Category Archives: Uncategorized

Rhoda Karpatkin, who served for 30 years as president of Consumers Union, died on August 4 at age 93. The Washington Post has this article. Consumer Reports’ current president Marta Tellado has this remembrance.

In June, George Mason professor Todd Zywicki testified before the Senate Commerce Committee’s Consumer Protection Subcommittee on junk fees. Professor Zywicki explained: I share the frustration that many consumers hold today regarding the proliferation of seemingly ubiquitous add-on fees that we experience constantly, from surcharges for using our credit cards at a merchant, to hotel […]

Consumer law was a big campaign issue for a while in the wake of the Great Recession, and it may be again next year. AP’s Will Weissert has the story in an article headlined Biden and House Democrats hope to make curbing ‘junk fees’ a winning issue in 2024.  

NBC has a report here. This time, the accounts are not on behalf of existing account holders but seem to involve synthetic identity fraud.

I am thrilled to report that I have been named the Michael Millemann Professor of Consumer Protection Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. Michael Millemann is a long time Maryland faculty member who has been a leader in many areas of the law, including consumer law, and it’s an […]

Wanna litigate cutting-edge economic-justice cases alongside great lawyers? The National Consumer Law Center is seeking an experienced litigator. Location flexible. Go here for details.

Following up on my July 22 post on FedNow: Mark Budnitz of Georgia State reminds me that one issue with FedNow that may create issues for consumers is its incorporation of UCC Article 4A’s wire transfer rules, even though Article 4A’s rules were not written for transactions involving consumers, and so lack safeguards that are […]

Christine posted on Thursday about the risks of FedNow fraud. So you might wonder why, or even if, FedNow would be a positive for consumers. While FedNow obviously won’t be a positive for those who are scammed into using it to enrich fraudsters, it might be positive for consumers in a number of ways. For […]

The U.S. Congress is considering FY24 funding for the entire government, and normally it should involve just that, funding. Yet the U.S. House Appropriations Committee recently dropped its Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) bill, which includes proposals that would impact consumer protection policy. These riders take aim at the substantive work of a number […]