The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a report examining federal and state-level privacy protections for consumers’ financial data. The report notes that protections under federal regulations for financial data have limits. Yet, many new state data privacy protections exempt financial institutions and consumer financial data covered by federal law, even though states generally have […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued results from its Student Loan Borrower Survey, providing insights into the effects of student loan debt relief programs and the challenges borrowers face in navigating repayment options. The survey, conducted between October 2023 and January 2024, gathered data from a representative sample of student loan borrowers as the federal […]
After Meta, parent company of Facebook, acquired Instagram and WhatsApp, the FTC brought Sherman Act antitrust claims against the company in 2020. The district court had previously denied a motion to dismiss, and, yesterday, denied both parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment–finding the case must go to trial. In so doing, though, the court commented that […]
Larry Kirsch has written Power-Balancing: State Attorneys General and Unfair Mortgage Lending forthcoming in 9 International Review of Financial Consumers. Here’s the abstract: This paper is a case study in the enforcement of state unfair trade practice laws targeted at predatory mortgage lending and securitization abuses during the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. It considers how […]
From the inside cover: Bankruptcy is the busiest federal court in America. In theory, bankruptcy in America exists to cancel or restructure debts for people and companies that have way too many—a safety valve designed to provide a mechanism for restarting lives and businesses when things go wrong financially. In this brilliant and paradigm-shifting book, […]
The FTC brought administrative proceedings against tax preparation company H&R Block, arguing that the company had made deceptive statements about its “free filing” products. H&R Block brought an action in federal district court seeking to enjoin the administrative proceedings, challenging the FTC’s structure. Yesterday, the FTC announced the parties had reached a settlement of the […]
We received the following call for writers and speakers: The Loyola Consumer Law Review Seeking Writers, Speakers for its 2025 Symposium on “Big Tech” and the Consumer. The Loyola Consumer Law Review is hosting its annual symposium on March 21, 2025 at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law located in downtown Chicago. We are […]
As we previously reported, Texas’s conservative Attorney General takes the position that the CFPB is properly and currently funded. In a new filing captioned Plaintiff’s Response to Defendants’ Objections to Magistrate Judge’s Memorandum and Recommendation, Texas’s AG’s office states (footnotes and citation omitted): * * * Defendants attack the CFPB’s funding statute based on a flawed […]
On her last day as Secretary of Transportation during the last Trump Administration, Elaine Chao signed off on a joint venture between American Airlines and JetBlue, which allowed extensive cooperation and coordination between the two airlines, effectively allowing the two to operate as a single airline with respect to most routes out of Boston and […]
After Bayer voluntarily recalled certain anti-fungal consumer products that contained benzene due to a production error , consumers who had purchased the affected products filed a class action. They alleged three forms of harm: (1) that they were deprived of the benefit of their bargain because they contracted for safe products that did not contain […]