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 […]
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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 […]
In its latest foray into the poorly drafted provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Supreme Court unanimously decided today in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP that entities who engage in nonjudicial foreclosure either regularly or as their principal business are not (for that reason) "debt collectors" within the meaning of the […]
The online journal FairWarning this week reported on how lobbyists from the law firm Bracewell LLP have "specialized in helping product makers thwart rulemaking by the Consumer Product Safety Commission." One after another, industries have turned to Bracewell to fight unwanted federal standards, and they have not been disappointed. Along with the [recreational off-highway vehicle] […]
In The Conversation. Excerpt: Compared with 1962, when President Kennedy put consumer concerns on the national agenda, ordinary Americans now have far more robust rights to safety, to information, to choice and to a fair hearing. But consumer rights do not enforce themselves. Public enforcement requires funding and willing leaders. Private enforcement requires legal devices […]
Consumer Product Safety Commission commissioner Robert Adler and law prof Andrew Popper have written The Misuse of Product Misuse: Victim Blaming at Its Worst. Here is the abstract: This paper addresses the legal consequences that surface when a consumer uses a product in a manner not specifically intended by that product's designer or manufacturer. If […]