The CFPB’s mortgage servicing rule will take effect on January 10. That same day, the Bureau will host a training for housing counselors, legal aid attorneys, and other advocates on the new rule. The training, called “Protecting homeowners: New tools for empowering consumers and advocates,” will be held in Phoenix. You can watch live at […]
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In light of the Target Stores security breach — the theft of around 40 million credit and debit card records from Target — the National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Action, and U.S. PIRG have issued these tips for consumers about dealing with security breaches. It includes reminders that (1) consumers' liability for unauthorized credit-card and […]
If you missed the Senate hearing held in mid-December by Sen. Al Franken on the Arbitration Fairness Act, view it here or by clicking on the embedded video below. Go to approximately 1:54:30 (1 hour, 54 minutes, and 30 seconds) to watch a powerful exchange between Franken and one of pro-arbitration witnesses.
That is the name of this article by Kate Cox over at the Consumerist. Among the items Cox discusses is the Student Loan Borrowers' Bill of Rights and the Arbitration Fairness Act, which generally would negate pre-dispute agreements that require arbitration of employment, consumer, civil rights, or antitrust disputes. Cox notes that the Act now […]
As part of what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau terms its "continu[ing] efforts to make mortgages safer and with fewer surprises along the way," the agency today issued a request for information from the public about how to improve the mortgage closing process. Here's the agency's summary: This notice requests information from the public about […]
In September, a group of auto safety advocates and parents represented by Public Citizen sued the Department of Transportation over its failure to issue a congressionally-mandated regulation to address the problem of backover crashes, that is, collisions in which a vehicle moving backwards strikes a person (or object) behind the vehicle. Each year on average, […]
by Paul Alan Levy A decision yesterday by a panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals shows that First Amendment protections, and particularly protection for online anonymity, is alive and well in Michigan. Ruling in Ghanam v. Doe, the Court held that when discovery is sought to identify anonymous defendants so that they can be […]
by Paul Alan Levy In the wake of recent coverage of an attempt by the online trinket company Kleargear.com to ruin the credit of a customer whose wife complained about Kleargear’s failure to send an order of Christmas gifts, in violation of a non-disparagement clause inserted into later versions of the online sales contract, […]
As we've explained in a series of posts, in Carrera v. Bayer, the Third Circuit reversed a grant of class certification on the ground that the class wasn't "ascertainable." Among other things, the panel said that the class of purchasers of an over-the-counter weight-loss product had not shown that it would be able to screen out […]
Sometimes a good bit, according to this annual CFPB report issued recently. Chris Morran over at the Consumerist has this analysis of the report, and he lists the 10 biggest payouts to colleges and alumni associations in 2012: 1. Penn State Alumni Association: $2,742,743 from FIA Card Services, N.A. 2. Alumni Association of the University […]