Jeff Sovern is the Michael Millemann Professor of Consumer Protection Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. He is also co-coordinator of the Consumer Law and Policy Blog sponsored by Public Citizen.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is in the business of promoting economic justice. A second Trump administration might permanently damage the agency's ability to deliver for American consumers.
Most borrowers cannot understand the information that TILA requires lenders to provide, raising questions about their utility in consumer protection.
Free-market advocates believe that consumers discipline wayward companies better than the government by eschewing their offerings, but switching products is not the same as punishing malefactors.
More than 40% of consumers with complaints about debt collections say they were asked to pay debts they didn't owe. There are a host of reasons for the problem, including inscrutable legal disclosures.