News outlets have covered the prospect of legislation to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and undo reforms of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. See, for example, here, here, and here. The new Congress, however, is also considering a variety of other bills that would impact consumer protection. The National Consumer […]
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by Jeff Sovern Two weeks ago, as Scott posted, the Supreme Court decided Jesinoski v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., holding that consumers may rescind under the Truth in Lending Act by so notifying the lender, and that the statute does not require the consumer to file a lawsuit to rescind. So you might think that […]
Last week, the FTC filed a complaint in a Texas federal court against Commercial Recovery Systems for threatening consumers that unless they paid their debts, they would be sued or have their wages garnished. The problem? These representations weren't true. As the FTC's press release details: According to the complaint, since at least 2010, CRS’s […]
We've discussed before the threats to privacy posed by secret government data collection programs of various kinds (see, for instance, here and here). Challenges to such programs are hard to bring because of the difficulty of establishing standing — i.e., the challenger must show (to a very high likelihood or certainty) that his or her […]
King v. Burwell is the case currently before the Supreme Court that asks whether the Affordable Care Act (ACA) authorizes health-care insurance subsidies for all otherwise qualified people nationwide or only for people who live in states that run their own health care "exchanges." Exchanges are ACA-defined marketplaces in which people buy health insurance. Under […]
President Obama has proposed increasing taxes on high-income people as part of the package of tax code changes rolled out in his State of the Union address. Which efforts to obtain more revenue from wealthy and/or high-income people are practical and politically feasible? Those issues are taken up by law professor David Kamin in How to […]
The Hill reports: College students would be protected from dubious credit card, debit card and checking account offers under new recommendations from the Obama administration’s top consumer watchdog. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is considering new guidelines to help colleges in selecting banks to partner with and offer financial services to their students. The […]
by Jeff Sovern The Faculty Lounge Blog recently posted a census of law professors who post on Twitter. I was disappointed to see that consumer law professors were not really represented on the list (I tweet, but rarely, and then not always about consumer law; indeed my most recent tweet said something like "This just […]
We're written before about the problem of civil asset forfeiture — the law enforcement practice, disproportionately affecting low income people and people of color, of taking property from people on the suspicion that it had something to do with a crime. This month, following on the heels of forfeiture reform in D.C., Attorney General Holder […]
"There have been powerful reminders in recent days that the financial system needs more regulatory vigilance, not less. But they come just as Republicans are setting their agenda in Congress, complete with vows to weaken the Dodd-Frank reform law." So begins a New York Times editorial entitled "An Uncertain Future for Dodd Frank." As the […]