Last Friday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published its 2016 Consumer Response Annual Report, available here. The CFPB offered a few key takeaways: The CFPB handled 291,400 consumer complaints in 2016, a 7 percent increase over complaints handled in 2015. Debt collection, credit reporting and mortgages were the top three most-complained-about consumer financial products and […]
Here, from Insidearm.com. The headline is CFPB Director Cordray's Testimony Gets Off to a Heated Start
It's often claimed that patent law and its enforcement (or not) affects consumer well-being. We know, for instance, that the presence of a patent (or not) often has a significant effect on a drug's price. And drug companies maintain that patent protection promotes innovation, in turn, they say, benefiting consumers. (For more on that topic, […]
That's the name of this article by Steven Harper (subscription possibly required). Harper begins by telling us that his concerns over [Secretary of Education Betsy] DeVos's willingness to deal effectively with student-loan policy "goes far beyond the embarrassing ignorance on display at DeVos’ confirmation hearing. . . . She knows nothing about basic educational policy, the decades-old Individuals […]
by Jeff Sovern First, Cordray. Here's what Politico's Morning Money reported: CORDRAY IS … STILL THERE – Compass Point's Isaac Boltansky and Lukas Davaz: "With a decision in the PHH case review unlikely until next year, and the path for a legislative compromise on the Bureau's governance structure becoming hazier by the day, all indications […]
This article by Bobby Allyn discusses a program, begun by the Obama Administration in 2015, to step up use of private law firms to collect student-loan debt through federal-court lawsuits. The program apparently includes obtaining judgments and then placing liens on poor people's homes. Allyn's article focuses on law suits filed in federal court in Philadelphia, […]
This article by Jonathan Swan and David Nather about the republicans' continuing efforts to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act starts with something that would be laughable if it weren't so serious: House Republican leaders are worried that a concession in the developing Trumpcare talks could make already anxious moderates run away from the bill. […]
Tobie Stanger has posted this piece at Consumer Reports comparing no-cost and low-cost tax preparation options from the major commercial tax preparation companies and the IRS.
by Jeff Sovern More here. One panel is on the CFPB proposed arbitration rule (I'm on that one) and consumer arbitration; another is on FAA preemption and nursing home arbitration; a third is on ADR in practice.