Consumer reporter Michelle Singletary has just written a column entitled Have you received one of those Social Security scam calls? There’s a new way to report it. He column explains the varied and widespread nature of these scams and that the "Social Security Administration and its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently announced a […]
In Slate, Georgetown Law students Harsimar Dhanoa and Jonathan Greengarden have written Misinformed YouTubers Are Undermining the Fight for Children’s Privacy Online.
Just in time for the nation's annual gift-buying orgy, U.S. PIRG has issued its 34th annual Trouble in Toyland report. It's a guide to help consumers avoid buying toys that contain lead, have small parts on which kids can choke, or are otherwise unsafe. PPIRG explains that "[o]ver the past 33 years, our annual reports […]
Journalist David Dayen (@ddayen) has written Tech Companies' Big Reveal: Hardly Anyone Files Arbitration Claims. "Responding to Congress," Dayen explains, those companies have "make clear that forced arbitration gives them the means to sidestep the law." Here's an excerpt: Some new statistics from the nation’s leading tech firms on arbitration serve as evidence for an […]
In mid December, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will propose new regulations, substantially revising its rules under the Community Reinvestment Act. The 1977 Act is aimed at combating redlining, or racial bias in lending, requires banks to meet the needs of local communities where their branches are based, including low- and moderate-income […]
Texas enacted a law in 2019 to protect people in state-regulated health plans from surprise medical billing — that is, outrageous bills for out-of-network care. The law, which goes into effect in January, creates an arbitration process for insurers and providers to negotiate so that fair prices are charged without involving patients. Rules implementing the […]
I am delighted to announce (maybe relieved is more accurate; it's been a lot of work!) that in January West will publish the fifth edition of the consumer law casebook that I co-author with Dee Pridgen and Chris Peterson. I'm looking forward to teaching the updated version of the materials that appeared in the last […]
by Jeff Sovern From Politico's Morning Money Newsletter: KRANINGER PROMISES CLARITY — Our Victoria Guida: “Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger said … her agency will soon provide more clarity on what constitutes an ‘abusive practice’ by sellers of financial products, tackling an issue that has dogged policymakers since the financial crisis. … More broadly, […]
The CFPB's list of rules that it intends to propose or to finalize in the next year is now posted, here. The two rules it expects to finalize this spring are a rule rescinding the 2017 payday lending regulation issued to protect consumers from predatory lending (final rule expected in April 2020) and a cutting […]
At CreditSlips, Professor Adam Levitin writes that a rule proposed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency "provides that nonbank assignees of loans from banks may charge whatever interest rate the bank may charge." In effect, the proposal "green lights unregulated subprime lending nationwide. In particular, [it] allows unregulated payday lending (although […]