by Jeff Sovern Some years ago, I wrote an article in which I speculated that disclosing to consumers that consumers rarely redeem rebates might cause consumers to disregard rebate offers. Better-known scholars, like Ian Ayres and Oren Bar-Gill, have expressed similar thoughts. Well, a new study suggests that the contrary is true. Molly Mercer of DePaul's […]
The Hill reports on a proposal in the Senate to create a committee to go after "regulatory overreach." (Read the story here.) But as Public Citizen explains, in the wake of the Amtrak crash, oil train derailments, and massive auto safety recalls, "The last thing Congress should be doing is creating more delays for new […]
On Tuesday, the IRS announced that hackers had breached the agency's website and gained access to old tax returns of more than 100,000 taxpayers. Hackers apparently used personal information obtained elsewhere to access old returns contained on the IRS website. The activity occurred from February through mid-May. (Story here.) On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee […]
The Justice Department and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have filed a consent order to resolve allegations that Provident Funding Associates engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination. The consent order resolves allegations that Provident increased loan prices for African-American and Hispanic borrowers who obtained residential mortgages between 2006 and 2011 from Provident’s nationwide network […]
by Paul Alan Levy In a ruling issued this morning in Davis v. Cox, the Washington Supreme Court unanimously struck down that state's anti-SLAPP statute because of a provision, not contained in most other state anti-SLAPP statutes, under which once a case is found to over a matter of free speech or petition within the law's […]
Yesterday, DOL proposed guidance and regulations that would protect workers in two important ways. First, corporations would be prevented from receiving federal contracts if they have bad worker safety records or histories of wage theft. Second, federal contractors would not be permitted to use employment contracts that impose forced arbitration on their workers. In a […]
The Volcker Alliance, a nonprofit public policy organization headed by Mr. Volcker, has released a report proposing broad changes to the U.S. financial regulatory system. The Alliance suggests a three-pronged approach to reform, calling for updated oversight and surveillance, streamlined supervision and regulation, and stronger market integrity and investor protection. The report is here. Just […]
The State of New York prohibits charging more than 25% interest. You'd think that would be plenty of profit for any lender, but Saliha Madden's creditors (Midland Funding and a sister entity) wanted more. When they sought to collect a higher rate of interest from her, she sued under state and federal law and sought […]
Unwanted calls and texts are the number one consumer complaint to the FCC. Now, the FCC has announced a "proposal to protect Americans from unwanted robocalls, spam text messages, and telemarketing calls. The proposal addresses two dozen petitions that sought clarity on how the Commission enforces the Telephone Consumer Protection Act." The FCC says that […]