The Hill reports: The Obama administration on Monday announced a tweak to the federal financial aid program that one official said would help “literally hundreds of thousands” of students each year. Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan will formally announce the change at a town hall meeting in Iowa, where they will meet with high […]
by Jeff Sovern The following is the body of an email I sent to the editor of the Consumer Financial Services Law Report (a very useful newsletter on developments in consumer finance): The August 9, 2015 issue of the Consumer Financial Services Law Report includes an advocacy piece by financial industry lawyers Alan S. Kaplinsky and […]
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The Food and Drug Administration has released rules that will require U.S. food manufacturers to make detailed plans to identify and prevent possible contamination risks in food production facilities. As the Washington Post reports, "[t]he new regulations, which will apply to the production of both human and animal foods, mark the first step in a broader effort […]
Jim Hawkins of Houston has written Are Bigger Companies Better for Low-Income Borrowers?: Evidence from Payday and Title Loan Advertisements, Forthcoming in the Journal of Law, Economics and Policy. Here is the abstract: Payday lending and title lending markets are dominated by a small number of large lenders. Recent policy intervention into these markets in […]
That's the title of this article by Sherzod Abdukadirov. Here is the abstract: As it becomes clear that the Nutrition Facts panel (NFP) and other information disclosure policies have failed to improve consumers’ dietary choices, many health advocates have declared information-based policies ineffective and instead advocate measures that would manipulate consumers’ choices. In contrast, this […]
Law prof Adam Levitin has written this article in The American Banker called The CFPB's Data Collection Is to Be Applauded. At his blog, Credit Slips, Levitin explains that "the CFPB's data collection … has become the latest inside-the-Beltway attack on the CFPB."
Law professor Diana Sax has written Dietary Supplements Are Not All Safe and Not All Food: How the Low Cost of Dietary Supplements Preys on the Consumer. Here is the abstract: Dietary supplements are regulated as food, even though the safety and efficacy of some supplements are unknown. These products are often promoted as ‘natural’. […]
…is the title of an NPR report this morning discussing what happens what experimenters taped off a portion of consumers' grocery carts and labeled it "fruits and vegetables." The results tell us as much about marketing and the power of suggestion as they do about how health-conscious grocery stores might try to nudge their consumers. […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced yesterday: Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took action against the nation’s two largest debt buyers and collectors for using deceptive tactics to collect bad debts. The Bureau found that Encore Capital Group and Portfolio Recovery Associates bought debts that were potentially inaccurate, lacking documentation, or unenforceable. Without […]