The Washington Post reports that the Justice Department "has issued subpoenas to banks and other companies that handle payments for an array of financial offerings, ramping up an investigation that has been under way for several months." The investigation reportedly is focusing on companies that process payments for online payday lenders. Read the full story.
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That's the name of this opinion piece by Katrina vanden Heuvel. It piece says that, in the U.S., "[a]s of 2011, nearly half the students enrolled in four-year programs — and more than 70 percent of students in two-year programs — failed to earn their degrees within that time, with many dropping out because of […]
We have been following the litigation over swipe fees–the fees that the card companies impose on merchants each time a credit or debit card is used. Go, for instance, here and here. A major concern is that if part of the swipe fee is the product of anti-competitive behavior or legislation or regulation enacted at the behest […]
That's the name of this new report Public Citizen. Here's Public Citizen's description of the report: A decade after reaching their peak, the quantity and cumulative value of medical malpractice payments made on behalf of doctors were at their lowest level on record in 2012, according to a new Public Citizen analyzing data from the […]
The Washington Post reports today: Traders at Bank of America willfully misled investors about the quality of the residential mortgages tucked into the securities the bank sold at the start of the financial crisis, according to separate lawsuits filed Tuesday by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. . . . Justice claims […]
Banks don't like to offer 30-year mortages unless someone else is left holding the bag if the homeowner can't pay. That's just too long a period to depend on repayment and market stability. But a 30-year payback period, all other things equal, helps many non-wealthy consumers buy homes. Banks will make 30-year loans if the […]
That's the name of this lengthy piece by Paul Kiel of ProPublica. It focuses on an effort in Missouri to cap the rates on payday loans. Here's a short excerpt: Outrage over payday loans, which trap millions of Americans in debt and are the best-known type of high-cost loans, has led to dozens of state […]
by Brian Wolfman Last week, I posted on Greenberg v. Proctor & Gamble, where the 6th circuit threw out a class-action settlement on the ground that (1) it provided virtually nothing of value to the class members while the named representatives got significant "incentive" payments ($1,000 times the number of their diaper-using kids), and the […]
by Brian Wolfman Today, in Greenberg v. Proctor & Gamble, by a 2-1 vote, the 6th circuit threw out a class-action settlement on the ground that (1) it provided virtually nothing of value to the class members while the named representatives got significant "incentive" payments ($1,000 times the number of their diaper-using kids), and the […]