We've received the following call for papers: Submission Due Date: Sunday, June 17, 2018 at midnight The Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy, Boston College Law School, and the National Consumer Law Center are pleased to announce a symposium on Post-Secondary Education Non-Completion and Student Loan Debt to take place at Boston College Law […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney doubles as OMB director, meaning that he is doing two full-time jobs, and that therefore the CFPB does not have a full-time director. But the next director may be at the Bureau even less often than Mulvaney. As Allison has noted, reports indicate that the president intends […]
by Jeff Sovern One of my students told me about Tinder's new retroactive arbitration clause which, of course, includes a class action waiver. As with many such contracts, consumers accept it by using the service, regardless of whether they have read it or not–and we know few consumers actually read such things. The arbitration clause, […]
by Jeff Sovern Alan Kaplinsky and Chris Willis, on the one hand, and Adam Levitin, on the other, have been dueling over the impact of Congress’s use of the Congressional Review Act to disapprove of the CFPB’s Indirect Auto Lending Guidance. Those of us interested in consumer financial law are lucky to have these titans […]
by Jeff Sovern Glen Thrush has an article in the Times headlined Mulvaney Demotes Unit That Polices Student Loans in Consumer Bureau Reshuffle. Excerpt: The change comes at a critical moment in the agency’s effort to rein in abuses in the student loan industry. The program, started under the Obama administration, has clawed back about $750 […]
by Jeff Sovern It sounds like the House will vote on, and presumably pass, the Senate bill as is. In return, the Senate will take up certain as-yet-unidentified House bills that passed by a margin of at least two-thirds, meaning that at least some Democrats voted for them. It's not clear, but it looks like […]
Joseph Lawler reports in the Washington Examiner. Excerpt: [T]he resolution passed Tuesday raises a tricky legal question regarding what it means for Congress to disapprove of informal guidance that an agency sends to businesses. When Congress disapproves of a rule enforced by an agency, the meaning is clear: The agency is not allowed to enforce […]
Adam Levitin has written about what this means–or doesn't mean–at Credit Slips.
Here, in the LA Times. The headline reads White House-backed bill purports to strengthen consumer protection. It does the opposite. Excerpt: California's credit-freeze law, for example, says no one can access your credit file if a freeze is in place, including a potential employer performing a background check or an insurance company. The new federal bill, […]
by Jeff Sovern During the House Financial Services Committee hearing in which the Committee heard from CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, there was some discussion about how the number of CFPB staffers had barely gone down under Mr. Mulvaney's leadership–it was said that the number of CFPB employees had declined by something like ten–and that […]