Category Archives: Uncategorized

New CFPB rule on access to credit for mortgages

The CFPB announced today that it finalized a rule to improve information reported about the residential mortgage market. The rule will shed more light on consumers’ access to mortgage credit by updating the reporting requirements of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) regulation. The Bureau is working with other federal agencies to streamline the reporting […]

“Dietary Supplements Lead to 20,000 E.R. Visits Yearly, Study Finds”

The New York Times reports: A large new study by the federal government found that injuries caused by dietary supplements lead to more than 20,000 emergency room visits a year, many involving young adults with cardiovascular problems after taking supplements marketed for weight loss and energy enhancement. The study is the first to document the […]

The CFPB on student-loan debt

On Tuesday, Scott posted a N.Y. Times  op-ed describing a worsening U.S. student-loan debt problem. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is also concerned. Yesterday, it posted a piece entitled New signs of trouble for student loan borrowers, focusing not only on debt burden and default rates, but also on problems student-loan debtors have with loan servicers — […]

FTC and consumer protection agencies from 33 other countries update econsumer.gov website

"The Federal Trade Commission and consumer protection agencies in 33 other countries that are part of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN) unveiled an updated version of ICPEN’s econsumer.gov to help law enforcement authorities gather and share cross border consumer complaints that can be used to investigate and take action against international scams. […]

Recent announcements from DOJ’s Consumer Protection Branch

October 6, 2015: Government Files Enforcement Actions against Two California Companies and Three Individuals to Stop Importation of Dangerous Children's Products October 6, 2015: Two Sentenced for Roles in Prescription Drug Smuggling Ring October 1, 2015: Former Peanut Company Officials Sentenced to Prison for Their Roles in Salmonella-Tainted Peanut Product Outbreak September 25, 2015: District […]

Public Citizen report on the benefits of a financial transaction tax

Our country had a financial transaction tax for half a century, the report recounts, but it was repealed in 1965 even though it wasn't hindering growth. Reinstating such a tax would slow down the type of quick-trading speculation that caused the 2010 "flash crash" and it would have provided $22 billion in revenue per year […]

Cops called on reporter who came to interview interstate oil commission

Read here the surprising story of a blogger who showed up at the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), having let the Commission know he was coming, to conduct an interview regarding the IOGCC's position on climate change. The only interview he got was with the police, as the result of a 9-1-1 call.

What Exxon knew about global warming and when it knew it

Read this fascinating investigative report from the L.A. Times, documenting the dissonance between Exxon's public position on global warming and its private studies undertaken to maintain competitiveness in a world they assumed would be warming. The upshot: As [an internal] team was closely studying the impact of climate change on the company’s operations, Exxon and […]