by Jeff Sovern Last week, the Times ran an article about companies that sell consumer data to businesses but won't provide it to the consumers involved. Despite the headline, reprinted above, I thought the article didn't really explain why companies won't provide the information to consumers. So I wrote a letter with my explanation, which […]
by Jeff Sovern Tomorrow's Sunday Times has a series of letters on the issue of whether society needs more regulation or less. One letter, by Dennis Canfield of Western Springs, Ill., opines: The problem with the current state of government involvement in our daily lives is that the overwhelming majority of it — from employment regulations […]
by Jeff Sovern The report is here. The study identifed "best" and "good practices" and then looked to see if 36 of the largest 50 banks employed those practices (the practices of the other 14 could not be obtained without physically visting the banks). From the Overview: Pew defines best practices as those that are the […]
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau head Richard Cordray announced today that the agency has enhanced its Consumer Complaint Database to include state-by-state information. The CFPB also added complaints about money transfers and credit reporting to the database. “This data puts valuable information in the hands of consumers to help them understand what is happening in their […]
As explained in this article by Ylan Mui, "American households have rebuilt less than half of the wealth lost during the recession, leaving them without the spending power to fuel a robust economic recovery, according to a new analysis from the Federal Reserve."
Here. One possible compromise: create an inspector general for the CFPB.
Big news: The CFPB today filed the first lawsuit that invokes the agency's authority under the Dodd-Frank Act to police practices that are not just unfair or deceptive, but "abusive." Observers of the agency have been eagerly anticipating the first use of that authority, which is new to the world of consumer law. The Bureau's Action […]
Law professor Janet Alexander has written "To Skin a Cat: Qui Tam Actions as a State Legislative Response to Concepcion." Here is the abstract: The Supreme Court’s decision in Concepcion is widely regarded as heralding the demise of small-claims class actions whenever contracts of adhesion are involved in the transaction — which means for virtually […]
As our readers know, on April 25, 2013, the Solicitor General petitioned the Supreme Court to review the D.C. Circuit's Noel Canning decision, which held that three putative recess appointments made by President Obama to the National Labor Relations Board were, in fact, not proper recess appointments and were thus invalid. Here's how the the […]
This article by Lori Montgomery explains that, according to a a new Congressional Budget Office report, The 10 largest breaks in the U.S. tax code will save taxpayers more than $900 billion this year, with a little more than half the benefits flowing to the richest 20 percent of households …. Whether that's a good or […]