Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

What Proportion of Consumers With Material Errors in Their Credit Reports Complain to Credit Bureaus?

by Jeff Sovern For the credit reporting section of our casebook, I've been looking into studies of credit report errors.  The FTC is in the process of conducting a long-term study of that subject, and along the way has conducted some pilot studies.  One such pilot study subjected the credit reports of 128 people to in-depth […]

Paper on Defending Foreclosure Actions

Marcia Johnson of Texas Southern and Luckett Anthony Johnson have written Defending Foreclosure Actions, 49 Real Estate Law Journal 516 (2012). Here's the abstract: With the rising incidences of residential foreclosures, many homeowners are overwhelmed by the foreclosure process and anticipated costs and often opt to vacate the premises without offering any defense. The American justice […]

George Will Attacks the CFPB

by Jeff Sovern Here.  It's the usual right-wing attack, most of which has been said before.  I refuted some of what he says in August of 2011 in a column in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. One other point: Will complains that the Bureau will write law through case-by-case enforcement and that this creates uncertainty.  Apparently Will […]

How Common is Identity Theft?

by Jeff Sovern Very common.  In 2010, according to one study, seven percent of American households were victimized by identity thieves, costing them a total of about $13.3 billion, or, for those who experienced losses of at least one dollar caused by the misuse of personal information, an average loss of $13,160. See Lynn Langton, Identity Theft […]

Federal Reserve Paper on Industry Reaction to Data Breaches

Julia S. Cheney, Robert M. Hunt, Katy Jacob, Richard D. Porter and Bruce J. Summers, all of the  Federal Reserve, have written The Efficiency and Integrity of Payment Card Systems: Industry Views on the Risks Posed by Data Breaches.  Here is the abstract: Consumer confidence in payment card systems has been built up over many […]

Where Was Consumer Protection in the Election Campaigns?

by Jeff Sovern President Obama has done more for consumer protection than any president in a generation.  His accomplishments include signing the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, anti-predatory lending laws, and limited the power of traditionally pro-bank agencies like the OCC to preempt state laws protective of consumers; signing the Credit CARD […]

Study Finds Default Counseling Helpful

J. Michael Collins of the University of Wisconsin – Madison – Center for Financial Security, Maximilian D. Schmeiser of the Federal Reserve Board, and Carly Urban of the University of Wisconsin – Madison – Department of Economics have written Protecting Homeowners: Foreclosure Counseling Policies and Modifications of Mortgage Terms. Here's the abstract: Millions of homeowners […]