Category Archives: Uncategorized

Guest Post: “Protect Music and Sports Fans from Ticket Industry Abuses”

by John Breyault, Vice President, Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud, National Consumer League Protect Music and Sports Fans from Ticket Industry Abuses When Beyonce recently announced her highly-anticipated “Mrs. Carter Show” tour, fans waited eagerly for the moment tickets went on sale. But at the magic moment, thousands of fans were disappointed to learn the […]

Health care price disparities

Check out this article about some revealing data released this week comparing hospital pricing. For the first time, the federal government [released] the prices that hospitals charge for the 100 most common inpatient procedures. Until now, these charges have been closely held by facilities that see a competitive advantage in shielding their fees from competitors. […]

CFPB issues report responding to public input on student loan affordability

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today issued this report entitled "Student Loan Affordability–Analysis of Public Input on Impact and Solutions." The report's executive summary appears after the jump. The agency also issued this companion fact sheet. The fact sheet includes what it calls "Student Loan Debt by the Numbers": • $1.1 trillion: Approximate amount of […]

Hadeed Carpet Cleaning Seeks to Suppress a Dirty Secret

by Paul Alan Levy You can’t live in the DC area and not encounter the pervasive advertising for Hadeed Carpet Cleaning, from mailed coupons and display advertising in the Washington Post that promise unbelievably low prices, to classic rock broadcast from the “Hadeed.com Studios” and advertising during Washington Capitals games. But regular users of pages […]

The “retirement crisis” and some eye-opening data about Americans’ savings

The main point of this Washington Post column is to describe the looming danger facing retirees with insufficient savings, and to suggest one possible answer (a supplement to Social Security). But I found the column most interesting for its discussion of savings rates among even Americans living above the median income (spoiler alert: they're alarmingly […]

FTC and CFPB to Host Joint Roundtable on the “Life of a Debt”

On June 6, the FTC and the CFPB will co-host a joint roundtable event, "Life of a Debt: Data Integrity in Debt Collection," to examine the flow of consumer data throughout the debt collection process. The event, held at the FTC, will bring together consumer advocates, credit issuers, collection industry members, state and federal regulators, […]

CFPB goes after two lawyers in alleged debt relief scam

The Blog of the Legal Times reports that The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today filed suit against two lawyers and two debt relief companies, alleging they charged thousands of consumers illegal advance fees and left some worse off financially. One of the lawyers, Michael Levitis, also faces face mail and wire fraud charges brought by […]

“The Practice: Class Action Cacophony at the Supreme Court”

That's the name of this short essay by law professor Linda Mullenix on the Supreme Court's recent class-actions decisions in the Amgen, Comcast, and Standard Fire decisions. Here is the abstract: The article surveys the Court’s liberal and conservative divide on class certification issues, giving some support to both the plaintiff and defense sides of […]