Time has this article, reporting that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau "has reshaped the mortgage market and issued hefty penalties. But there is much to be done."
The U.S. Department of Education yesterday outlined a series of enhanced protections and customer service standards to guide the future of federal student loan servicing practices. The policies were outlined in a memorandum to Federal Student Aid (FSA) and developed in consultation with the Department of the Treasury and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The […]
Here. Here's the beginning of the Executive Summary: Lenders normally want borrowers who will pay back their loans in full. This seems obvious—otherwise, won’t the lender lose money? Yet in the high-rate installment loan market, the normal incentive to make affordable loans does not work. When loans have high interest rates, lenders may seek out […]
Daria Roithmayr of USC, Justin Chin, a USC law student, and Bruce Levin, an Emory biology professor, have written Cat and Mouse: A Dynamic Analysis of Predatory Payday Lending. Here's the abstract: Legal actors and the regulators who pursue them often engage in a co-evolutionary game of cat and mouse, as each innovates to out-compete […]
Here (behind paywall). The article consists mostly of quotes and statistics. Some excerpts (for some reason, I couldn't get the paragraph breaks to work correctly): * * * Republican lawmakers continue to gun for the CFPB. More than 50 bills pending in Congress have sought to defund, change or somehow restrict the agency. * * […]
Mary Spector of SMU and Ann Baddour of Texas Appleseed, Fair Financial Services Project, have written Collection Texas-Style: An Analysis of Consumer Collection Practices in and Out of the Courts, 67 Hastings Law Journal (2016). Here's the abstract: As many as forty-four percent of Texans with credit files have non-mortgage debt in collection; this is more […]
A Washington Post story today, entitled "Did your college mislead you about job prospects? It might become far easier to have your loans forgiven," explains: A little-known rule called Borrower Defense to Repayment, which is making its way through the regulatory process in Washington, initially was aimed at cracking down on the fraudulent behavior of […]
Here. From the Executive Summary: NCRC has found an extensive mortgage lending imbalance in St. Louis, with mortgage credit distribution heavily swayed by income levels and the racial makeup of neighborhoods. These trends are noteworthy, especially within the City of St. Louis. While median family income is a crucial factor, lending is concentrated in majority […]
The full platform is here. Here are excerpts on consumer protection issues: The Republican vision for American banking calls for establishing transparent, efficient markets where consumers can obtain loans they need at reasonable rates based on market conditions. Unfortunately, in response to the financial institutions crisis of 2008-2009, the Democratic-controlled Congress enacted the Wall Street […]
This article by Steven Mufson explains that "the fuel efficiency standards championed by President Obama in 2012 will fall short of the 54.5-miles-per-gallon 2025 target the administration set because consumers are buying more pickup trucks, vans and sports utility vehicles than expected, according to a new technical assessment report by the Environmental Protection Agency and the […]