by Jeff Sovern Earlier this week, I commented on car dealer opposition to the CFPB's auto financing rules. Chris Willis replied on Ballard Spahr's informative CFPB Monitor Blog. I want to respond to two of Chris's points: first, that compliance, policing, and later enforcement steps will increase the cost of credit; and second, that dealers […]
From a CFPB press release this morning: Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) goes live with the nation’s largest public database of federal consumer financial complaints, opening up to consumers across the country information on more than 90,000 individual complaints on financial products and services. . . . Today’s launch expands the Consumer Complaint […]
By Stephen Gardner I echo what Alan White said, but have thoughts of my own. The first of which is: Oh lordy. This case may be the high-(low-?)water mark for Justice Scalia's willingness to manipulate reality and the Court's jurisdiction to get the result he wants. As the dissent (quoted in part below) sets out […]
Today the Supreme Court ruled in Comcast Corp. v. Behrens that an antitrust class action was improperly certified because Justice Scalia and four other Justices found the plaintiffs' damage theory inadequately supported by expert testimony. Others will no doubt have more to say on this, but I found the majority opinion transparently result-oriented, and disturbing […]
This analysis by Jia Yang explains that large U.S. companies with operations abroad pay far less in U.S. corporate income taxes than they used to. For instance, Yang writes, in 1969, corporate giant Procter and Gamble (based in Cincinnati) paid 40% of its total profits in U.S. corporate income taxes, while today it pays about […]
As explained in this article by Matthai Kuruvila, Oakland residents who use the debit function of the city's long-awaited municipal identification card will be charged much more in fees than they would pay if they chose a comparable prepaid card from a store, according to Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports. The organization, […]
Here. (HT: Michael Romero)
The CFPB has released its annual report on activities under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. You can read it here. The report summarizes consumer complaint data, the Bureau's new supervision program, amicus briefs, and enforcement actions (not much to report in that category), and significant enforcement and other actions taken by the FTC, among […]
Yesterday's decision from the Fourth Circuit in McCauley v. Home Loan Investment Bank cabins the preemptive scope of the Home Owners' Loan Act and associated regulations to pre-Dodd Frank consumer claims (Dodd-Frank has changed the legal landscape going forward, but the old regulations still govern a number of cases arising out of the Great Recession). […]
The Obama Administration has said that the Affordable Care Act will bring down health care costs. Next year, much of the Act will go into full effect. But private health insurers are apparently warning brokers that premiums will go up significantly next year because of the Act. Read about it here.