The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last week issued an advisory opinion affirming that federal law often prohibits debt collectors from charging “pay-to-pay” fees. These charges, commonly described by debt collectors as “convenience fees,” are imposed on consumers who want to make a payment in a particular way, such as online or by phone. The press […]
Vijay Raghavan of Brooklyn has written Shifting Burdens at the Fringe, 102 Boston University Law Review (2022). Here’s the abstract: Scholars are increasingly arguing that consumer law can be a site of distribution. This raises at least two concerns: the classic argument associated with Louis Kaplow & Steven Shavell against redistributing income through legal rules, […]
The Federal Trade Commission yesterday sued Walmart for allowing its money transfer services to be used by fraudsters, who fleeced consumers out of hundreds of millions of dollars. In its lawsuit, the FTC alleges that for years, the company turned a blind eye while scammers took advantage of its failure to properly secure the money transfer […]
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an interpretive rule affirming states’ abilities to protect their residents through their own fair credit reporting laws. The CFPB rule explains that, with limited preemption exceptions, states have the flexibility to preserve fair and competitive credit reporting markets by enacting state-level laws that are stricter than the federal […]
by Jeff Sovern When Congress enacted the Credit CARD Act of 2009, it provided that credit card penalty fees, like late fees, “shall be reasonable and proportional” and gave the Fed the power–later transferred to the CFPB–to set safe harbor amounts which would presumptively be reasonable and proportional. But it didn’t limit fees for credit […]
by Jeff Sovern As the American Banker's Kate Berry reported (behind a paywall but available on Lexis), the CFPB's Spring Regulatory Agenda has been posted to the OMB's web site, rather than, as has been the Bureau's practice, the CFPB web site. Here it is: Prerule stage – Consumer Access to Financial Records, 3170-AA78 Proposed […]
The submission deadline is August 22 and the conference is December 15-16. More here.
by Jeff Sovern When last we left our intrepid adventurer’s story, she had arrived home, even if her bag had not. But one week after her original flight to Atlanta, she received a text from Delta indicating that her bag was about to be delivered—to the hotel she had left four days before. While she […]
by Paul Alan Levy Judge Vincent Chabbria ruled that an anonymous Twitter user using the pseudonym “Mr. Money Bags” could not be identified pursuant to a DMCA subpoena, both because her display of copyrighted photographs to taunt a venture capitalist for allegedly spending money on the company of nubile young women was fair use, and […]
Seven Democratic and Democratic-caucusing senators sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday calling on it to use its authority to protect communities of color and immigrant communities in the United States from discriminatory online practices, biometric surveillance, consumer predation, and anti-competitive behavior. The letter focuses on the impact of facial recognition and […]