Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

CFPB announces first enforcement action under Kraninger: Will there be a Kraninger discount, as there was a Mulvaney discount?

by Jeff Sovern Regular CFPB observers will recall that after Mulvaney took over as acting CFPB director, it took many months before the Bureau announced its first enforcement action.  Well, the new director, Kathy Kraninger, has already announced her first settlement. This settlement might offer some guidance as to what kind of director Kraninger will […]

Tsesis Article: Marketplace of Ideas, Privacy, and Digital Audiences

Alexander Tsesis of Loyola of Chicago has written Marketplace of Ideas, Privacy, and Digital Audiences, forthcoming in the Notre Dame Law Review.  Here's the abstract: The availability of almost limitless sets of digital information has opened a vast marketplace of ideas. Information service providers like Facebook and Twitter provide users with an array of personal […]

Sad News: FTC Crippled by Government Shutdown

by Jeff Sovern The FTC was expected to run out of funding to conduct most of its operations at some point today, according to the Washington Post. The FTC's shutdown is obviously bad news for consumers. My understanding is that because the CFPB receives its funding from the Fed, it is not subject to the […]

Applications for Janet D. Steiger Fellowship now open; it pays law students $6,000 to do summer consumer law work

Excerpts from the announcement: The Janet D. Steiger Fellowship Project provides law students the extraordinary opportunity to work in the consumer protection departments of state and territorial Offices of Attorneys General and other consumer protection agencies, including the National Association of Attorneys General and the Attorney General’s Office of the District of Columbia, throughout the […]

Bloomberg Law Insight: Why the ABA Is Wrong on Amending Debt Collection Bill

by Jeff Sovern That's the title of my essay my colleague Gina Calabrese and I wrote here in Bloomberg Law.  Excerpt: The ABA argues that consumers don’t need protection from unscrupulous lawyers because lawyers are already subject to state ethics rules largely written by the ABA itself. Experience tells us otherwise. When a law firm sued […]

Paper: Geography of Credit Invisibility

Kenneth P. Brevoort, Jasper Clarkberg, Michelle Kambara, and Benjamin Litwin, all currently or formerly at the CFPB, have written The Geography of Credit Invisibility. Here's the abstract: This study builds on the Bureau’s earlier work and examines the relationship between geography and credit invisibility. The importance of geography in accessing credit has been long-standing concern for […]

Senate votes to consider Trump’s nomination of Kraninger to head CFPB

Here, in The Hill. Excerpt: Senators voted 50-49, along party lines, to end debate on Kathy Kraninger’s nomination to be the next CFPB director, with no Democrats supporting her. Kraninger is likely to be confirmed next week after a contentious Senate floor debate over her selection.

CFP: International Association of Consumer Law Conference to be held in Indianapolis

The International Association of Consumer Law has put out a call for papers for its 17th Annual Conference to take place in Indianapolis, Indiana on June 13-15, 2019. The theme is “Innovation and the Transformation of Consumer Law.”  The abstract (max. 500 words) submission deadline is: 15 December 2018. Submit to: IACL2019submissions@gmail.com. Quoting from the CFP: […]