by Jeff Sovern As an independent agency, the CFPB can issue regulations without approval from the Office of Management and Budget. But the House has now passed a bill that would require OMB to review major regulations promulgated by independent agencies, including the CFPB and the FTC (though the FTC seldom produces regulations, a topic […]
Category Archives: Federal Trade Commission
by Jeff Sovern Here. Here's something they say about transferring the Bureau's authority to the FTC: Transferring all federal consumer protection authority to the Federal Trade Commission, the agency with vast regulatory experience in assessing practices affecting consumer financial services markets, would dramatically improve the federal regulatory framework for consumer financial protection. Maybe Heritage should have paid […]
The WSJ recently published Companies Seek to Sway Trump Administration on FTC Choice (behind pay wall) about who the next FTC chair will be. Google's rivals want Utah AG Sean Reyes, while acting chair Maureen Ohlhausen remains a possibility. Commissioner Ohlhausen is seen as more accommodating to Google because of an earlier antitrust decision in which she […]
Here. Excerpt: They can figure out when you leave town and see where you parked your car. They can see how many times you went to the grocery store or the health clinic. Auto loans to Americans with poor credit have been booming, and many finance companies, credit unions and auto dealers are using technologies […]
Here. Thomas Pahl will be the acting director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection.
by Jeff Sovern The FTC, New Jersey AG's Office, and Vizio have agreed to a court order under which Vizio will pay 2.2 million to settle charges that Vizio recorded and sold information about the viewing practices of consumers watching Vizio TVs without obtaining consumers' consent and without their knowledge. You can read Leslie Fair's […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. Trump criticized Dodd-Frank on the campaign trail, but as far as I know still hasn't said very much about which aspects of the statute he would change. Consequently, it remains unclear what his views of the CFPB are. While he complained about the difficulties small business have in getting loans from […]
Here. Excerpt: [L]ast month the Federal Trade Commission made it easier for cars to be billed as “certified,” even if they were under recall and hadn’t been fixed yet. * * * Buyers who wonder how safe it is to drive with a recalled Takata airbag and check the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website […]
by Jeff Sovern The article is called The Quiet GOP Campaign Against Government Regulation. The whole piece is worth reading, but here's an excerpt: The shorter and easier-to-read of the two bills is called the “Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2017,” or REINS Act, which passed the House in early […]
A statement appears on the FTC website here.