Following an investigation of the largest wireless providers’ advertising, marketing, and sales practices, 50 state AGs announced a settlement to discourage misleading and deceptive conduct. The cell phone companies agreed to pay a total of $10.25 million to change their practices. Specifically, the AGs investigated the sales tactics of AT&T Mobility, LLC, Cellco Partnership (doing […]
Bloomberg’s Evan Weinberger has the story, as well as a link to the opinion, here. (Behind a paywall.) Addendum from Allison: The order granting an injunction is here. CNBC’s story is here.
Junk fees are likely to feature in the election this year, so for that reason alone, it would be useful to know what they are. Sometimes they seem to be defined by examples; you can find such a list of examples (as well as a definition that strikes me as underinclusive) here. Because the very […]
On Tuesday, the CFPB issued an order against Chime Financial, finding that it failed to timely refund consumers’ balances after they closed their accounts. Chime, a financial technology company, is not itself a bank, but partners with regional banks to provide certain mobile banking services. This model deprives consumers of many of the protections of […]
On Wednesday, Colorado lawmakers passed a sweeping artificial intelligence regulation bill. The legislation seeks to protect consumers from algorithmic discrimination when AI is used to make life-altering decisions, such as about a person’s employment, education or health care. It also included consumer rights provisions such as the right to know when AI is being used […]
Recently someone texted me a picture of a product. When I pulled it up on the seller’s website, the displayed price was twice the price listed in the texted picture. And here’s a piece that may address that discrepancy: Haggai Porat of Harvard and the Tel Aviv University School of Economics has written Algorithmic Personalized […]
At the House Financial Services Committee April 16, 2024 hearing titled Agency Audit: Reviewing CFPB Financial Reporting & Transparency, Professor Christopher Peterson of Utah, in response to Ranking Member Maxine Waters’ question about why some members of Congress would oppose the CFPB late fee regulation: “I don’t know why you are going to bat for these […]
Prepared Food Photos is coming to terms with the financial consequences of its relentless pursuit of massive damages for alleged infringement in its copyright in individual stock photographs. Two years ago, it sent its standard demand letter to a Clyde’s Chicken King, a family-owned fast food joint in Port Barre and Opelousas Louisiana, objecting to […]
If the Supreme Court rules in the CFSA case that the CFPB’s funding is unconstitutional, Congress might fund the Bureau via annual appropriations. I wondered what that would mean. The FTC, another consumer protection agency, offers a clue. Now the agencies are not identical; the FTC has antitrust responsibilities and while the two agencies have […]
I plan to survey participants in the Teaching Consumer Law Conference, to be held May 17-18 in Santa Fe, about various matters, and then present the results at the conference. I’ve posted below multiple-choice questions I am thinking about asking. I’m also hoping to follow each question with an invitation to say more. Are there […]