by Jeff Sovern The drip of bad news for consumer protection continues. Yesterday, the CFPB announced a "Call for Evidence Regarding Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Functions;" Evan Weinberger has more at Law360. Today we learned, as Allison posted, that the Bureau's budgetary request for this quarter is nothing–it will spend down its reserves instead. Allison […]
Last year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed suit against a group of payday lenders, alleging that they had deceived consumers and failed to disclose the true cost of the loans, which carried interest rates as high as 950 percent a year. Today, the CFPB asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. The agency offered […]
by Paul Alan Levy Muhammad Ali's estate has sued Fox for running a promotion for its Superbowl broadcast that contrasted Ali''s greatness with the greatness of various football players. Originally filed in the Northern District of Illinois, the complaint alleged claims under both the Lanham Act and the Illinois right of publicity. It is hard […]
Politico reports: Every quarter, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau formally requests its operating funds from the Federal Reserve. Last quarter, former director Richard Cordray asked for $217.1 million. Cordray, an appointee of President Barack Obama, needed just $86.6 million the quarter before that. And yesterday, President Donald Trump’s acting CFPB director, Mick Mulvaney, sent his […]
by Jeff Sovern Last week, the House Financial Services Committee's Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit held a hearing titled Legislative Proposals for a More Efficient Federal Financial Regulatory Regime: Part III on a variety of bills. One of the bills, H.R. 1264, provides that "Community financial institutions shall be exempt from all rules and regulations issued by the Bureau." […]
Writing in the Brownsville Herald, consumer law professors Mary Spector (SMU), Genevieve Hebert Fajardo (St. Mary’s) and Neil L. Sobol (Texas A& M) critique the debt collection bill pending in the House, HR 4550, which would exclude from the FDCPA's coverage attorneys to the extent they are engaging in litigation. Excerpt: House Resolution 4550, would […]
Law prof Ted Afield has written Compromising Student Loans, which explains why, in Afield's view, our student-loan programs do not properly assess a borrower's ability to pay back the loan. He also proposes a repayment program that he thinks would help borrowers who presently are unable to pay. Here is the abstract: Access to higher education […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. It seems unlikely that the Bureau would go to the trouble of a rulemaking only to ratify the rule. The Bureau had previously stated that it intended to amend the prepay card rule.
WaPo has a report, headlined How robo-callers outwitted the government and completely wrecked the Do Not Call list, reporting that the FTC receives 19,000 complaints per day from people on the Do-Not-Call list about robocallers. The FTC not only does not have the resources to do much about it, but when it tries, its efforts are […]
Equifax was the subject of more complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau than any other financial services company in all but one state in 2017, according to an analysis of agency data published Thursday. In every state but North Dakota, more residents complained to the CFPB about the credit reporting company than any other firm. […]