Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

Another Prediction that Regulation Will Hurt Consumers Proves Wrong

So says Time in Why Banks Love Debit Cards Again.  The report begins as follows: Debit cards were supposed to be toast. The industry started writing their obituary when financial reform targeted overdraft fees and interchange or “swipe” fees, which had made debit cards extremely lucrative for banks. So why is it that banks are […]

Hoofnagle & Whittington Paper on Free Offers

The prolific Chris Jay Hoofnagle of Berkeley and Jan Whittington of the Department of Urban Design and Planning, University of Washington have written The Price of 'Free': Accounting for the Cost of the Internet's Most Popular Price, forthcoming in 61 UCLA Law Review (2014). Here's the abstract: Offers of “free” services abound on the internet. […]

Bales & Gerano Paper: Oddball Arbitration

Richard A. Bales and Mark B. Gerano, both of Northern Kentucky have written Oddball Arbitration, 30 Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal (2013). Here's the abstract: Congress passed the FAA in 1925 to resolve commercial disputes involving merchants. Since then, the Supreme Court has dramatically expanded the scope of the FAA and applied it in […]

More on the CFPB Auto Financing Rules: A Reply to Christopher Willis

by Jeff Sovern Earlier this week, I commented on car dealer opposition to the CFPB's auto financing rules.  Chris Willis replied on Ballard Spahr's informative CFPB Monitor Blog.  I want to respond to two of Chris's points: first, that compliance, policing, and later enforcement steps will increase the cost of credit; and second, that dealers […]

American Banker: Car Dealers Fight Back Against CFPB Auto Financing Rule

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 […]

Will the CFPB Hold Banks Responsible for Their Contracting Parties?

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 […]