The New York Times reports that the Food and Drug Administration has warned Congress that it is frequently finding contamination, illegal ingredients and other problems in the soaring quantities of imported cosmetics, and that it has limited resources to inspect the shipments. The warning was part of a letter sent in late June to a […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. My favorite sentence points out that in an average year, "[a]t least 6,800,000 consumers get cash relief in class actions—compared with just 16 consumers who receive cash relief in arbitration, according to available data." Here is a longer excerpt: Opponents of the rule have suggested that the bureau’s own findings show consumers […]
by Jeff Sovern The Hill reports that Hensarling has demanded an investigation into whether Cordray violated election law. This follows the Financial Services Committee (chaired by Hensarling) staff report saying the Committee should consider holding Cordray in contempt (a story on the CFPB reply is here). And if you listen to the Committee's hearings during which […]
by Jeff Sovern Last week, Gretchen Morgenson at the Times broke the story of how hundreds of thousands of auto loan borrowers at Wells Fargo had been charged for car insurance they didn't need. Now Kate Berry at the American Banker reports on the arbitration connection: it turns out that many of the contracts provide […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. Biden's Briefing is a podcast which plays "[w]hat Joe wants you to know. Every day, Vice President Joe Biden looks to the news across the nation that's sparking conversation, sharing the articles and opinions that he's reading and might be of interest to you." For today's episode, he chose the essay […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today issued a bulletin warning companies about tricking consumers into expensive pay-by-phone fees. The CFPB is concerned about companies potentially misleading consumers about the purpose and amount of certain pay-by-phone fees or keeping them in the dark about much cheaper payment options. The bulletin also reviews guidelines to help consumer […]
by Jeff Sovern Law360's Evan Weinberger has the story here. The rule still could be blocked by Congress under the Congressional Review Act or in the courts. One down, two to go.
by Jeff Sovern Republican pollster Robert Carpenter has written Republicans beware: Your voters like tough rules on Wall Street in the Washington Examiner. Excerpt: Republicans do the bidding of Wall Street at their own peril. That is the message of a new poll that I helped conduct around financial reform and consumer protection last month […]
Here. The first three paragraphs read: The early results from a recent study that Kent Grayson, a Northwestern University marketing professor, did on consumer skepticism left him feeling a little, well, skeptical. So he ran the trials a few more times. Each time, when participants were asked what they thought of modern advertising techniques, they […]
Former Trump campaign head Corey Lewandowski went on Meet the Press today. The host of the show, Chuck Todd, was questioning Lewandowski on the same things everyone else on the Sunday shows had been talking about: the failure of the republican controlled Congress to repeal the ACA, chaos and personnel turnover in the White House, the […]