The Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday that it obtained a temporary restraining order halting an operation that bilked consumers out of millions of dollars by pretending to be affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education and falsely promising student loan debt relief. The FTC's press release, with a links to its complaint, is here.
by Paul Alan Levy Because I have written a few pieces about the excesses of the copyright enforcement campaign conducted by Mathew Higbee and his law firm, Higbee and Associates, for nearly a year now I have been getting a steady stream of calls for help from bloggers and others who have received demand letters […]
Stephen Raher has written The Company Store and the Literally Captive Market: Consumer Law in Prisons and Jails, 17 Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal 3 (2019). Here's the abstract: The growth of public expense associated with mass incarceration has led many carceral systems to push certain costs onto the people who are under correctional […]
In 2006, Congress enacted the Military Lending Act, which protects active duty troops by capping interest rates at 36% and provides other safeguards. Now, some members of Congress want to expand those safeguards to protect everyone from high-interest paydays loans with interest rates as high as 200%. NPR has the story, here.
Yesterday, the FTC released guide setting forth rules for when and how online influencers should disclose sponsorships to their followers. The guide is here.
AT&T Mobility and the FTC have settled a case charging that the company misled millions of its smartphone customers by charging them for “unlimited” data plans while reducing their data speeds. FTC filed the case in 2014, alleged that AT&T failed to adequately disclose to its unlimited data plan customers that, if they reach a […]
New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill explains that little-known companies are amassing your data — like food orders and Airbnb messages — and selling the analysis to clients. She also shares information about how to request a copy of the information that these companies have collected about you. The article is here.
The Supreme Court has established a briefing schedule in the Seila Law case, which presents the question whether limitations on presidential removal of the director of the CFPB render the agency's structure unconstitutional. The schedule was jointly proposed by the attorneys representing Seila Law (which challenged an agency enforcement action on the ground that limits […]
More than 20 Democratic senators called on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to investigate a loan servicer Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency’s handling of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program for public service workers. According to recent reports, 99 percent of applicants have been denied loan forgiveness. A 2017 report by the CFPB’s student loan […]
The Supreme Court has tapped Paul Clement of the law firm Kirkland & Ellis to support the constitutionality of the CFPB director's tenure protection in the Seila Law v. CFPB case in which the Court granted certiorari last week. Because the CFPB no longer defends its own constitutionality, Clement will be designated a court-appointed amicus […]