by Jeff Sovern In her written testimony, and again in her oral testimony, Kathy Kraninger, the president's nominee to head the CFPB, promised to be transparent and accountable. But her testimony yesterday, in which she said giving her personal opinion was not appropriate, was anything but. Don't take my word for it; here's how one […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern For years, Republicans have complained that they felt frustrated by the CFPB. During her confirmation hearing today, Kraninger got revenge on their behalf on Democrats by refusing to answer their questions. Here is an excerpt from Renae Merle's story in WaPo: Kathy Kraninger, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection […]
Here, by Victoria Finkle (free content). Excerpt: Perhaps the biggest hurdle Kraninger will encounter is demonstrating a familiarity with the consumer protection laws she would be tasked with overseeing, given her lack of industry experience. Some in banking continue to speculate whether the White House tapped her for the post as a serious bid — […]
by Jeff Sovern Allied Progress has posted a list of ten questions for Kathy Kraninger at her confirmation hearing Thursday. The list includes many excellent questions, but I would love to see her also asked specific questions about consumer law because I am curious to see how much she knows about the laws she will interpret […]
William McGeveran of Minnesota has written The Duty of Data Security, 102 Minnesota Law Review (2018, Forthcoming). Here is the abstract: As data breaches become larger and more frequent, the question naturally arises: what precautions does the law require of the data custodians who hold our personal information in their digital files? What is the legal duty of […]
by Jeff Sovern The president today issued an executive order creating a Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud within the Department of Justice. It has a large number of members, including the CFPB director and chair of the FTC. Among Its functions are to : (a) provide guidance for the investigation and prosecution […]
Leandra English has announced that she is leaving the CFPB next week in light of the nomination of a new director. Her attorney, CL&P blogger Deepak Gupta, has said that he will intends to file papers next week "to bring the litigation to a close."
Susan Block-Lieb of Fordham has written Cities as a Source of Consumers’ Financial Empowerment, 34 Emory Bankruptcy Developments J. 388 (2018). Here's the abstract: Although cities are a poor place to situate consumer protection regulation, especially “top down” efforts to “command and control” lending decisions, they are an especially good source of consumer “empowerment” initiatives. Consumer […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. Kavanaugh, of course, took the position in PHH that the CFPB is unconstitutional as currently structured. Whether other potential nominees would have felt differently if they had decided PHH is unknown.