by Jeff Sovern As we have reported a number of times, Wells Fargo opened millions of unauthorized accounts over a period of years. Estimates of how many range from two million to 3.5 million. So you might expect many complaints about that to the CFPB complaint database. On the other hand, considerable empirical research shows […]
by Jeff Sovern OIRA is the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (formerly headed by Cass Sunstein). It presides over the issuance of regulations by executive agencies, but not independent agencies (at least, not yet) like the CFPB. President Trump has nominated for its director George Mason Professor Neomi Rao, a former clerk for Justice Thomas and […]
Sarah Dadush of Rutgers has written Identity Harm, 89 University of Colorado Law Review (Forthcoming). Here is the abstract: In September 2015, the world learned that Volkswagen had rigged millions of its “clean diesel” vehicles with illegal software designed to cheat emissions tests. Contrary to what had been advertised, the vehicles are anything but clean. The […]
David Freeman Engstrom of Stanford has written Jacobins at Justice: The (Failed) Class Action Revolution of 1978 and the Puzzle of American Procedural Political Economy, 165 University of Pennsylvania Law Review (2017). Here is the abstract: In 1978, top DOJ officials in the Carter Administration floated a revolutionary proposal that would have remade the consumer class […]
by Jeff Sovern Different, that is, from arbitrations over the unauthorized accounts, about which we have reported (Wells has agreed to set aside its arbitration clause in the unauthorized account dispute and settle the claims in a class action; court approval is pending but seems likely). Ira's piece, titled Courts, Regulators Must Stop Wells Fargo’s […]
by Jeff Sovern Last month, Jeffrey Joseph posted Tyrannical CFPB tarnishes July 4th holiday in The Hill. Well, ok; others have so claimed, including House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling. Joseph is described at the end of the op-ed only as "a business professor at the George Washington University School of Business." I was curious to see what […]
Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission announced two actions potentially of interest to readers: The FTC announced that it halted an operation that unlawfully shared and sold consumers' sensitive data. The operators of a lead generation business agreed to settle charges brought by the FTC that the company misled consumers into filling out loan applications and […]
Here. Excerpt: Some changes by the Trump administration are already unfolding. The Education Department plans to consolidate the number of federal loan servicing companies from nine to one. Administration officials also have discussed moving the federal loan program from the Education Department to the Treasury Department. Meanwhile, the Trump administration announced plans to roll back […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. Excerpt: Faced with a choice between helping their constituents or helping themselves to a campaign donation haul, House Republicans are siding with deep pockets. All but one of the House’s 234 Republicans voted last month to gut a powerful agency — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — that banks, credit card issuers, debt collectors […]
Part 1 is here and part 2 is here. Excerpt: In my years of experience representing student loan borrowers, I have consistently seen servicers putting their own interests, or what they perceive to be the government’s interests, first. They rarely counsel student borrowers about the range of student loan relief programs, too often ignoring the fact […]