Here. Listen to it while driving. It explores people involved in the CFPB's dismissal of the Golden Valley payday lending case and quotes Chris Peterson.
In a detailed and informative post entitled Judge Declares Some PACER Fees Illegal but Does Not Go Far Enough, open-courts activist Steve Schultze says explains that Five years ago, in a post called “Making Excuses for Fees on Electronic Public Records,” I described my attempts to persuade the federal Judiciary to stop charging for access […]
In case you missed the punchline of Jeff Sovern's post on the CFPB's annual report, the news is not the report itself (which conscientiously recites the CFPB's actions between February and September 2017, before Mick Mulvaney was appointed Acting Director following Richard Cordray's departure), but the cover letter, in which Mulvaney proposes that Congress gut […]
by Jeff Sovern The report is here. Here's an excerpt from Mulvaney's statement at the beginning of the report: As has been evident since the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act, the Bureau is far too powerful, and with precious little oversight of its activities. Per the statute, in the normal course the Bureau’s Director simultaneously […]
Here, in Forbes. Another consumer protection that probably doesn't protect consumers
by Jeff Sovern Apparently the Lucchese Organized Crime Family charges less than a quarter of what payday lenders charge. Last week, New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced indictments of ten members of the group in the largest loansharking investigation in the office's history. Schneiderman's press release reports: [U]surious interest payouts exceed[ed] a million […]
Many of our readers no doubt have read that Scott Pruitt (EPA head and climate change denier) is planning to scrap the Obama Administration's fuel-economy targets aimed at making cars more fuel efficient (and, in turn, having some positive effect on climate change). This article by Evan Halper explains that California plans to stick with the higher […]
by Paul Alan Levy Despite the passage of the Consumer Review Fairness Act in December 2016, businesses continue to use non-disclosure and non-disparagement clauses in form contracts to suppress criticism of their products and services. This blog post summarizes several situations in which we have been involved recently. Premier Pools and Spas in Dallas The […]
From Kenosha News (WI), "Group rallies against high-interest lending practices in Kenosha, state" (March 27), here. From Akron Beacon Journal / Ohio.com, "Editorial: Real regulation for payday lenders" (March 26), here. From Wall Street Journal, "Florida Gives Payday Lenders a Boost" (March 19), here. From Nonprofit Quarterly, "Florida Senate Backs Changes in Payday Loans that […]
The report, at CreditCards.com, is titled "Store-card issuers top list of complaints with the CFPB" and the subheading is" Purchase issues, unexpected fees or interest are most common card-related gripes." The report lists the most-complained-about issuers per $100M in card balances and also reports on which issuers give the most refunds. Here's an excerpt: It […]