by Jeff Sovern Javelin Strategy & Research has issued its annual report on identity fraud (a free version is available here). Javelin reports that 12.6 million Americans–or more than 5%–were victims of identity fraud in 2012, an increase of a million from 2011. It also states that nearly a quarter of consumers who received data breach […]
Here's an excerpt from the announcement: Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it is gathering information to develop options for policymakers to make repayment of private student loans more manageable for struggling borrowers. The CFPB has found that private student loan borrowers who wish to pay their loans, but face high payments, […]
by Paul Alan Levy Our experience at Public Citizen has been that objectors to proposed class action settlements can often expect a hostile reception. Both named plaintiffs and defendants – and their lawyers — generally have a common stake in getting the settlement approved, and they have developed a relationship with the judge already. The […]
Last year, Charles Schwab modified its customer account agreements to prohibit class-action suits and bar consolidation of individual arbitrations. FINRA — the financial industry regulatory authority — then charged Schwab with violating FINRA's rules. As we previously reported, Schwab challenged FINRA's action in district court, but the court dismissed the suit for failure to exhaust […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. The first two sentences say: The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has told at least four banks that it may sue them over vehicle loans and interest-rate markups by auto dealers that appear discriminatory, according to three people briefed on the matter. The banks received letters from the CFPB last week […]
by Brian Wolfman After the Supreme Court's decision last June largely upholding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), we asked this question: Which states, if any, will back out of the Medicaid expansion? As you will recall, the Supreme Court ruled 7-to-2 that the states have the right to back out of the ACA's large Medicaid […]
Read this piece by Jessie Eisinger of ProPublica. Eisinger begins by noting that there's a lot of discussion about the revolving door between industry and agency appointees. He refers to one instance that's gotten a lot of press: Mary Jo White's appointment to head the SEC. Aftter serving "as a tough United States attorney," Eisigner […]
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray spoke today at the the CFPB Advisory Board's first meeting of 2013. He discussed the CFPB's current priorities, including unequal access to credit for minorities, deceptive marketing of consumer financial products, and debt traps. He also touched on the Bureau's efforts to be transparent, to respond to consumer […]
Politico puts out an often-interesting email newsletter, titled Morning Money, every weekday. This morning's edition quoted "a person close to" Senator Elizabeth Warren as saying the following: 'It should be obvious to anyone paying attention that the large banks would have more ground to stand on with Elizabeth if they figured out a way to […]
As explained here (an interview with one of the authors), law professors William Bratten and Adam Levitin think so. The full article is here. Here is the abstract: Three scandals have reshaped business regulation over the past thirty years: the securities fraud prosecution of Michael Milken in 1988, the Enron implosion of 2001, and the […]