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 […]
In 2015, consumers sued the manufacturers of KIND products –first over the company’s use of the word “healthy” in describing its products, and then over the “All Natural/Non-GMO” claim on product packaging. The class action included claims for violation of several state laws. After class certification and discovery, the district court excluded the testimony of […]
The Department of Education today approved roughly $6 billion in student loan relief for more than 300,000 students who attended The Art Institutes, a network of for-profit colleges that was plagued by fraud allegations before completely shutting down in September 2023. The chain’s parent company, Education Management Corporation, reached a nearly $100 million settlement with […]
The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a ban on consumer uses of methylene chloride, a chemical that is widely used as a paint stripper but is known to cause liver cancer and other health problems. The EPA said its action will protect Americans from health risks while allowing certain commercial uses to continue with robust […]