Barbara S. Mishkin

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Our special guest is Andrea Boyack, Professor, University of Missouri School of Law.  We first discuss the principles that underlie our current system of consumer contracts and the system’s role in promoting transactional efficiency and other objectives.  Prof. Boyack then provides her views on why the application of traditional contract law to the modern consumer contract context is not in the best interests of consumers and offers a different approach to consumer contracts in which a consumers can shape the terms of their contracts. … Continue Reading

On October 24, 2023, the OCC, FDIC and Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System jointly adopted final amendments to their regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA).  In this episode, which repurposes a webinar, we are joined by guest speaker Kenneth H. Thomas, Ph.D., Founder/CEO of Community Development Fund Advisors.  … Continue Reading

Providers of consumer financial services that rely on federal preemption to charge customers uniform interest rates and fees on a nationwide basis are currently facing a series of legislative and litigation challenges.  In this episode, which repurposes a recent webinar, we first discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari in Cantero v.… Continue Reading

This two-part podcast repurposes our most recent webinar on the latest salvo of actions in the Biden Administration’s initiative directed at combatting so-called “junk fees.”  Launched in January 2022, the initiative shows no signs of abating.

In Part II, we first look at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s advisory opinion on fees charged by large banks and credit unions to respond to information requests, including the Bureau’s discussion of non-fee obstacles such as chatbots that could unlawfully impede consumers’ ability to make an information request. … Continue Reading

This two-part podcast repurposes our most recent webinar on the latest salvo of actions in the Biden Administration’s initiative directed at combatting so-called “junk fees.”  Launched in January 2022, the initiative shows no signs of abating. 

In Part I, we first review the background of the initiative, the range of fees the Administration has labeled “junk fees,” and discuss the Administration’s focus on competition and its related guidance and directives to federal agencies. … Continue Reading

In October 2023, the FTC issued a proposed “Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees” targeting what the FTC refers to as “junk fees.”  Our special guest is Stacy Cammarano, Staff Attorney in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, Division of Advertising Practices, and a lead attorney on the proposal.  After reviewing how the FTC has previously used its enforcement authority to address “junk fees,” we discuss some of the key issues identified in comments received by the FTC on its October 2022 Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on “junk fees.” … Continue Reading

Our special guest is David Sherwyn, Professor of Law at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.  In September 2023, a group of consumer advocate organizations filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the CFPB that would prohibit the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer contracts in favor of arbitration clauses that would permit consumers to choose between arbitration and litigation only after a dispute has arisen. … Continue Reading

Ballard Spahr Senior Counsel Alan S. Kaplinsky and Mark J. Levin, and David Sherwyn, Professor of Law at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, today submitted lengthy comments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opposing the recent petition filed by consumer advocates urging the CFPB to undertake rulemaking that would prohibit the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer contracts in favor of arbitration clauses that would permit consumers to choose between arbitration and litigation only after a dispute has arisen.… Continue Reading