That's the name of this article from Vox, which is worth a read. Here's an excerpt: Health care prices have grown really slowly this summer, a piece of good economic news released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Tuesday. The price of medical care commodities, which includes drugs and other medical devices, grew 0.3 percent from […]
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There's no question that, for some low-wage workers, it can be finanically difficult or impossible to wait for pay day. So even if pay day loans are a bad thing for consumers, the demand for them is created by a very real problem. So, in Is ActiveHours A True Payday Alternative Or Just Another Too-Good-To-Be-True […]
by Jeff Sovern Various advocates have been calling recently for the Postal Service to get back into banking to seve the unbanked or underbanked. The financial industry has largely opposed postal banking, preumably because it doesn't want the competition. One way to determine whether postal banking would be a mistake or a positive is to […]
We've posted before on the subject of contract formation in the digital age (see here, for instance). A key question is: what online terms can a consumer be held to if she hasn't read them? The answer depends on how prominent the terms were, whether the consumer had to indicate assent, and whether a reasonable […]
What happens when consumers only have one choice for a cable company? Well, judging by reports on Reddit and Gawker, the answer is bad service and bogus fees. If these practices (particularly the bogus "unreturned equipment fees") are widespread, I wonder if this is something a large class action firm ought to look into (or […]
The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act provides a host of protections against harassment and abuse by debt collectors. One provision permits the debtor to dispute the debt, a step that requires the debt collector to verify the debt before continuing collection activities. Another provision prohibits the collection of debts using false or misleading representations […]
A few weeks ago, we flagged a Post/ProPublica investigative report about a retail chain that takes advantage of servicemembers' transience to trap them in a cycle of debt. Now, as The Hill reports, the CFPB has moved against the retailer, USA Discounters, fining the chain approximately $400,000 (consisting of $350,000 in restitution and a $50,000 […]
I have been asked to post a reminder that if want a chance to present your paper on consumer law at the Association of American Law Schools 2015 annual meeting in January, you must submit it by tomorrow. Here ya go: AALS Section on Commercial and Related Consumer Law Call for Papers Emerging Scholars in […]
That's the topic of Future Claimants and the Quest for Global Peace, a new article by prolific law prof Rhonda Wasserman. Here's the abstract: In the mass tort context, the defendant typically seeks to resolve all of the claims against it in one fell swoop. But the defendant’s interest in global peace is often unattainable […]
Following up on Deepak's post earlier this week flagging John Oliver's hilarious takedown of the payday lending industry, check out this post from our friends at Public Justice, discussing the impact of payday lending on minority communities (which are disproportionately targeted by these businesses) and the pernicious business model that relies on trapping borrowers in […]