Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

Is Trump’s debanking lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase precluded by an arbitration clause?

President Trump is no friend of consumer arbitration. As longtime readers of the blog know, during his first term, Trump signed the Congressional Review Act resolution blocking the CFPB’s arbitration rule from going into effect. So it is intriguing to see Trump sue JPMorgan Chase over the bank’s debanking him when his contract with the […]

Gilles article: Arbitration In Name Only

Myriam E. Gilles, now of Northwestern, has written Arbitration In Name Only. Here’s the abstract: Modern arbitration clauses hide a dirty secret: many aren’t arbitration at all. They masquerade as mutual commitments to fair and efficient private dispute resolution but, in truth, are mere imitations of genuine arbitration provisions. Some reserve for the drafter the power […]

Maryland paper calls for state law protecting BNPL consumers

Here in a Maryland Daily Record editorial (behind a paywall but available on Lexis). Here’s an excerpt (disclosure: I am on the editorial board): Some consumers, enticed by BNPL, become overcommitted and can’t meet their financial obligations. You might think BNPL providers would suffer when consumers are in that situation, but the BNPL companies have […]

Mark Budnitz article: Big tech and consumer payments

Mark Elliott Budnitz of Georgia State has written Big Tech and Consumer Payments: The Good, the Bad, and the Unintended Consequences, 37 Loy. Consumer L. Rev. 116 (2025). Here’s the abstract: “Each stage of the American banking industry history demonstrates the interlinkage of finance and technology…” Our era is no exception. The financial services industry […]

Solove article on why private claims are essential to enforce privacy claims

Daniel J. Solove of George Washington has written Enforcing Privacy Law: Why Private Litigation Is Essential. Here’s the abstract: Enforcement is an essential dimension for effective privacy and data protection laws—and it is probably the most important one. No matter how many privacy laws are enacted and how strong the laws are, if enforcement falls short, […]

The American Prospect: The Student Loan Report the Trump Administration Didn’t Want Published

Here. Here’s an excerpt from the story (not the report itself) about an omitted section: The college pricing section focuses on the role universities themselves play in the student loan crisis. The sticker price for college tuition has risen at more than double the rate of inflation since the year 2000. Most students don’t pay […]

Politico reports that CFPB sharply cut student loan report; Bureau personally attacks author of original draft

Here. Excerpt: The level of changes to this year’s report seem to go far beyond the agency’s standard editing process, said Mike Pierce, who served as the senior adviser to the student loan ombudsman at CFPB from 2011-2018. “I can’t ever think of a set of circumstances or something quite like this [that] happened in […]