by Jeff Sovern Here. The piece begins: Auto dealership advocates are warning that costs will rise for borrowers if the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau presses banks to curtail auto loan markups determined by dealers. The warning followed the CFPB's bulletin this week that said banks are responsible for discrimination if their partner dealers mark up […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern The American Banker has an interesting article titled CFPB Focuses on Consumer Choice – or Lack Thereof which discusses the speech Director Cordray gave to the Consumer Advisory Board last month (Allison blogged about it here). Excerpt from the article follow: [Cordray said] added, "When people cannot vote with their feet, their […]
The Symposium is in Chicago on Friday, April 5, 2013. Looks to be very interesting. More information here.
Here. An excerpt: * * * Nearly 40 percent of dealers responding to a recent unscientific Automotive News survey also expressed concern that they soon will lose the arbitration option. "I think arbitration is on its last legs," said Tom Hudson, a partner in the Hudson Cook law firm in Hanover, Md., who predicts the […]
Now it goes to the floor, again, where Republicans are expected to prevent it from ever getting to a vote. The Washington Post has the story here.
by Jeff Sovern Here's what the Times's Joe Nocera wrote in his column today: [The OCC] is a classic captured regulator. As American Banker pointed out recently, the Promontory Financial Group, a prominent banking consulting firm founded by Eugene Ludwig, a former comptroller of the currency, recently hired the O.C.C.’s general counsel, Julie Williams. And […]
So says The Hill. Of course, that doesn't mean the Republicans will allow the full Senate to vote on the nomination. As for the merits of his nomination (not that that matters to the Republicans), The Hill states: There really haven't been any questions about Cordray's ability to do the job. In fact, he's gotten […]
Dustin A. Zacks of King, Nieves & Zacks PLLC has written Revenge of the Clerks: MERS Confronts County Clerk and Qui Tam Lawsuits, 32 Banking & Financial Services Policy Report No. 1 (2013). Here's the abstract: Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) has faced unceasing controversy from litigators and scholars for its role in foreclosures, […]
Marc Lane Roark of Missouri has written Payment Systems, Consumer Tragedy, and Ineffective Remedies, forthcoming in 86 St. John's Law Review (2013). Here's the abstract: Payment methods like the Starbucks Rewards Card, while imitating liquidity, are challenged by confidence-detracting barriers of too little consumer knowledge and a lack of appropriate remedies. Starbucks operates as a […]
Here. And here's the beginning: Imagine you’ve clicked on your computer screen to accept a contract to purchase a good or service—a contract, you only realize later, that’s straight out of Kafka. The widget you’ve bought turns out to be a nightmare. You take to Yelp.com to complain about your experience—but lo, according to the […]