by Jeff Sovern That's the inference to be drawn from a must-read article in the NY Times, ‘Scared to Death’ by Arbitration: Companies Drowning in Their Own System. The article points out that arbitrations are taking longer than billed, and companies are refusing to pay arbitration fees. AN ADDITIONAL NOTE: As Allison noted in an […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
in The American Prospect, my latest op-ed, with Norm Silber. Excerpt: For the next stimulus package, rather than sending tens of millions of checks to consumers, Congress would do better to strike at the economic crisis by using the existing lending mechanism, right in front of us, that more than three-quarters of us already possess: credit […]
Guest Post by Dee Pridgen: Consumers who have ongoing memberships at gym or fitness centers may wonder what their rights are when these facilities are shut down by government order during the corona virus pandemic. While these clubs have contracts with provisions that probably favor the provider, there are some things consumers can do. Some […]
by Jeff Sovern . . . during the pandemic as long as they act in good faith, according to a Policy Statement. The Policy Statement shouldn't affect private enforcement of the deadlines for investigating errors in consumer reports, however.
by Jeff Sovern Earlier this year, the CFPB created a Taskforce to make "recommendations for ways to improve and strengthen consumer financial laws and regulations." The Taskforce is chaired by George Mason professor Todd Zwyicki and its other members are J. Howard Beales III, Thomas A. Durkin, William C. MacLeod, and Jean Noonan. As far […]
by Jeff Sovern Evan Weinberger reports here. The bill's text is not yet available at Govtrack. I wonder if the bill would also apply to consumers who have not lost their jobs or had hours cut back because of the pandemic, and if so, what incentives it would create for them.
The Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) are co-hosting a webinar focusing on student loan repayment during the coronavirus pandemic. More information and registration here.
Hofstra's Norm Silber, who studied gift cards and other merchant cash substitutes for his article, Merchant Authorized Consumer Cash Substitutes, 14 University of Virginia Law & Business Review (2019), urges consumers to spend their gift cards online. He points out that [A] gift card always involves insolvency risks, but the problem has never been as […]
After Katrina, Norm Silber wrote an article, Debts, Disasters, and Delinquencies: The Case for a Mandatory Force Majeure Provision in Consumer Credit Agreements, and for a Consumer Credit Insurance Fund, 34 New York University Review of Law and Social Change 1 (2010), which has lessons for consumer protection as we grapple with the coronavirus. Here […]
by Jeff Sovern Yesterday, as part of his response to the coronavirus, President Trump announced that he was temporarily waiving "interest on all student loans held by federal government agencies." According to the NY Times, monthly payments won't change. Instead, the monthly payments will go to reducing the principal, which will ultimately reduce the amount […]