As bad as these two sectors are, they're even worse in combination - the harms data brokers (sloppy, invasive) inflict on us when they supply credit bureaux (consequential, secretive, intransigent) are far worse than the sum of the harms of each.

And now for some good news. The #CFPB, under the leadership of #RohitChopra, has declared war on this alliance:

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/08/16/cfpb-looks-to-restrict-the-sleazy-link-between-credit-reporting-agencies-and-data-brokers/

6/

#CDT Comments to #CFPB Lay Out #DataBroker Harms That Should Be Held Accountable - Center for Democracy and Technology

https://cdt.org/insights/cdt-comments-to-cfpb-lay-out-data-broker-harms-that-should-be-held-accountable/

Biden's ceding of antitrust policy to the left of the party, combined with disaffected GOP senators viewing Khan as their enemy's enemy, led to Khan's historic appointment as FTC Chair. In that position, she was joined by a slate of Biden trustbusters, including #JonathanKanter at the DOJ Antitrust Division, #TimWu at the #WhiteHouse, and other important, skilled and principled fighters like #AlvaroBedoya (FTC), #RebeccaSlaughter (FTC), #RohitChopra (#CFPB), and many others.

10/

@davidgerard Keeps the #CFPB busy too:
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/us-court-appeals-third-circuit-agrees-to-hear-interlocutory-appeal-cfpb-enforcement

The Biden administration is a weirdly perfect illustration of this "independence." The Biden admin is a kind of referee, doling out policies and appointemnts to its competing wings, without any coherence or consistency.

That's how you get *incredible* appointments like #LinaKhan at the #FTC and #JonathanKanter at #DoJ #AntitrustDivision and #RohitChopra at the #CFPB.

9/

by Jamie Smith Hopkins in The #CenterForPublicIntegrity:

"An expansive 2020 paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, relying on a survey of new-business owners conducted over several years to fill in parts of the information vacuum, found sharp disparities in lending to Black- and white-owned startups. Areas with strong local banks, the authors wrote, were no better for Black owners than communities dominated by national players."

https://publicintegrity.org/inequality-poverty-opportunity/the-heist/small-business-loans-unequal-data-battle/

#SmallBusiness #SmallBusinesses #loans #lending #banks #data #racism #ConsumerFinancialProtectionBureau #CFPB

❓ Stuck in a doom loop with your bank’s chatbot?

"Deficient chatbots that prevent access to live, human support can lead to law violations, diminished service, and other harms. The shift [...] toward algorithmic banking will have a number of long-term implications [...]"

🌐https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/research-reports/chatbots-in-consumer-finance/chatbots-in-consumer-finance/

#Consumers #Banking #Technology #Chatbots #Bots #CFPB #BadTech @law

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau #CFPB confirmed a data breach on Thursday involving the personal information of “roughly 256,000 consumer accounts at a single institution.”

https://therecord.media/cfpb-employee-sent-confidential-information-to-personal-email

Trump judge in Second Circuit Court strongly upholds the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a subject the Supreme Court is scheduled to take up in 2024. #CFPB https://www.jurist.org/news/2023/03/federal-appeals-court-finds-consumer-financial-protection-bureaus-funding-constitutional/

Consumers rip into credit bureaus as complaints climb again

Grievances against #TransUnion , #Equifax and #Experian dominated Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaints in 2022.
#cfpb #privacy

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/03/17/credit-bureaus-consumer-complaints/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_homepage

The Consumer Finance Protection Board (CFPB) is trying to keep consumers safe from predatory lending practices. Here's a post about its plan to track financial institutions that use coercive boilerplate terms of adhesion. Meanwhile, SCOTUS just accepted yet another case trying to shut down the agency.
#CFPB #law #contracts #TermsofService #SCOTUS #regulation
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/contractsprof_blog/2023/03/consumer-finance-protection-bureau-proposes-registry-of-non-bank-entities-adhesive-boilerplate-terms.html

Two payday loan sharks are trying to take down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—and they’re close to succeeding.

After an appeals court ruled that the #CFPB isn’t constitutional, the case will go to #SCOTUS, who is pushing it out as far as July 2024.

This comes after CFPB fined Wells Fargo for abusing customer accounts, and after payday lenders were targeted for unfair/harmful practices. #News #CapitalismSucks https://apple.news/Az448Tv-YTLiMW98b6LMH6A

Fate
Weighs heavy
On Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau's decrees—Supreme Court
Contest.

#consumerfinancialprotectionbureau #supremecourt #cfpb #cinquain #poetry

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/27/us/supreme-court-cfpb-consumer-watchdog.html

TitleMax fined $10M and ordered to return $5M to consumers by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). TitleMax is a repeat offender, previously being fined $9M in 2016.

As SCOTUS has increasingly held that "corporations are people" why don't we see these entities (and their directors) face criminal charges as often as we do the public?

🌐 https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-orders-titlemax-to-pay-a-10-million-penalty-for-unlawful-title-loans-and-overcharging-military-families/

#CFPB #Consumer #Protection #Finance #Corporations #TitleMax @rbreich

"Why the largest credit card companies are suppressing actual payment data on your credit report"

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/why-the-largest-credit-card-companies-are-suppressing-actual-payment-data-on-your-credit-report/

Around 2013-2015, many credit card companies decreased the info they report to Equifax, Transunion, etc about people's monthly payments. Seems like they did this to make it harder for competitors to poach their "good" customers. Of course, that also makes it harder to shop for a better interest rate.

#creditcards #credit #banking #cfpb

Minutes of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, December 16, 2022 (approved February 10, 2023)

— Available here: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/261/FSOC_20221216_Minutes.pdf

#cryptoassets #digitalassets #regulation #financialservices #banking #payments #financialstability #consumerprotection #compliance #USTreasury #SEC #CFPB #FSOC #FDIC #FederalReserve

Great piece from Dell Cameron at @Wired about how the #CFPB can (and should) crack down on data brokers' worst practices: https://www.wired.com/story/fcra-letter-data-brokers-privacy-regulation/

#data #privacy

A new rule from the CFPB could save everyone money on credit card late fees. #CFPB

https://crooksandliars.com/2023/02/consumer-watchdog-proposes-new-cap-99?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_content=70395

Why I'm always skeptical of more regulations. The agencies tasked with enforcing them are never adequate. #regulation #dataprivacy #cfpb

https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/3833748-the-cfpb-has-a-data-privacy-blind-spot/

@CNN I'm so glad I took all my money out of #WellsFargo 20+ years ago. Also glad that we have the #CFPB on our side!