by Jeff Sovern Last month, the Department of Justice issued a policy that as DOJ describes it in its announcement of the policy, "prohibits the Department of Justice from using its civil enforcement authority to convert agency guidance documents into binding rules." Times coverage is here. What implications does this have for consumer law? Strictly speaking, […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern The CFPB issued a new strategic plan. I haven't had time to go through it myself, but Consumers Union is unhappy with it. Here's a quote from the CU statement: [The plan] signals that [the CFPB] will ease up on enforcement and investigations of the financial industry and identifies deregulation as a […]
by Jeff Sovern The Hill reports that the president's budget would subject the CFPB budget to the congressional appropriations process, which as we have noted in the past, would effectively give lobbyists power over the CFPB, even when the director is not beholden to the industry. I believe the budget is subject to the filibuster, […]
The report is here. This looks bad. This is the Golden Valley case in which the lender charged up to 950%. Here's an excerpt: Mulvaney declined requests for an interview. In an email, his press representative first said the decision to drop the Golden Valley lawsuit was made by "professional career staff" and not Mulvaney. […]
by Jeff Sovern I am very late to this particular party, but back in November, the Second Circuit decided ARIAS v. GUTMAN, MINTZ, BAKER & SONNENFELDT LLP, an important FDCPA case dealing with a collector-law firm's attempt to collect funds that were exempt from collection. After the firm froze the money in the consumer's bank account, the […]
by Jeff Sovern Last month, Interim Director Mulvaney announced that the Bureau may reconsider the Bureau's payday lending rule. But he can't just rescind it. That would require a full notice-and-comment rulemaking, and that would take longer than Mulvaney will be at the CFPB (under the Vacancies Act, he is limited to 210 days). True, […]
by Jeff Sovern AccountsRecovery.Net reports on an interview, largely about debt collection, with the Acting Director of the FTC's Consumer Protection Bureau, Thomas Pahl, at a Receivables Management Association conference this week. Some excerpt: “It’s difficult to speak about where the agency is headed given the organization is changing,” Pahl said during his session, adding that […]
Adam J. Levitin of Georgetown, Patricia A. McCoy of Boston College Law School, Kathleen C. Engel of Suffolk, and Dalié Jiménez of California-Irvine, Connecticut School of Law; and Harvard's Center on the Legal Profession have authored Brief of Amici Curiae Consumer Financial Regulation Scholars in Support of Plaintiff-Appellant Leandra English, English v. Trump, No. 18-5007 (D.C. […]
Quoting from the announcement: In its six-year existence, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proved itself integral to curbing predatory lending and other practices that harm American consumers every day, a survey from the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) shows. The survey found that consumers and their advocates enforce and rely on the […]
by Jeff Sovern My latest op-ed. Excerpt: It seems unlikely that the bureau would take on a bank like Wells Fargo for [opening unauthorized accounts] or pursue many of Cordray’s other actions now that Mulvaney is in charge. His boss has even praised a bill passed by the House that would strip the CFPB of the authority […]