CL&P Blog

Coordinators

  • Allison Zieve
    Public Citizen Litigation Group
  • Jeff Sovern
    St. John's University School of Law
  • Brian Wolfman
    Georgetown University Law Center and Harvard Law School

Other Contributors

  • Richard Alderman
    University of Houston Law Center
  • Paul Bland
    Public Justice
  • Stephen Gardner
    Consultant
  • Mike Landis
    US Public Interest Research Group
  • Paul Alan Levy
    Public Citizen Litigation Group
  • Scott Nelson
    Public Citizen Litigation Group
  • Ira Rheingold
    National Association of Consumer Advocates
  • Jon Sheldon
    National Consumer Law Center

About Us

www.clpblog.org

The contributors to the Consumer Law & Policy blog are lawyers and law professors who practice, teach, or write about consumer law and policy. The blog is hosted by Public Citizen Litigation Group, but the views expressed here are solely those of the individual contributors (and don't necessarily reflect the views of institutions with which they are affiliated). To view the blog's policies, please click here.

Blogs On Consumer Issues

  • Alabama Consumer Law Blog
  • Arnold & Porter Consumer Advertising Law Blog
  • CAFA Law Blog
  • Caveat Emptor
  • Citizen Vox
  • Consumer Affairs with Sheryl Harris
  • THE CONSUMERIST
  • Credit Slips
  • Home Equity Theft Reporter
  • Fair Arbitration NOW Blog
  • UCL Practitioner
  • U.S. PIRG Consumer Blog

Other Interesting Legal Blogs

  • American Constitution Society Blog
  • Balkinization
  • Concurring Opinions
  • The Conglomerate
  • Electronic Frontier Foundation DeepLinks
  • Empirical Legal Studies
  • How Appealing
  • Legal Theory Blog
  • Mass Tort Litigation Blog
  • Opinio Juris
  • PrawfsBlawg
  • Rebecca Tushnet's 43(B)log
  • SCOTUSblog
  • TortsProf Blog
  • Trademark Blog
  • Truth on the Market
  • The Volokh Conspiracy

Consumer Law & Policy Links

  • AAAP Foundation Litigation
  • American Collectors' Association
  • Americans for Financial Reform
  • American Tort Reform Association
  • American Association of Justice
  • Center for American Progress
  • Center for Justice and Democracy
  • Center for Responsible Lending
  • Center for Science in the Public Interest
  • Center for Study of Responsive Law
  • Consumer Action
  • Consumer Federation of America
  • Consumers Union
  • Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • Electronic Privacy Information Center
  • EU Consumer Policy Page
  • Fair Arbitration NOW
  • Federal Trade Commission
  • International Association of Consumer Law
  • National Association of Consumer Advocates
  • National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys
  • National Community Reinvestment Coalition
  • National Consumer Law Center
  • Public Citizen
  • State PIRGs
  • Public Justice (formerly Trial Lawyers for Public Justice)
  • Treasury Department, Regulatory Reform Agenda
  • U.S. Chamber Legal Reform
  • U.S. Public Interest Research Group

« April 2020 | Main | June 2020 »

Sunday, May 31, 2020

Comments to CFPB Conservative/Industry Taskforce Due June 1 During a Pandemic

by Jeff Sovern

As we previously noted, the CFPB's Conservative/Industry Taskforce created to make "recommendations for ways to improve and strengthen consumer financial laws and regulations" issued a request for information. Comments are due Monday, June 1. As far as I know, the deadline for commenting has not been extended, despite the fact that we are in a pandemic and there have been requests for an extension. I filed a very short comment complaining about the composition of the taskforce and that the deadline for the request for information is ill-timed. I urge readers of the blog to do the same. The body of my comment appears below the fold.

Continue reading "Comments to CFPB Conservative/Industry Taskforce Due June 1 During a Pandemic" »

Posted by Jeff Sovern on Sunday, May 31, 2020 at 10:10 AM in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Consumer Legislative Policy | Permalink | Comments (0)

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Foohey, Jiménez & Odinet: The Debt Collection Pandemic

Pamela Foohey of Indiana Maurer, Dalié Jiménez of Irvine, and Christopher K. Odinet of Iowa have written The Debt Collection Pandemic, California Law Review Online (2020 Forthcoming). Here is the abstract:

As of May 2020, the United States' reaction to the unique and alarming threat of COVID-19 has partially succeeded in slowing the virus’s spread. Saving people’s lives, however, came at a severe economic cost. Americans’ economic anxiety understandably spiked. In addition to worrying about meeting basic expenses, people’s anxieties about money necessarily included what might happen if they could not cover already outstanding debts. The nearly 70 million Americans with debts already in collection faced heightened anxiety about their inability to pay.

The coronavirus pandemic is set to metastasize into a debt collection pandemic. The federal government can and should do something to put a halt to debt collection until people can get back to work and earn money to pay their debts. Yet it has done nothing to help people deal with their debts. Instead, states have tried to solve issues with debt collection in a myriad of patchwork and inconsistent ways. These efforts help some people and are worthwhile. But more efficient and comprehensive solutions exist. Because debt collection brought by the COVID-19 crisis will not dissipate anytime soon, even after the crisis ends, the need to implement comprehensive, longer-lasting solutions remains. These solutions largely fall on the shoulders of the federal government, though state attorney generals have the necessary power to help people effectively, provided they act in concert. If the government continues on its present course, a debt collection pandemic will follow the coronavirus pandemic.

Posted by Jeff Sovern on Saturday, May 23, 2020 at 01:43 PM in Consumer Law Scholarship, Debt Collection | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Forbes: Stimulus Proposal: $10,000 In Credit Card Interest Relief During Coronavirus Pandemic

Here, by Shahar Ziv, taking a deep dive into Norm Silber's and my proposal. Excerpt:

Sadly, the coronavirus pandemic isn’t the first catastrophe to fuel consumer credit challenges. In a paper, Thriving on Adversity: Disclosing Corporate Mistreatment of Consumers Caught in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and Exploring the Consumer Movement's Response to Crisis and Catastrophe, which was published in the Loyola Consumer Law Review, Norman Silber, the proposal’s lead author, outlined the progressive obstacles that consumers faced in the wake of Hurricane Katrina: Americans let credit balances grow and could only afford to make minimum payments; high interest rates caused the amount owed to increase rapidly, which reduced the amount of available credit; credit scores started to drop, reducing credit lines and access to affordable borrowing; delinquencies and bankruptcies began to rise causing a strain on the national economy. “There were huge problems created as consumers, who were out of work and had extra expenses, all of a sudden couldn’t make installment payments,” Silber told me via phone. “Banks and credit card companies who were supposedly generous by postponing payments and interest, just deferred the problem and eventually starting charging consumers additional fees and getting tough with them.”

Applying the lessons learned from Katrina against the backdrop of the Covid-19 crisis, Silber and Sovern developed a proposal, called the “Credit Card Interest Relief During the Pandemic Act” or CIRPA, to allow consumers and small businesses financed through credit card borrowing to have the credit they need to get past this crisis.

Posted by Jeff Sovern on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 at 08:17 PM in Consumer Legislative Policy, Credit Cards | Permalink | Comments (0)

The relationship between the massive pre-virus tax cuts and tariffs and the covid-19 recession

That's the topic of this piece by LA Times reporter Don Lee.

Posted by Brian Wolfman on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 at 09:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

"Consumer bureau draws fire for pro-business tilt during crisis"

Read this article by Katy O'Donnell at Politico about the CFPB's activities during the health crisis. Here's an exerpt:

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is relaxing rules designed to shield Americans from abuse during the coronavirus crisis, saying the moves are necessary to give businesses flexibility during the pandemic. But with the agency facing an unprecedented wave of consumer complaints as millions of laid-off workers deal with their creditors, lawmakers and consumer advocates charge that the bureau is exploiting the crisis to further a pro-industry agenda. They’re demanding that it set aside all rulemaking unrelated to the crisis and take a more forceful stance toward businesses that could use the chaos to rip off consumers. 

Posted by Brian Wolfman on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Monday, May 18, 2020

Some states suspending open-government laws in light of covid-19

That's disturbing. Read the May 1, 2020 article entitled States Are Suspending Public Records Access Due to COVID-19 by reporter Colin Lecher. HT Erin Caroll (@erinccarroll13).

Posted by Brian Wolfman on Monday, May 18, 2020 at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Third Circuit holds, in split decision, that faxes soliciting participation by the recipients in market research surveys in exchange for money are "advertisements" triggering TCPA coverage

Read the Third Circuit's decision in Fischbein v. Olson Research Group. The beginning of the court's majority opinion explains the holding:

In this pair of appeals, we are asked to decide whether faxes soliciting participation by the recipients in market research surveysin exchange for monetary payments are advertisements within the meaning of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 (b)(1)(C) (“TCPA”), which prohibits the transmission of unsolicited fax advertisements. Applying our recent precedent in Mauthe v. Optum, Inc., 925 F.3d 129 (3d Cir. 2019), the District Courts dismissed both cases under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) as the Courts concluded that such surveys are not advertisements within the TCPA because they did not attempt to sell anything to their recipients. We hold, however, that solicitations to buy products, goods, or services can be advertisements under the TCPA and the solicitations for participation in the surveys in exchange for $200.00 by one sender and $150.00 by the other sender were for services within the TCPA.

Posted by Brian Wolfman on Monday, May 18, 2020 at 08:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday, May 15, 2020

What's the deal with Yada Yada Law School not offering consumer law?

by Jeff Sovern

Regular blog readers know that from time to time, we report on the number of law schools offering consumer law courses course. Well, sadly, a new entrant on the law school front, Yada Yada Law School, is not offering consumer law.  What's the deal with that?

Posted by Jeff Sovern on Friday, May 15, 2020 at 09:04 AM in Teaching Consumer Law, Television | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearing on proposal to eliminate business liability to consumers for infecting them with Covid-19

by Jeff Sovern

The video and prepared testimony is here. If you have time to read only one, I recommend David Vladeck's excellent statement. 

Though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has described this terrible proposal as a "red line" for future coronavirus bills, it appears he does not have the full support of his caucus. Republican Senator Mike Lee expressed concerns about the intrusion of a federal law into the state torts domain.

Posted by Jeff Sovern on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 at 12:22 PM in Consumer Legislative Policy | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

CFPB's "Conflicted Task Force Earning Top Dollar"

Bloomberg reports that a "Consumer Financial Protection Bureau task force that has been criticized in the past for its pro-business leanings stands to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars to offer advice on how to 'harmonize and modernize' federal laws aimed at protecting the public." The full story is here.

Posted by Allison Zieve on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 at 05:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Older »

Subscribe to CL&P

RSS/Atom Feed

To receive a daily email of Consumer Law & Policy content, enter your email address here:

Search CL&P Blog

Recent Posts

  • Blast from the past: post on Barney Frank's autobiography
  • Senate Banking Committee hearing on nomination of Rohit Chopra to lead CFPB tomorrow, Tuesday, at 10 Eastern
  • Loyola of Chicago Consumer Law Review Symposium: Racial Justice in Consumer Law
  • CFPB and VA, MA, and NY challenge predatory immigrant-services scam
  • Consumer scams run wild during pandemic
  • Paul Weiss: The Coming Transformation of the CFPB in the Biden Administration: What to Expect and How to Prepare
  • Cox & Engel paper critiques federal student loan program
  • Busy week for the FTC
  • In time for Valentine's Day, FTC data show massive increase in romance scams
  • When consumers chime in anonymously on a dispute between a business and one of its customers
  • Study finds companies treated lower-income and African-American consumers who complained to CFPB complaint database differently during Trump era
  • CCFL and GMU Webinar on the CFPB Taskforce Report
  • Read comprehensive study of appellate decisions on class certification, with discussion of impact of FRCP 23(f)
  • Weak Maryland anti-SLAPP law enables noisy bar to preserve its liquor license
  • CFPB's Durbin & Romeo article on the economics of debt collection, taking into account consumers' optimism about whether they will default
  • NY Times interviews a scam caller
  • My new article: Six Scandals: Why We Need Consumer Protection Laws Instead of Just Markets
  • Arbel & Becher paper: Contracts in the Age of Smart Readers
  • Biden Extends Federal Student Loan Moratorium
  • FTC Commissioner and CFPB Director-Nominee Rohit Chopra Discussing the FTC's Remedial Authority
  • District Court Denies Request for Injunction Compelling Amazon to Host Parler
  • Biden names Dave Ueijo as CFPB acting director
  • Biden designates FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter as Acting Chair
  • Bloomberg's Evan Weinberger Surveys Kraninger's Tenure as CFPB Director
  • Kraninger resigns as CFPB director
  • CFPB director Kraninger resigns
  • American Banker's Kate Berry reports Rohit Chopra could be acting CFPB while his confirmation is pending.
  • FTC Chair Joseph Simons leaves Commission, leaving Biden room to appoint Democratic majority to Commission
  • Becher, Feldman and Furth paper on the problem of salespeople's oral promises that are disclaimed in the fine print
  • CJ&D Report on lawsuits that save lives
  • Ballard Spahr announces Diversity Fellowship Program for 2Ls
  • More on Biden's pick to head the CFPB, Rohit Chopra

Categories

  • Advertising
  • Arbitration
  • Auto Issues
  • Book & Movie Reviews
  • Books
  • CL&P Blog
  • CL&P Roundups
  • Class Actions
  • Conferences
  • Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  • Consumer History
  • Consumer Law Scholarship
  • Consumer Legislative Policy
  • Consumer Litigation
  • Consumer Product Safety
  • Credit Cards
  • Credit Reporting & Discrimination
  • Debt Collection
  • Federal Trade Commission
  • Food and Nutrition
  • Foreclosure Crisis
  • Free Speech, Intellectual Property & Consumer Issues
  • Global Consumer Protection
  • Identity Theft
  • Internet Issues
  • Law & Economics
  • Other Debt and Credit Issues
  • Predatory Lending
  • Preemption
  • Privacy
  • Student Loans
  • Teaching Consumer Law
  • Television
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • Unfair & Deceptive Acts & Practices (UDAP)
  • Web/Tech
  • Weblogs

Archives

  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020

March 2021

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31