by Paul Alan Levy The effort by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (a/k/a Jehovah’s Witnesses) to identify a dissident member, "Kevin McFree," through a spurious claim of copyright infringement has ended with a whimper rather than a bang as Watch Tower agreed to dismiss its copyright lawsuit with prejudice to avoid a possible […]
by Jeff Sovern Every six months, the CFPB director testifies before the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee. Each committee member gets five minutes to question the director, a process that collectively takes hours and this last time covered a wide variety of topics, including topics over which the CFPB lacks power, […]
Here’s the job posting: Director of the CLASS Network – Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice Do you want to work every day to advance the rights of low-income consumers? Do you want to help create a national network of law school programs dedicated to building equity and economic justice? Well, then, perhaps this […]
Consumer Reports writes today: Auto repair shops affiliated with well-known brands—including AAMCO, Big O Tires, Grease Monkey, Jiffy Lube, Meineke, Midas, and Precision Tune Auto Care—are steering unsuspecting customers into loans charging up to 189 percent interest, according to a study by consumer advocacy groups including Consumer Reports. While most states have interest-rate limits to […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau yesterday published an advisory opinion affirming that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act—a federal civil rights law that protects individuals and businesses against discrimination in accessing and using credit—bars lenders from discriminating against customers after they have received a loan, not just during the application process. Read the press release and […]
We received the following Call for Papers: On April 6, 2022, in addition to announcing an extension of the federal student loan payment pause, the White House announced that the U.S. Department of Education is taking steps to give a fresh start to millions of struggling borrowers who are currently in default on their federal […]
The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint last Friday against a company called The Credit Game, which claimed it could boost credit scores through “credit piggybacking” and other credit repair services. The FTC's complaint against the operators of The Credit Game (formerly called Wholesale Tradelines) says that the services were a scam and that the […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finalized an enforcement action against Bank of America for processing illegal, out-of-state garnishment orders against customers’ bank accounts. The CFPB's press release, with links to relevant documents, is here.
After many months and multiple rounds of supplemental briefing in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Seila Law v. CFPB (2020) and Collins v. Yellen (2021), the en banc Fifth Circuit in CFPB v. All American Check Cashing finally decided—well, nothing. According to the 3-page, unsigned per curiam opinion issued by the court, […]
by Jeff Sovern Recently the CFPB announced that in conducting supervisory operations, it takes the position that discrimination is unfair and so violates the Consumer Financial Protection Act. You might think this is pretty straightforward: most of us would think odious discrimination is unfair. Discrimination easily qualifies as unfair under the statutory requirements of unfairness, […]