by Jeff Sovern The video and prepared testimony is here. If you have time to read only one, I recommend David Vladeck's excellent statement. Though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has described this terrible proposal as a "red line" for future coronavirus bills, it appears he does not have the full support of his caucus. […]
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Bloomberg reports that a "Consumer Financial Protection Bureau task force that has been criticized in the past for its pro-business leanings stands to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars to offer advice on how to 'harmonize and modernize' federal laws aimed at protecting the public." The full story is here.
Law prof Brian Galle has written If Not Now, When: Why Won’t Universities Spend Their Money? In it, he explains why well-heeled universities should not curtail spending during economic downturns. Rather, he says, it makes sense for those schools to spend their money now, protecting the schools' workers and students in the process.
Da Lin and Daniel Schwarcz have written an op-ed, States Must Act To Cut Auto Insurance Rates During COVID-19 for Law360 (free access during the pandemic). They explain "Auto insurers are experiencing a massive windfall as a result of the coronavirus, but they are not returning a fair portion of those gains to consumers. And […]
Pamela Foohey of Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Dalié Jiménez of California, Irvine and Christopher K. Odinet of Oklahoma have written The Folly of Credit As Pandemic Relief 68 UCLA L. Rev. Disc. __ (2020 Forthcoming). Here's the abstract: Within weeks of the coronavirus pandemic appearing in the United States, the American economy came to […]
A new report from Pew describes how debt collection lawsuits have transformed state courts. Among the report's findings: Fewer people are using the courts for civil cases. Debt claims grew to dominate state civil court dockets in recent decades. People sued for debts rarely have legal representation, but those who do tend to have better […]
Yesterday, on behalf of a class of student borrowers, the National Consumer Law Center and Student Defense, with the support of the Student Borrower Protection Center, filed a class action lawsuit against the Department of Education and Secretary Betsy DeVos in federal district court in DC. The suit alleges that the Department is illegally garnishing […]
We posted two weeks ago that the Federal Trade Commission had sent warning letters to more than 25 companies to stop making unsubstantiated claims that their products could prevent or treat COVID-19 Last Thursday, the FTC sent 21 additional letters warning marketers throughout the United States to stop making unsubstantiated claims that their products and […]
by Jeff Sovern Because of the virus, people are experiencing more losses than usual and are not able to mark their passing with the rituals that help in times of death: in-person funerals, wakes, shiva calls, and the like. Consequently, death is becoming even harder for survivors than in normal times. Members of Congress could […]
The National Consumer Law Center has published a list of recommendations for actions that states can take to reduce the economic impact of COVID-19 on consumers and their families. The document summarizes NCLC's more detailed recommendations on auto finance, credit reporting, criminal justice debt, debt collection, medical debt, mortgage relief, preventing garnishment of stimulus checks, […]