We received the following Call for Papers: On April 6, 2022, in addition to announcing an extension of the federal student loan payment pause, the White House announced that the U.S. Department of Education is taking steps to give a fresh start to millions of struggling borrowers who are currently in default on their federal […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern Recently the CFPB announced that in conducting supervisory operations, it takes the position that discrimination is unfair and so violates the Consumer Financial Protection Act. You might think this is pretty straightforward: most of us would think odious discrimination is unfair. Discrimination easily qualifies as unfair under the statutory requirements of unfairness, […]
by Jeff Sovern Remember how Republicans complained how the CFPB was an unaccountable agency because its director could be fired only for cause? And then the Supreme Court ruled in Seila Law that the "for cause" removal limit was unconstitutional so that the president could fire the director without a showing of cause? You might […]
Here. The first episode features a conversation with Abbye Atkinson, professor at Berkeley Law, about her article, Borrowing Equality, published in the Columbia Law Review, and the relationship among credit, debt, social relationships, inequality, and what should be done to pave the way for a better world for borrowers. The podcast will broadcast conversations with […]
Brent W. Ambrose of Pennsylvania State, James Conklin of Georgia, N. Edward Coulson of California, Irvine – Paul Merage School of Business, Moussa Diop of USC, and Luis A. Lopez of the University of Illinois at Chicago have written Does Appraiser and Borrower Race Affect Valuation? Here’s the abstract: Following concerns about undervaluation of minority-owned […]
The Conversation has an interesting piece titled Store credit cards generate corporate profits and disgruntled workers, by a pair of sociology professors, Joya Misra and Kyla Walters. Excerpt: Major apparel companies also sell credit, often with very high fees, like The Gap’s 21.7% starting interest rate, and US$27 to $37 late payment charge. In 2019, […]
Meirav Furth of UCLA and Tel-Aviv University has written Retail Race Discrimination. Here's the abstract: This Article investigates everyday race discrimination while shopping in clothing stores of different price ranges. It reports on an original field experiment which examines the combined effects of race and gender on consumers’ shopping experiences and outcomes. Nineteen testers—Black and white […]
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by Jeff Sovern Probably my favorite podcast is Ballard Spahr's Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast. I learn a tremendous amount from it. Yes, it favors the industry view, as it is certainly entitled to do, but many episodes are devoted to interviewing consumer advocates as well. If you don't listen to it, and you like this […]