On Monday, the Texas federal district court hearing the lawsuit challenging the validity of the CFPB’s final rule implementing Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act (Rule) issued an order that preliminarily enjoins the CFPB from implementing and enforcing the Rule “pending the Supreme Court’s reversal of [Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd.… Continue Reading

Last week, Professor Jeff Sovern of St. John’s University School of Law published a blog post discussing a new empirical study by Roseanna Sommers, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, dealing with consumer understanding of predispute arbitration agreements.  According to Professor Sovern, the Sommers study augments his earlier (2014) study of this subject and confirms that “consumers are generally unaware of whether their contracts contain arbitration clauses, and consumers who have agreed to such clauses tend to hold mistaken beliefs about their procedural rights ….”… Continue Reading

The Texas federal district court hearing the lawsuit challenging the validity of the CFPB’s final rule implementing Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act (Rule) has issued an order that preliminarily enjoins the CFPB from implementing and enforcing the Rule “pending the Supreme Court’s reversal of [Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd.… Continue Reading

A new FTC blog post titled “Tenant background check reports: Put it in writing” reminds landlords, property managers, and other housing providers of their obligation under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide notice of adverse action when information in a consumer report leads them to deny housing to an applicant or require the applicant to pay a deposit that other applicants would not be required to pay. … Continue Reading

The CFPB has released the Summer 2023 edition of Supervisory Highlights.  The report discusses the Bureau’s examinations in the areas of auto origination and servicing, consumer reporting, debt collection, deposits, mortgage origination and servicing, and payday and small dollar lending, that were completed from July 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. … Continue Reading

A unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled that a plaintiff who received only one ringless voicemail (RVM) had alleged a concrete injury sufficient to provide Article III standing to assert a claim under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

In Dickson v.  Direct Energy LP, the plaintiff alleged that the defendant delivered multiple RVMs to his cell phone voicemail box in which the defendant advertised its services. … Continue Reading

Professor Hoffman first explains his thesis that falling transaction costs has led to the proliferation of form contracts into areas where they little have social value, resulting in social harms that require a new approach.  We then discuss his proposal that states deny enforcement of written contracts for small dollar transactions by adopting what he calls a “Statute Against Forms.” … Continue Reading

In January 2023, a federal district court in Texas dismissed Michael v. Opportunity Financial, LLC, a putative class action filed in June 2022 claiming that fintech Opportunity Financial, LLC (OppFi), not its out-of-state, state-chartered bank partners, is the “true lender” on loans with interest rates permitted under the laws of the banks’ home states, but higher than allowed in the plaintiffs’ states. … Continue Reading

45 amicus briefs have been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the petitioners in Loper Bright Enterprises, et al. v. Raimondo.  The petitioners are urging the Court to overrule its 1984 decision in Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Nat. Res. Def. Council, Inc.  That decision produced what became known as the “Chevron framework”–the two-step analysis that courts typically invoke when reviewing a federal agency’s interpretation of a statute. … Continue Reading

Last Friday, July 21, 2023, marked the CFPB’s twelfth anniversary.  To publicize the occasion, the CFPB published a blog post on July 20 in which it touted its achievements and ongoing initiatives.

July 21 also marked the twelfth anniversary of our award-winning blog, Consumer Finance Monitor.  Originally named CFPB Monitor, we launched our blog to coincide with the CFPB’s first day.  … Continue Reading