Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

Want to become a fellow of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers?

We received the following: The American College is now inviting nominations of outstanding lawyers who have achieved preeminence in consumer financial services law. Nominees must: Have 10+ years of experience practicing consumer financial services law; Have a U.S. consumer financial services law practice; Have achieved preeminence in the field through repeated and substantial contributions (e.g., […]

NY Times: Trump Appointees Roll Back Enforcement of Fair Housing Laws

Here, by Debra Kamin. It sounds very bad. Excerpt: In interviews, half a dozen current and former employees of HUD’s fair housing office said that the Trump political appointees had made it nearly impossible for them to do their jobs, which involve investigating and prosecuting landlords, real estate agents, lenders and others who discriminate based […]

Seth Frotman on uniting consumers, workers, and small businesses

At The Sling. An excerpt: This is a moment for advocates—across labor, consumer, and small business—to come together. To align not just around a shared set of values, but a shared understanding of who holds the power in this economy—and how we’re going to take some of it back for the guy who runs the halal cart, […]

ACCFSL Writing Competition announced

We received the following: The American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers is pleased to announce its 2026 annual writing competition to recognize significant written contributions to the field of U.S. consumer financial services law in the following categories: a) Books b) Publishable articles, book chapters, or substantial book reviews by a professional in the […]

Kate Berry: CFPB’s deregulatory agenda aims to rewrite Biden-era rules

In the American Banker. According to Berry, the CFPB wants to eliminate the use of disparate impact for proving violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Because it’s so difficult to win using  the other principal way of proving ECOA violations, disparate treatment (and the Seventh Circuit bars the use of disparate treatment under ECOA […]

Want to discuss your law review article on a podcast?

As regular readers of the blog know, Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Finance Monitor podcast often interviews consumer legal scholars about their scholarship. Consequently, Alan Kaplinsky is always on the lookout for articles to feature on the podcast. If you have an article that you think might be of interest to Consumer Finance Monitor podcast listeners, please […]

A Comment on the Debanking Debate

Over at the Consumer Finance Monitor blog, Alan Kaplinsky has questioned the legal authority for President Trump’s Executive Order barring so-called debanking; that is, when banks close bank accounts based on someone’s political views. The blog post argues that to the extent that the EO is based on the CFPB’s and FTC’s unfairness powers, it […]