Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

Kraninger resigns as CFPB director

by Jeff Sovern The American Banker's Kate Berry has the report here. Meanwhile, CQ Roll Call's Steven Harass reports that House Financial Services ranking member Patrick McHenry is critical of the selection of Rohit Chopra as the new CFPB Director, saying "the selection will foster a culture of “overregulation” at the agency." The article continues:  […]

American Banker’s Kate Berry reports Rohit Chopra could be acting CFPB while his confirmation is pending.

Here. Excerpt: Chopra is expected to be installed as the CFPB’s acting director while he waits for a quick Senate confirmation, experts said. Because Chopra is currently a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission and therefore is already Senate-confirmed, Biden can install him as the acting director * * * “He is already Senate-confirmed so […]

Becher, Feldman and Furth paper on the problem of salespeople’s oral promises that are disclaimed in the fine print

Shmuel I. Becher of Victoria University of Wellington, Yuval Feldman of Bar-Ilan University, and Meirav Furth of UCLA have written Seductive Oral Deals. Here's the abstract: Legal scholars have devoted considerable attention to contractual design that exploits consumers’ vulnerabilities (“the paper deal”). For example, scholars have cautioned against the inclusion of one-sided, exploitative, or unenforceable […]

CJ&D Report on lawsuits that save lives

Here's the press release: STUDY SHOWS HOW LAWSUITS SAVE LIVES AND CAN MITIGATE OUR NATION’S MOST SERIOUS CRISES NEW YORK — The Center for Justice & Democracy at New York Law School (CJ&D) released today Lifesavers 2021: CJ&D’s Guide to Lawsuits that Protect Us All. The study describes over 125 lawsuits that have led to major safety […]

Ballard Spahr announces Diversity Fellowship Program for 2Ls

From the announcement: Ballard Spahr is excited to host a 2L Diversity Fellowship Program in partnership with our Consumer Financial Services (CFS) group. Through this program, we will select an outstanding 2L student who will be employed by Ballard Spahr as a 2021 summer associate in the CFS group. The student will spend time during […]

WSJ: Biden to nominate FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra to be CFPB Director

by Jeff Sovern Report here (may be behind a paywall). FTC bio here. My first reaction is that he's an excellent choice. UPDATE: Blog co-founder and prominent Supreme Court consumer advocate Deepak Gupta on the choice: "This is a home run. There's nobody better than Rohit to take the helm of the CFPB at this […]

Please keep Katie Porter on the House Financial Services Committee

by Jeff Sovern The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Representative Katie Porter may be dropped from the House Financial Services Committee.  As someone who has regularly listened to House Financial Services Committee hearings on consumer matters for years, I believe that would be a huge loss. I cannot think of anyone who has been […]