Category Archives: Uncategorized

CFPB Monthly Complaint Snapshot – debt settlement, check cashing, money orders, and credit repair

This month's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) complaint snapshot highlights consumer complaints about financial services such as debt settlement, check cashing, money orders, and credit repair. The report shows that consumer complaints about these types of financial services generally revolve around issues of fraud or problems with reliable customer service. The report also highlights trends […]

CFPB Ombudsman’s Office 2016 Annual Report

A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau' blog post explains: This month marks the fifth anniversary of the CFPB Ombudsman’s Office, an independent, impartial, and confidential resource that assists consumers, financial entities, consumer groups, trade groups, and others in informally resolving process issues with the CFPB. As we observe this anniversary, today I also want to share […]

Statute Invalidating Non-Disparagement Clauses in Form Consumer Contracts Nears Enactment

by Paul Alan Levy Tuesday morning, Judge Jim Jordan of the Texas District Court for the 160th Judicial District heard oral argument on our motion for an award of attorney fees and deterrent sanctions, as provided by the Texas Anti-SLAPP statute, following his decision under that statute to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Prestigious Pets, […]

“US Auto Safety Agency Wants You to Complain More”

The New York Times reports: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing a rule requiring automakers put labels on sun visors of all new vehicles with instructions on how to file safety complaints. The labels would be glued to passenger visors and tell people that complaints could bring an investigation or a possible recall. […]

Trump Transition Picks for FCC Said to be Opposed to Regulation, May Foreshadow Problems for Net Neutrality and TCPA Regulations

by Jeff Sovern More from The Hill here.  Excerpt: Trump has tapped tech experts Jeff Eisenach and Mark Jamison, two critics of net neutrality, to head his transition team for the Federal Communications Commission. So far, Trump's appointments in consumer protection positions seem to oppose consumer protection.

EPA lists first chemicals for review under amended Toxic Substances Control Act

The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) as amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, requires EPA to publish by December 19, 2016, a list of chemicals for review. Today, EPA announced the first ten chemicals it will evaluate for potential risks to human health and the environment under TSCA.The […]

New CFPB bulletin: Detecting and Preventing Consumer Harm from Production Incentives

In the wake of the Wells Fargo scandal, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a bulletin warning banks that creating incentives for employees and service providers to meet sales and other business goals can lead to consumer harm. "Tying bonuses or employment status to unrealistic sales goals or to the terms of transactions may […]

The future (or not) of the CFPB’s arbitration rule

Law prof David Noll has written The CFPB's Arbitration Rule: The Road Ahead. Here is the abstract: In May 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it intended to exercise its authority under the Dodd-Frank Act to bar consumer financial companies from invoking pre-dispute arbitration agreements to block consumer class actions. This comment considers the […]

Federal court in Texas preliminarily enjoins new Obama Administration overtime rule

We have blogged several times (for instance, here and here) about the new U.S. Labor Department rule that significantly raises the pay threshold that triggers exceptions to the general rule that workers must be paid 1.5 times their ordinary pay for every hour they work over 40 per week. In plain English, that means overtime pay for […]

Mega-mergers, consumer well-being, and high-priced expertise

That's the topic of These Professors Make More Than a Thousand Bucks an Hour Peddling Mega-Mergers, a ProPublica piece by Jesse Eisinger and Justin Elliott. The sub-title of the piece summarizes its thesis: "The economists are leveraging their academic prestige with secret reports justifying corporate concentration. Their predictions are often wrong and consumers pay the price." […]