Category Archives: Uncategorized

Two articles on alternatives to payday loans

The Washington Post has two articles today about payday loans. First, an opinion piece by Mike Calhoun, the director of the Center for Responsible Lending, is entitled "Think there’s no good alternative to payday loans? Think again." Mr. Calhoun begins: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed rule requiring payday and car title lenders to assess […]

CFPB releases monthly “complaint snapshot” about consumer loans

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today released a monthly "complaint snapshot" highlighting complaints about consumer loans, including vehicle loans and leases, installment loans, title loans, and pawn loans. The report shows that consumers continue to complain about issues managing their loans and problems they encounter when they are unable to pay off the loans. The […]

Coverage of the VW emissions settlement

Confirming the reports last week of a settlement of the VW emissions lawsuit, the parties today announced that VW will pay $14.7 billion to settle allegations of cheating emissions tests and deceiving customers. Volkswagen will offer consumers a buyback and lease termination for nearly 500,000 model year 2009-2015 2.0 liter diesel vehicles sold or leased […]

Volkswagen agrees to pay billions to drivers over emissions scandal

The Washington Post reports that Volkswagen has agreed to pay $10.2 billion to settle a lawsuit brought against it for cheating on U.S. emissions tests. The case stems from the carmaker’s 2015 admission that 11 million vehicles worldwide had cheating software designed to get around emissions tests. The settlement will compensate owners of 482,000 vehicles […]

Senate committee reaches agreement on national GMO-labeling law

NPR reports: Just a week before a Vermont law kicks in requiring labels on food containing genetically modified ingredients, U.S. Senate agriculture leaders announced a deal Thursday that takes the power out of states' hands — and sets a mandatory national system for GM disclosures on food products. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, the chairman of […]

“Bank Regulators Aim at Online Small Business Lending”

The Wall Street Journal reports: Small businesses have been a growing source of revenue for online lenders. Now, federal regulators are exploring whether they should intensify oversight of these loan deals. “These are basically mom-and-pop operations getting, you know, very small loans,” John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, told The […]

CFPB reports that mortgage servicers’ technology failures cause violations of servicing rule

A new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau supervision report finds that some mortgage servicers continue to use failed technology that has already harmed consumers, putting those companies in violation of the CFPB’s new servicing rules. In its examinations covering numerous mortgage servicers since the new CFPB rules took effect in January 2014, CFPB examiners have found […]

Merrill Lynch to pay $415 million for misusing customer cash

Reuter's reports: Bank of America Corp's Merrill Lynch unit will pay $415 million and admit to wrongdoing to settle charges that it misused customer cash to generate profits and failed to safeguard their securities from creditors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday. An SEC investigation found that Merrill Lynch violated the SEC’s […]

Mobile advertising company settles FTC charges of tracking hundreds of millions of consumers’ locations without permission

Singapore-based mobile advertising company InMobi will pay $950,000 in civil penalties and implement a comprehensive privacy program to settle Federal Trade Commission charges it deceptively tracked the locations of hundreds of millions of consumers – including children – without their knowledge or consent to serve them geo-targeted advertising. The FTC alleges that InMobi mispresented that […]