by Jeff Sovern Allied Progress has posted a list of ten questions for Kathy Kraninger at her confirmation hearing Thursday. The list includes many excellent questions, but I would love to see her also asked specific questions about consumer law because I am curious to see how much she knows about the laws she will interpret […]
Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell ponders the Trump Administration's choice of someone with "zero experience in the complicated world of financial regulation or consumer protection" to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Considering consumer protection more broadly, she writes: It’s bizarre. Whenever they get the chance, Republican officials seem intent on bleeding consumers dry. Or […]
William McGeveran of Minnesota has written The Duty of Data Security, 102 Minnesota Law Review (2018, Forthcoming). Here is the abstract: As data breaches become larger and more frequent, the question naturally arises: what precautions does the law require of the data custodians who hold our personal information in their digital files? What is the legal duty of […]
by Jeff Sovern The president today issued an executive order creating a Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud within the Department of Justice. It has a large number of members, including the CFPB director and chair of the FTC. Among Its functions are to : (a) provide guidance for the investigation and prosecution […]
The Hill reports that the Mick Mulvaney has chosen Brian Johnson to be the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's acting deputy director. Johnson had previously served as the CFPB’s principal policy director. He had been hired by Mulvaney last year to rein in and rebrand the controversial regulator. The full article is here.
Leandra English has announced that she is leaving the CFPB next week in light of the nomination of a new director. Her attorney, CL&P blogger Deepak Gupta, has said that he will intends to file papers next week "to bring the litigation to a close."
Susan Block-Lieb of Fordham has written Cities as a Source of Consumers’ Financial Empowerment, 34 Emory Bankruptcy Developments J. 388 (2018). Here's the abstract: Although cities are a poor place to situate consumer protection regulation, especially “top down” efforts to “command and control” lending decisions, they are an especially good source of consumer “empowerment” initiatives. Consumer […]
The Washington Post recently reported on a phenomenon I had not previously been aware of: mass-mailing checks to strangers, that when cashed become high-interest loans. As a trainee at one firm described it, "basically a way of monetizing poor people." The article is here.
That's explained by columnist Michael Hiltzik in Trump's own figures show that Obamacare is working well for the vast majority of enrollees: President Trump brags that he has “gutted” the Affordable Care Act, but statistics released this week by his own Department of Health and Human Services show that it’s holding up well against his onslaught, […]