Read this new report by U.S. PIRG about how banks market debit cards on college campuses — cards that come with significant fees. The gist is that banks pay colleges big bucks via "paid marketing agreements" that give the banks the right to market student card accounts that will receive certain funds, such as student […]
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The Washington Post reports today that the CPSC was pursuing a recall of the BOB stroller, which apparently has a defect that has caused hundreds of crashes. Then the Trump appointees to the Commission halted the effort. Staff members at the Consumer Product Safety Commission collected 200 consumer-submitted reports from 2012 to 2018 of spontaneous […]
Law prof Maya Steinitz has written Follow the Money? A Proposed Approach for Disclosure of Litigation Finance Agreements. Here is the abstract: Litigation finance is the new and fast-growing practice by which a non-party funds a plaintiff’s litigation either for-profit or for some other motivation. Some estimates placed the size of the litigation finance market […]
Read Michele Singletary's column about the scam here. The allegations against Office Depot were not pretty, and, as SIngletary explains, the Federal Trade Commission has put an end to the fraudulent scheme. Here's the gist of it: Although not admitting any wrongdoing, Office Depot and California-based Support.com have agreed to pay $35 million to settle the […]
Two weeks ago, we blogged, here, about FairWarning's investigation, here, into industry influence at the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Now, the House Energy and Commerce committee has called on the acting head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Ann Marie Buerkle, to disclose her contacts with business groups, and has noted concern that the FairWarning […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued its 2018 Consumer Response Annual Report, which, as its name (sorta) suggests, reports on consumer complaints to the agency. The CFPB received about 330,000 complaints in 2018. The report discusses consumer complaints and the CFPB's response to them in 13 categories: credit or consumer reporting, debt collection, mortgages, […]
This article by Kenneth Harney explains the new standards: First-time and move-up home buyers with heavy debt loads, low credit scores and small down payments face a daunting new mortgage hurdle: The Federal Housing Administration is toughening its underwriting standards. Large numbers of applications could be turned down in the coming months as a result. Industry […]
The Hill reports that the Federal Trade Commission is ordering the largest broadband providers to turn over information on their handling of consumer data as the agency launches an extensive review of privacy practices. "Comcast, Verizon and AT&T were among the companies that received orders from the FTC following a 5-0 vote by the agency's […]
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported on their 2018 activities to administer the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The report highlights both agencies’ law enforcement, education and public outreach, and policy initiatives. The report is here.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau seeks applications for spots on its advisory committees: To be sure that we hear from a variety of experts with diverse viewpoints, we set up the Consumer Advisory Board, the Community Bank Advisory Council, the Credit Union Advisory Council, and the Academic Research Council. These advisory committees provide us with […]