Daniel J. Solove of George Washington has written The Myth of the Privacy Paradox. Here is the abstract: In this article, Professor Daniel Solove deconstructs and critiques the privacy paradox and the arguments made about it. The “privacy paradox” is the phenomenon where people say that they value privacy highly, yet in their behavior relinquish […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
Jim Hawkins of Houston has written Earned Wage Access and the End of Payday Lending. Here is the abstract: Fintech companies have developed a financial product that allows employees to gain access to wages that they have already earned before their scheduled payday. The fee for getting an earned wage advance is usually small, making this […]
by Jeff Sovern Twice a year, CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger testifies before the House Financial Services Committee about the Bureau's Semi-Annual Report. A committee member I always look forward to hearing from is Katie Porter, a former law professor at UC-Irvine, among other schools, with an impressive record of consumer law scholarship and accomplishment. Representative […]
by Jeff Sovern A recent NY Times article, Chaos at Chain Pharmacies Is Putting Patients at Risk, reminded me of how the Wells Fargo quotas drove Wells employees to open unauthorized accounts. There's a lot in the article, but here are two excerpts: [CVS] Staff members were supposed to persuade 65 percent of patients picking […]
Brady Williams has written Unconscionability as a Sword: The Case for an Affirmative Cause of Action, 107 Calif. L. Rev. 2015 (2019). Here's the abstract: Consumers are drowning in a sea of one-sided fine print. To combat contractual overreach, consumers need an arsenal of effective remedies. To that end, the doctrine of unconscionability provides a […]
Shmuel I. Becher of the Victoria University of Wellington and Uri Benoliel of the College of Law and Business – Ramat Gan Law School have written Sneak in Contracts: An Empirical Perspective. Here's the abstract: Consumer contracts are a pervasive legal tool that governs much of our daily activities. In spite of – or perhaps due […]
by Jeff Sovern On Friday, the CFPB issued a Policy Statement on Abusive Acts or Practices. The Policy Statement is disappointing in several respects. First, it is intended to address a problem that has never been shown to exist. The Bureau explained that the Policy Statement is designed to ensure that “uncertainty does not impede or […]
Here. Excerpt: Community groups across the U.S. are mobilizing to oppose a plan by President Donald Trump's bank regulators to radically remake a landmark law designed to combat discriminatory lending, saying the proposal would undercut that goal. * * * The groups say the proposed regulation, which Otting released jointly with the FDIC on Dec. […]
Here. Free content. In light of the election and the divided Congress, it seems unlikely that anything controversial will pass.
David Dayen has the story in The American Prospect. Here's an excerpt, but the entire story is worth a look: It may seem axiomatic, but it’s rarely stated out loud: Businesses that rely on poor people need the economic system to keep churning out poor people to survive. You almost have to applaud the payday […]