A recent report by the Greenlining Institute and the Urban Strategies Council, "Locked Out of the Market: Poor Access to Home Loans for Californians of Color," highlights the stark disparities between whites borrowers and borrowers of color when it comes to access to home loans. Among the report's findings: -In 2013, Hispanics were nearly 40% of CA’s […]
Jared Bernstein and Ben Spielberg explain of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explained in the Washington Post on Friday that studies have debunked this argument against raising the minimum wage at the local level. Read the piece here.
In a speech February 25 at the CFPB's Consumer Advisory Board meeting, CFPB Director Richard Cordray identified nine "key areas where we hope to make substantial progress over the next two years." He also noted, however, that "these goals do not capture all of the important work we are doing." The nine goals are: First, […]
Here. Excerpt: In a push for transparency since the 2008 financial crisis, regulators require banks to clearly disclose and explain the terms of just about every financial product, including credit cards and mortgages. But overdraft practices still come with hidden costs and confusing terms, bank customers, lawyers and consumer advocates say. * * * It […]
by Jeff Sovern I've gradually been making my way through Chris Hoofnagle's new book, Federal Trade Commission Privacy Law and Policy (more about that below). For those who want to sample the book before ordering it, Chris has posted the Introduction and an excerpt to SSRN here. The book opens with an interesting history of […]
Here. Excerpt: The U.S. senator from Florida has received more than $4 million from the employees of banks and investment firms like Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) since launching his bid for the presidency last year, according to the analysis of individual donations totaling more […]
D. Bruce Johnsen of George Mason has written A Closer Look at Payment Cards. Here is the abstract: This essay takes a closer look at the U.S. payment card system, primarily debit cards. I examine the bundle of transactional services this and other types of payment cards provide. My goal, in large part, is to […]
by Paul Alan Levy A comment to my recent blog post about Prestigious Pets, a Dallas pet care company that recently sued two of its customers for negative reviews, suggested an interesting approach for dealing with businesses that use non-disparagement clauses to block customers from posting accurate but unflattering reviews. Although consumer advocates place hope […]
The court of appeals this week affirmed a district court's decision to unseal a complaint even though the case settled within two weeks after it was filed. Of note, the Second Circuit held that the public is entitled to access civil complaints not just under the common law right of access but also under the […]
The Federal Trade Commission has charged a debt relief operation with falsely representing to financially distressed homeowners and student loan borrowers that it would help get their mortgages and student loans modified. At the FTC’s request, a federal court has temporarily halted the operation. The agency seeks to permanently stop the alleged illegal practices and […]