by Jeff Sovern David Dayen has coined the phrase, the "Mulvaney Discount," to describe the tendency of CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney to settle cases for less than the original amount. As Dayen and others have pointed out, Mulvaney's CFPB has been announcing more enforcement cases than it did in his first six months. That's […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern We just posted to SSRN the draft of our article, Validation and Verification Vignettes: More Results from an Empirical Study of Consumer Understanding of Debt Collection Validation Notices, Forthcoming in the Rutgers U. L. Rev. (with Kate Walton & Nathan Frishberg). Comments welcome! Here's the abstract: The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act obliges debt […]
So Bloomberg reports (no link available). Kraninger has until July 31 to answer any questions senators submitted after the hearing, so if any such questions were submitted, and she takes the full time allotted, that won't leave much time to digest her answers. The Senate is expected to take a recess during the week of […]
by Jeff Sovern So reports Nancy Cook, in Politico. The adviser is not identified. Excerpt: Mulvaney also has received accolades for his slow dismantling of the former CFPB, a brainchild of Elizabeth Warren’s that was created by Democrats in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and has long been a favorite target for Republicans. […]
Jonathan Weinberg of Wayne State has written 'Know Everything that Can Be Known About Everybody': The Birth of the Credit Report, Villanova Law Review, Forthcoming. Here is the abstract: A remarkable amount of our personal information is in the hands of corporations such as the Experian credit bureau; strangers to us, they make their money by collecting our […]
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 […]
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 […]