In light about discrimination and retaliation at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and concerns about CFPB’s management practices and culture, the Government Accountability Office was asked to review personnel management and organizational culture issues at the CFPB. This week, GAO released its report, examining (1) CFPB employees’ views on these issues and (2) CFPB’s efforts […]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Courthouse News has this report: Citing a growing housing crisis in Los Angeles, the city attorney has begun targeting landlords who illegally convert their rent-controlled apartment buildings to short-term tourist rentals or hotels. "In a city with a profound shortage of affordable housing, unlawfully converting rental units to operate [as] hotels has got to stop," […]
Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary has this advice: Just say “no.” That’s the simple reply to a request from a relative or friend to co-sign on a loan. It’s one of my absolute money rules. I will not be linked financially to a loan for anyone other than my husband. Her full column on this […]
The defendants behind Vast Tech Support have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission and State of Florida charges that they scammed thousands of consumers out of millions of dollars by selling them bogus technical support services. Under the settlement, Vast Tech Support, LLC and OMG Tech Help, LLC and their chief operating officer, Mark Donohue […]
The Democratic staff of the House Financial Services Committee issued a report yesterday on compliance with state payday lending laws. Entitled “Skirting the Law: Five Tactics Payday Lenders Use to Evade State Consumer Protection Laws,” the report finds that state-level regulation of the payday lending industry is insufficient and concludes that strong federal consumer protections […]
Philadelphia becomes the first major city to pass a tax on sugary drinks.
I blogged a couple of weeks ago about a "country hip-hop" musician who had part of his lawsuit against Facebook, for hosting pages that denigrate him, dismissed under California's anti-SLAPP law but managed to hang onto his claims that Facebook had violated his right of publicity by hosting such pages while serving ads on them. […]
The New York Times applauds the decision and explains why it benefits consumers, here. Politico adds some political perspective, here. The Washington Post explains the net neutrality rule and why it matters, here. Wired reports that AT&T plans to seek Supreme Court review and that congressional Republicans want to block the rule, here.
CNBC reports: Whole Foods was slapped with a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration earlier this month after the FDA found "serious violations" of federal regulations during an inspection of the company's food preparation facility in Massachusetts. FDA inspectors reportedly found various food products, including mushroom quesadillas, chives, beets and couscous that were […]
by Paul Alan Levy In a comment posted yesterday to my blog post last week about an amicus brief that Public Citizen and EFF filed in the First Circuit, Ripoff Report founder Ed Magedson announced that his company is going to modify the browsewrap agreement that it has been imposing on users, whereby the company […]