Meirav Furth-Matzkin and Roseanna Sommers, both of Chicago, have written Consumer Psychology and the Problem of Fine Print Fraud, 72 STANFORD LAW REVIEW___ (Forthcoming). Here's the abstract: This Article investigates how laypeople respond to consumer contracts that are formed as a result of fraud. Across four studies, we show that contrary to the prevailing wisdom in […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern The more I think about the CFPB's recent proposal to allow debt collectors to leave limited-content messages over the phone, the more I think the proposal has real problems. The proposal would allow debt collectors to leave voicemails or oral messages with whomever answered the phone. To qualify as a limited-content message, […]
by Jeff Sovern Many states allow their consumers to sue misbehaving companies for unfair practices, including red and purple states like Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia, states that we normally don't think of as being in the vanguard of consumer protection. This power can be important in protecting consumers. For example, the […]
It's to be published next month by Cambridge and sounds like an important contribution. Here's a description: The Foreclosure Echo tells the story of the ordinary people whose quest for the American dream was crushed in the foreclosure crisis when they were threatened with losing their homes. The authors, Linda E. Fisher and Judith Fox […]
by Jeff Sovern It may seem bizarre, but it appears that recommendations that contain information that goes beyond the transactions or experiences of the person writing the letter are subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. For example, if a law professor writes a letter that points out that a student has job experience in […]
by Jeff Sovern On Saturday, I blogged about the College Board's adversity score. Today, in response to my inquiry, I received an email from the College Board which contained the following: We have received questions about whether students and schools can see the content of the Dashboard, and we’re looking into how we might make […]
by Jeff Sovern The Wall Street Journal has reported that the College Board, providers of the SAT tests, will give colleges an adversity score for each applicant who takes the SAT to aid college in admissions decisions. As the Journal explains: This new number, called an adversity score by college admissions officers, is calculated using […]
by Jeff Sovern That's the title of my latest essay for The Conversation, about how preemption of state privacy laws could harm consumers. Here's an excerpt: [R]ather than circumventing state laws, a federal privacy law should work in partnership with them – just as federal laws regulating auto safety such as airbag requirements operate in […]
Tim Lytton at Georgia State has written Outbreak: Foodborne Illness and the Struggle for Food Safety. Here's the blurb: Foodborne illness is a big problem. Wash those chicken breasts, and you’re likely to spread Salmonella to your countertops, kitchen towels, and other foods nearby. Even salad greens can become biohazards when toxic strains of E. coli inhabit the water […]
by Jeff Sovern Until 2015, when consumers submitted disputes to credit bureaus, the credit bureaus submitted the dispute to the creditor which had furnished the information, and if the creditor verified that the information was correct, the credit bureau reportedly would nearly always continue reporting the information in the consumer's credit report, despite the Fair […]