Court holds Department of Education violated Privacy Act rights of Corinthian students

AP reports that a federal court in California has ruled that the Education Department violated privacy laws with regard to students defrauded by the Corinthian for-profit college chain. "In a break with Obama administration policy, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced in December that some students cheated by the now-defunct schools would only get a part […]

A credit-file freeze with the big-three credit reporting companies may not be enough protection

Susan Grant at the Consumer Federation of America has written A Credit Reporting Agency You Probably Never Heard Of. Here's a key excerpt: If you have placed freezes on your credit files at Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, no one can fraudulently open a new account pretending to be you, right? Not exactly. Freezing your files at […]

Is the CFPB Making it Easier for Financial Institutions to Discriminate in Lending?

by Jeff Sovern Allison blogged earlier about Kate Berry's American Banker article, CFPB signals pullback on discrimination cases. I wanted to say a bit more about this area. Depending on how you count, there are basically three ways to prove credit discrimination cases. One, that is theoretically possible, but that you virtually never see in practice, […]

“CFPB signals pullback on discrimination cases “

This article from the American Banker discusses Acting Director Mulvaney's intention to re-examine how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforces the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which prohibits discrimination in lending. "Mulvaney's comments suggest the CFPB may make it harder for protected groups, including minorities and women, to claim they were adversely impacted by discriminatory practices. […]

“Mick Mulvaney Is Having a Blast Running the Agency He Detests”

That's the name of this article by Devin Leonard and Elizabeth Dexheimer. A key passage sets out what Mulvaney has done already and his vision for the agency: Six months into his tenure, Mulvaney is doing everything he can to transform the CFPB from a regulatory crown jewel of liberals into one that he says follows the […]

Will higher gas prices wipe out the middle-class gains, if any, from the tax cut? And is that Trump’s fault?

Ben White at Politico has written this piece on surging gas prices and whether the cost to consumers is gobbling up gains, if any, to the middle class from the tax cut. Here's an excerpt: President Donald Trump is hoping a wave of tax-cut-fueled economic euphoria will boost his approval ratings and his party’s political fortunes this fall. A […]

My Latest Op-ed: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, leaving the public high and dry

Here, in the Daily News. Excerpt:  Mulvaney once called the bureau a "sad, sick joke" and co-sponsored a bill to eliminate it. The solution he has adopted to run an agency he thinks should not exist is to "be a good bureaucrat," and do what the law requires — but no more. Mulvaney even extends […]