcement: An Empirical Review, forthcoming in the Tulane Law Review. Here's the abstract: In the aftermath of the U.S. financial crisis, Congress created a new federal agency — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — with the goal of fashioning a more just […]

Politico: Uncovering the ‘astroturf’ firm behind the CFPB attack ads

Here. Excerpt: The campaign is being run by Lincoln Strategy Group, a political consulting firm Tempe, Ariz. Its founder, Nathan Sproul, has been linked to several instances of suspected voter fraud and barred from Republican Party contracts. The company also worked with Steve Gates, the only person previously identified with Protect America's Consumers, on the […]

Perzanowski & Hoofnagle Article on What Consumers “Buy” When They Buy Digital Media

Aaron Perzanowski of Case Western Reserve and Chris Jay Hoofnagle of Berkeley have written What We Buy When We 'Buy Now', 165 University of Pennsylvania Law Review (Forthcoming 2017), Here's the abstract: Retailers such as Apple and Amazon market digital media to consumers using the familiar language of product ownership, including phrases like “buy now,” […]