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Consumer Law

CL&P Blog

The contributors to this blog are a diverse group of lawyers and law professors who practice, teach, or write about consumer law and policy. Although the blog is hosted by Public Citizen's Consumer Justice Project, the views expressed here are solely those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the institutions with which they are affiliated.

Post Frequency: 15.1/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 11:13:04

SNL Ex-Presidents Urge Passage of CFPA Legislation

Posted on March 03, 2010
Will Ferrell, Fred Armisen, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Dana Carvey and Darrell Hammond, the Saturday Night Live actors who have played every American president since Gerald Ford (aside from Ronald Reagan) have teamed up on a web video meant to...

New Financial Protection Agency Within the Fed?

Posted on March 02, 2010
The press is reporting this morning that Senators Dodd and Corker are trying to finish up negotiations on a bill that would place a Consumer Financial Protection Agency-type regulator within the Federal Reserve. Take a look, for instance, at this...

Do Safety and Soundness Justify Impairing the Independence of the CFPA?

Posted on March 01, 2010
by Jeff Sovern The stated reason for housing the Consumer Financial Protection within the Department of the Treasury rather than operating it as an independent agency is the importance of safety and soundness regulation; the fear is that an independent...

Some Thoughts About the Dodd CFPA Compromise

Posted on February 28, 2010
by Jeff Sovern Reports continue to emerge that Senator Dodd has proposed a compromise on the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Here. for example, is an excerpt from a Times report: Rather than a stand-alone agency, Mr. Dodd proposed creating a...

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Save the Date for Teaching Consumer Law Conference (May 21-22)

Posted on February 26, 2010

Unemployment's Geographical Diversity

Posted on February 26, 2010
by Brian Wolfman Here at the CLP Blog we worry about consumers, usually with regard to laws about consumer borrowing, unfair debt collection, disclosure of credit terms, arbitration, and the like. But nothing is more worrisome for U.S. consumers than...

Seventh Circuit Holds That Supreme Court's No-Preemption Holding in Wyeth v. Levine Applies With Full Force in Paxil (SSRI) Case

Posted on February 25, 2010
By Brian Wolfman In Wyeth v. Levine, the Supreme Court held generally that the FDA's marketing approval of a drug and its labeling does not preempt a state-law personal-injury suit premised on the inadequacy of that labeling. The scope of...

Washington Post Reports That the Obama Administration Is Now Willing to Give Up on a Stand-Alone CFPA

Posted on February 25, 2010
The lead story in today's Washington Post reports that the Obama Administration is willing, if necessary, to bargain away an independent, stand-alone Consumer Financial Protection Agency in exchange for prompt enactment of a law that would place a tough new...

Washington Post Columnist Steven Pearlstein Reports Compromise Near in Senate on CFPA

Posted on February 24, 2010
Here. Here's the paragraph on the CFPA: The compromise hammered out between Dodd and Corker would establish a single regulator of federally chartered banks with a dual mission and an independent source of funding, based on my conversations with several...

A Conversation

Posted on February 23, 2010
by Jeff Sovern Cross-posted from the New Deal 2.0 blog: Martin: How?d you do this year? Powell: Low seven figures. You? Martin: It?d just make you feel bad. Powell: You got more? This new restraint is just killing me. Martin:...

New Credit Card Law Effective Tomorrow (Monday, February 22)

Posted on February 21, 2010
The Credit CARD Act -- which stands for the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 20009 -- goes into effect tomorrow, Monday, February 22, 2010, one year after its enactment. Among other things, it enacts these key changes....

Guest Blogger Timothy Froehle on Marketing Credit Cards to Students

Posted on February 21, 2010
By Brian Wolfman Responding to my post earlier today concerning the Credit CARD Act (which goes into effect tomorrow), Timothy Froehle, a second-year student at the University of Iowa Law School, explains his support for the new restrictions on marketing...

Judge Jails Litigant for Provoking Supportive Emails to the Judge

Posted on February 18, 2010
by Paul Alan Levy One hates to defend huckster Kevin Trudeau, a notorious infomercial scam artist whose efforts have been subject to extensive consumer complaints as well as FTC proceedings, but sadly a federal judge in Chicago has given Trudeau...

The CFPA Debate: Policy versus Politics

Posted on February 17, 2010
by Deepak Gupta Reid Cramer of the New America Foundation released what looks like a handy new paper yesterday on the proposal to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The paper summarizes the case for the new regulatory agency, the...

Latest HAMP report: Treasury program a failure

Posted on February 17, 2010
By Alan White Treasury released its latest Home Affordable modification program (HAMP) numbers today. Despite their efforts to put a positive spin on it, the program is a failure. A million homeowners have been lured into temporary payment plans with...

New Study - Foreclosures' Impact on Families

Posted on February 16, 2010
The National Council of La Raza and the Center for Community Capital at UNC have published The Foreclosure Generation: The Long-Term Impact of the Housing Crisis on Latino Children and Families. This unique study draws on interviews of families who...

Puffing?Turning a loss into an advertising win.

Posted on February 15, 2010
In its recent advertising, Domino's uses the phrase ?puffery,? as a negative term to describe its rival Papa John?s advertising claims of a "better" pizza. Look at the current Domino's ad, and the Domino's commerciall. Domino's declares that Papa John's...

Bogus Mortgage Assignees

Posted on February 15, 2010
Over at 4closurefraud.org there is an interesting story reporting that mortgage assignments are being filed in many states transferring mortgages to "Bogus Assignee". Literally. One of my personal favorites is a transfer of a mortgage from M.E.R.S., which arguably already...

Mortgage Refinancing Not So Easy

Posted on February 15, 2010
When mortgage rates drop, people with higher rates refinance, right? Maybe not. You still need someone willing to lend. Yesterday's Washington Post reports here that despite mortgage rates near historic lows some people are finding it difficult to refinance...

Tedeschi Report on Effect of the New RESPA Disclosure Regulations

Posted on February 14, 2010
by Jeff Sovern Bob Tedeschi's Mortgages Column in today's Times reports on the effect of the new RESPA disclosure regs, which went ino effect January 1. According to the column, "some brokers say that borrowers are asking more questions, and...

Dishonest Ad Attacks CFPA Bill

Posted on February 12, 2010
by Jeff Sovern Ed Mierzwinski of the excellent US PIRG Consumer Blog has a mind-boggling piece in the Huffington Post about an ad opposing the financial regulatory bill the House passed in December that would, among other things, create a...

Karikari Paper on CRA and Subprime Lending

Posted on February 11, 2010
John A. Karikari of the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has written The CRA and Subprime Lending in Neighborhoods: Myth or Reality? Here's the abstract: I examine the CRA?s impact on approvals of non-prime loans for riskier borrowers largely responsible...

The Big Push for the Consumer Financial Agency

Posted on February 11, 2010
Following up on Jeff's post from Tuesday, today's Washington Post has this article on what may be the final big push from consumer advocates to establish a federal Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

CFPA Supporters Need a Soundbite; Any Ideas?

Posted on February 09, 2010
by Jeff Sovern I am convinced that one reason the CFPA has run into trouble in the Senate is that it's an issue that can't easily be boiled down to a soundbite, and hence generates little passion. By contrast, Congress...

Are Bankers Buying Opposition to the CFPA?

Posted on February 08, 2010
by Jeff Sovern Today's Times reports that banks and bankers that formerly donated to Democrats are instead contributing to Republicans. The article lists the Consumer Financial Protection Agency as one of the Democratic proposals that has bankers riled up...

A Question About the Mortgage Boom and Bust

Posted on February 07, 2010
This blog has covered the mortgage meltdown (for instance, among many posts, here, here, and here). We have discussed the regulatory failures of the Clinton and Bush II Administrations, under which agencies permitted (and encouraged) people of relatively little means...

Times Reports that Senate Financial Regulation Talks Break Down Over Consumer Financial Protection Agency

Posted on February 06, 2010
by Jeff Sovern Here. The article reports that Democrats will proceed on their own with the proposal. The ranking Republican on the Committee, Richard Shelby, explained his position: ?I fully support enhancing both consumer protection and safety and soundness regulation,?...

Mortgage Bankers Association walks away

Posted on February 06, 2010
In today's can-you-top-this-for-irony story, the Wall Street Journal reports today that the trade group representing America's mortgage lenders sold its severely underwater Washington DC headquarters for $41.3 million, but did not disclose how the $75 million debt on the building...

Debt Collection via Text Messages?

Posted on February 03, 2010
by Jeff Sovern A company claims to make it possible. But what about the FDCPA's required disclosures? Some of them, like the validation message required under section 1692g, are only required within five days of the initial communication, and so...

January 2010 CPSC Recalls

Posted on February 03, 2010
Go here for the January 2010 product recalls from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

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