by Paul Alan Levy Scott Cleland’s weekly anti-Google rant raises the question whether Google’s recording of conversations through Google Glass, and Google’s use of those recordings as a source of data for its commercial operations, might run afoul of federal wire-tapping laws that require consent for the interception of communications, but it seems to me […]
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The LA Times reports: The city of Los Angeles accused banking giants Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. of a “continuous pattern and practice” of mortgage discrimination that led to a wave of foreclosures, reduced property tax revenue and increased costs for city services. In twin lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court, the city […]
In a follow-up to its three-part series on the tax-lien/foreclosure machine in Washington, D.C., the Washington Post has just published this investigative report on Aeon Financial, a secretive organization that bought up tax liens in D.C. (and elsewhere) and is making millions off of fees and foreclosures. Here's an excerpt: The firm that threatened to […]
by Brian Wolfman As explained in this article by Christopher Jensen, Hyundai is trying to "help" its customers by forcing them to arbitrate disputes over warranty coverage. That's awfully nice of the company. Once a dispute occurs, customers might be terribly confused over whether they should arbitrate, engage in some other form of informal resolution, or […]
Last Tuesday, just in time for the Nation's gift-buying orgy (which now starts on Thanksgiving morning), U.S. PIRG issued its 28th annual Trouble in Toyland report, which surveys the dangers to kids posed by toys. The report covers toxins (such as lead, antimony, arsenic, and cadmium), choking hazards, excessively loud toys, laceration hazards, and strangulation risks. […]
The Project on Student Debt has issued Student Debt and the Class of 2012.That report found that Seven in 10 college seniors who graduated in 2012 had student loan debt, with an average of$29,400 for those with loans. The national share of seniors graduating with loans rose in recentyears, from 68 percent in 2008 to […]
Here is a helpful (and entertainingly written) catalogue of various nasty consumer practices to watch out for, along with some basic advice about protecting yourself as a consumer (to the extent you can). Courtesy of the Consumer Law Center of Neighborhood Legal Services of Greater Cleveland. (HT: Mark Wiseman.)
Chris Morran explains in this article that the number of U.S. banks has hit its lowest point since the federal government began counting in 1934. The number has dropped precipitously since 1985 (going from about 18,000 to 6,800), which may mean fewer options for bank services and greater costs for consumers.
"New guidelines issued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for banks they oversee stop short of completely disallowing deposit advances. But the guidelines should reduce the banks’ profits while making the loans less onerous to borrowers." The Times urges the Fed to follow suit in regulating […]
The Center for Consumer Law at the University of Houston Law Center, in cooperation with the University of New Mexico School of Law and the National Association of Consumer Advocates, is organizing its seventh semi-annual Teaching Consumer Law Conference. The subject this time is “Teaching Consumer Law in a Digital Borderless World.” The Conference will […]