The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued “an advisory opinion to protect Americans from double dealing on digital mortgage comparison-shopping platforms. Companies operating these digital platforms appear to shoppers as if they provide objective lender comparisons, but may illegally refer people to only those lenders paying referral fees. When shoppers use a lender that is […]
Category Archives: Other Lending, Debt, and Credit Issues
The Supreme Court on Friday granted review of a case that arises from a payday loan to a consumer from a corporate entity owned by a Native American tribe. The issue in the case is whether the Bankruptcy Code abrogates tribal sovereign immunity. Given the prevalence of internet-based payday lending affiliated with tribal lenders, the […]
In late December, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a report covering the financial health of American households. Here is the report summary: In 2022, consumer financial health continued to be buoyed by pandemic relief, high employment, and increased savings accumulated during the first year of the pandemic. But financial health was no longer as […]
Here. The first episode features a conversation with Abbye Atkinson, professor at Berkeley Law, about her article, Borrowing Equality, published in the Columbia Law Review, and the relationship among credit, debt, social relationships, inequality, and what should be done to pave the way for a better world for borrowers. The podcast will broadcast conversations with […]
The effort was led by Berkeley's Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice and resulted in production of a series of short memoranda available here. Topics covered include discrimination, arbitration, income share agreements, BNPL, substitution effects of regulation, disclosures, overdraft protections, and more.
Matthew A. Edwards of Baruch has written The Concept and Federal Crime of Mortgage Fraud, 57 American Criminal Law Review (2020). Here is the abstract: The impact of mortgage fraud on the United States financial and economic system during the past twenty years has been severe and enduring. Nothing illustrates this fact better than the […]
by Jeff Sovern So Reuters reports here. According to the report, "customers applying for a new mortgage will need a credit score of at least 700, and will be required to make a down payment equal to 20% of the home’s value." One implication is that JPMorgan Chase at least suspects that traditional credit scores […]
Here. Excerpt: Companies like National Debt Relief seek out heavily indebted consumers with a promise to help them get out from under it. But regulators say these debt-settlement programs can leave customers worse off, facing high fees, damaged credit scores and unexpected income-tax bills. * * * Data from credit-reporting companies has been used by some debt-settlement […]
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 […]
Today, my colleagues at U.S. PIRG Education Fund and the Frontier Group released a new report, “Driving Into Debt: The Hidden Cost of Risky Auto Loans to Consumers and Our Communities.” According to the executive summary (emphasis in original): In much of America, access to a car is all but required to hold a job […]