We've received the following Call for Papers: 4th CFPB Research Conference on Consumer FinanceDecember 12th–13th, 2019This December, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will host its fourth researchconference on consumer finance at Catholic University in Washington, DC. Information on priorconferences can be found here: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/cfpbresearch-conference/We encourage the submission of a variety of research. This includes, […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
Daniel Schwarcz of Minnesota has written Towards a Civil Rights Approach to Insurance Anti-Discrimination Law, 69 DePaul Law Review (Forthcoming). Here's the abstract: Discrimination is fundamental to the business of auto and homeowners insurance. Yet state insurance law does remarkably little to police against the risk that this discrimination will unfairly harm minority or low-income […]
by Jeff Sovern Many consumer laws require that businesses make "clear and conspicuous" disclosures. See, e.g., Reg Z, 12 C.F.R. 1026.17(a)(1) (closed-end loans). But increasingly, consumers are obtaining loans through mobile phones. How can any disclosure on those tiny screens be clear and conspicuous? When the Fed thought about this issue back in 2007, it […]
Matthew A. Bruckner of Howard has written Preventing Predation & Encouraging Innovation in Fintech Lending. Here is the abstract: More than 20 years ago, IBM's Deep Blue vanquished chess grandmaster and reigning world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, in a pair of best-of-six matches. Since then, numerous companies have invested large sums of money to develop additional […]
by Jeff Sovern Norm Silber of Hosfstra has pointed out to me that the New York legislature has passed two consumer protection bills that await Governor Cuomo's signature. One, S03704, would amend New York's existing Plain Language Law to require that consumer contracts involving up to $250,000 be written "in a clear and coherent manner […]
From the announcement: The Berkeley Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice is pleased to announce that the second annual Consumer Law Scholars Conference will be held at the UC Berkeley School of Law on March 5-6, 2020. The conference will provide those who publish in the field of Consumer Law the opportunity to share […]
by Jeff Sovern The industry and some others often complain about "regulation by enforcement," by which I gather is meant that enforcement agencies bring actions against businesses without having previously given extremely clear notice that, in the agency's view, the conduct that is the subject of the action violates existing law. Director Cordray's CFPB was […]
Gregory S. Crespi of Southern Methodist Universit has written Why Are 99% of the Applications for Debt Discharge under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program Being Denied, and Will This Change? Here is the abstract: During the first 18 months after October 1, 2017 that student loan borrowers were able to apply for tax-free debt […]
John P. Hunt of California, Davis has written Promoting the Purposes of Student Loans by Tempering Bankruptcy Nondischargeability. Here's the abstract: Student loans, unlike other debts, are not dischargeable in bankruptcy unless the debtor starts a special proceeding and proves that repayment would cause “undue hardship.” This requirement probably accounts for the fact that only a […]
by Jeff Sovern Regular blog subscribers may recall that last year, at Richard Alderman's Teaching Consumer Law Conference, I asked two questions of attendees about whether they read contracts or required disclosures (those results are available here). James Nehf generously allowed me to ask the same questions at his IACL conference last week. The IACL […]