For the Journal of Consumer Policy. More here.
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern When mobile phones have GPS devices, as many smart phones do, mobile phone providers can track their customers wherever they take their phones (providers can also track phones lacking a GPS, but less precisely). For an example, go here to see how Deutsche Telefon recorded the location of one of its customers for […]
Here. An excerpt: As a recess appointee, Cordray can stay in the job only through the end of this year. But even that timetable will likely not be of much significance. After Cordray departs, the agency will be run by the next in line and there is little reason to think the bureau’s agenda would […]
In the Huffington Post, with Joseph Sanderson.
Raymond H. Brescia and Edward J. Ohanian, both of Albany have written The Politics of Procedure: An Empirical Analysis of Motion Practice in Civil Rights Litigation Under the New Plausibility Standard, forthcoming in 46 Akron Law Review (2013). Here's the abstract: Is civil procedure political? In May of 2009, the Supreme Court issued its decision […]
by Jeff Sovern We frequently write here about the Fair Credit Reporting Act because of its application to credit reports. But in fact, the FCRA applies to many non-credit transactions. Those transactions typically take one of two forms. In one form someone uses a credit report for something other than a lending decision. For example, […]
by Jeff Sovern Traditional consumer protection rules drew on law and economics models that assumed that consumers were rational and that when consumer markets functioned poorly, all that needed to be done was give rational consumers the ability to protect themselves. For example, the Truth in Lending Act's focus on disclosures presupposes that rational consumers would […]
Here. Excerpt: The current rate for loans from the window is about 0.75 percent, while students are facing rates of 6.8 percent, Warren said. "In other words, the federal government is going to charge students interest rates that are nine times higher than the rates for the biggest banks — the same banks that […]
Here. The report is by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development. It estimates the loans cost more than 14,000 jobs.
Omri Ben-Shahar of Chicago has written Regulation Through Boilerplate: An Apologia, forthcoming in the Michigan Law Review. Here's the abstract: This essay reviews Margaret Jane Radin’s Boilerplate: The Fine Print, Vanishing Rights, And The Rule Of Law (Princeton Press, 2013). It responds to two of the book’s principal complaints against boilerplate consumer contracts: that […]