The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published a report on student-loan servicing practices since the resumption of federal student loan repayments in the fall, after a three-year payment pause in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CFPB report finds that borrowers are “encountering long hold times when trying to reach their student loan servicer, experiencing […]
The Federal Trade Commission on January 4 published in the Federal Register its final rule to rein in widespread unfair and deceptive auto dealer practices. The next day, Reuters reported that the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) and the Texas Automobile Dealers Association filed a petition before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals seeking review […]
Here. The article is The Shape of Consumer Contracts, in the Denver Law Review, available here. Ballard Spahr’s Alan Kaplinsky hosted the conversation.
In its battle to rein the coordinated system facilitating illegal robocalls, the Federal Trade Commission announced a proposed order against a lead generator, which the agency charged with deceptively collecting consumers’ information and then selling their data to telemarketers…leading to harassing calls. The announced proposed order would ban California-based Response Tree LLC and its president […]
The bill would add unfairness and abusiveness to the NY UDAAP statute, increase statutory damages to $1,000, and allow businesses to recover under the statute, among other things. This follows NY’s blocking credit bureaus from reporting medical debt. More here.
A group of consumers brought a class action against the New York Black Car Operators’ Injury Compensation Fund–a statutorily created fund that provides workers’ compensation benefits to New York’s black car drivers. The consumers argued that the fund had unlawfully collected a surcharge on noncash tips they paid to drivers (generally, through the Uber App), […]
Last week, the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection filed a lawsuit against Grand Canyon University, one of the nation’s largest for-profit universities, alleging it deceived prospective doctoral students about the cost and course requirements of its doctoral programs and about being a nonprofit, while also engaging in deceptive and abusive telemarketing practices. The FTC’s press […]
Dr. Sidney Wolfe, the founder of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group and a unique figure in advancing public health, died yesterday. Since founding the Health Research Group in 1971 as part of Ralph Nader’s new nonprofit Public Citizen, Sid applied research-based advocacy to get dangerous drugs and devices off the market, win new protections for […]
Here, with Myriam Gilles of Cardozo, Prentiss Cox of Minnesota, and David Vladeck of Georgetown. Excerpt: Perhaps the most consequential documents ever produced in this country are the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution identifies our most important rights, while the Declaration explains why the deprivation of those rights justified the fight for independence. […]
The article, by Kashmir Hill, is headlined Your Car Is Tracking You. Abusive Partners May Be, Too. Excerpt: Modern cars have been called “smartphones with wheels” because they are internet-connected and have myriad methods of data collection, from cameras and seat weight sensors to records of how hard you brake and corner. Most drivers don’t realize […]