The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced four enforcement actions against mortgage insurers that the CFPB believes are paying improper kickbacks to mortgage lenders in exchange for business. The CFPB filed complaints alleging violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (sometimes referred to as RESPA) and proposed consent orders against the four insurance companies […]
by Jeff Sovern Here (behind a paywall, unfortunately). The article implies that the Bureau will listen to collector phone calls (at least, that's how I interpret the statement that the Bureau will audit the "handling of phone calls"). That contrasts with what Fred Williams reported in his book Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices (which […]
There are some consumer-law events coming up that readers may find interesting: ABA Fair Lending Panel Tomorrow (April 5): The recent exchange between Jeff Sovern and Chris Willis on disparate impact and fair lending (at this blog and the CFPB Monitor blog) reminds me to mention a panel on the same subject tomorrow at the spring meeting of […]
by Jeff Sovern Chris Willis of Ballard Spahr's CFPB Monitor recently blogged about whether disparate impact can properly be termed discrimination and therefore prohibited by ECOA. For those who don't know, courts generally recognize three ways to prove discrimination in violation of ECOA: direct evidence, disparate treatment (except in the Seventh Circuit) and disparate impact, or as […]
The Federal Trade Commission has warned operators of six websites that share information about consumers’ rental histories with landlords that they may be subject to the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The letters inform the six operators that, if they collect information on tenants and their rental history and provide that information […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday announced two winners of its contest seeking ideas to block illegal robocalls. The two winners will receive $25,000 each. Both of their solutions "focus on intercepting and filtering out illegal prerecorded calls using technology to 'blacklist' robocaller phone numbers and 'whitelist" numbers associated with acceptable incoming calls. Both proposals […]
It is widely believed that a major cause of the financial crisis and economic collapse that began in 2008 was the extension of home loans to people who could not afford them. The Clinton and Bush Administrations have been criticized for promoting policies of loose home lending backed by federal guarantees. Today, it's harder for […]
Following up on Brian's post yesterday about employment discimination against smokers, consider California's proposed ban on smoking in apartment buildings and other attached dwellings, discussed here by the Huffington Post (with a headline framing the ban critically) and here by the San Francisco Chronicle (with a more positive take). Public health measure? Unfair punishment for […]
by Jeff Sovern This is completely self-serving, but law professor readers of this blog may be interested to learn that the fourth edition of our casebook, Consumer Law, Cases and Materials, Fourth Edition is expected to be released in July, in time for fall classes. Our goal was to continue comprehensive coverage of core consumer law subjects (like deceptive […]
by Brian Wolfman At this blog, we have covered issues of employment discrimination. Our posts have mainly concerned employment discrimination on the basis of someone's characteristic or status. But employers sometimes discriminate against prospective or current employees based on behavior, such as whether the prospective or current employee is a tobacco user. Apparently, an increasing […]