Consumer Contracts

Arbitration Agreements

09/16/12

Brian Wolfman has an interesting post about e-Bay's new arbitration agreement with a class action opt-out.  Curiously, e-Bay's arbitration agreement isn't mandatory, but it is opt-out with a limited opt-out period.  Brian's take is that this opt-out is consumer choice window-dressing:  while there is formally a consumer choice involved, functionally it is meaningless. I agree. 

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Latest Visa Fraud

07/26/12

A heads up regarding the latest in Visa fraud. Royal Bank received this communication about the newest scam. This is hitting the midwest with a vengance and moving. The trick here is that they provide YOU with all the information, except the one piece they want. The callers do not ask for your card number; they already have it.  By understanding how the VISA & MasterCard telephone Credit Card Scam works, you can avoid this one.

The scam works like this:

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Reputational Sanctions in an Age of Internet Manipulation?

05/30/12

A major argument against substantive regulation of industries (including consumer finance) is that the market self-regulates. Bad actors get bad reputations and lose business.  Therefore, there's no need for government to intervene.  

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Doggie DNA Tests: Waste of Money or Legitimate Tool?

05/08/12

Do mutt-lovers (with admittedly too much time and money on their hands) get anything in exchange for the $75-100 they pay to find out what kind of dog they have? It depends. My advice: before ordering a doggie DNA test over the net, do lots of research. Perhaps just have the vet do it.  If you do order a test over the internet, make sure you pick one that tests for the maximum number of breeds and that gets very high marks from consumers, and carefully read the fine print.

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Consumer Scam Review: Lower Your Interest Rate, Lower Your Credit Card Balances, and Work at Home

05/08/12

I have been meaning to write on several consumer scams so here are a few to avoid.

“We Can Lower Your Home Loan Interest Rate” Scams. 

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Cramming Funny Fees Onto our Phone Bills: Not so Funny

04/09/12

Two weeks in a row, the Haggler column in the New York Times focused on cramming, one of the most damning and profitable scams in the consumer world.  Cramming is tacking unrequested services onto land line bills and now cell phone bills, such as celebrity gossip news, daily horoscopes, e

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Credit for Parenthood (in the Wall Street Journal)

02/23/12

Wall Street Journal Reporter Jessica Silver-Greenberg casts a spotlight on the market for fertility treatment loans - including loans that enable the purchase of other women's eggs  - in the article "In Vitro a Fertile Niche for Lenders."  (subscription required).

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NACBA warns of student loan "debt bomb"

02/10/12

At its annual Capitol Hill Day in Washington this week, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys sounded an alarm about the growing student loan problem, calling it a “debt bomb.” NACBA released a survey of its members indicating that more potential clients these days have unmanageable educational loans and are facing aggressive collection efforts. See http://www.nacba.org/Legislative/StudentLoanDebt.aspx.

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Consumers Beware of Gas Well Leases, Especially Around the Holidays

12/03/11

For those contracts professors who teach Peevyhouse v. Garland Coal & Mining Co., 382 P.2d 109 (Okla. 1962), there is a modern version this 1962 case going on right now in the gas drilling context. In the venerable Peevyhouse case, Willie and Lucille Peevyhouse owned a farm that contained coal deposits, and entered into a contract with Garland Coal & Mining Co. allowing Garland to strip mine the coal, in return for a royalty. In the contract, Garland promise that the land would be restored once they were done.

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Consumers, Cast Your Vote

08/10/11

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has launched the first project in its "Know Before You Owe" initiative with the release of proposed mortgage disclosures. While the CFPB did its homework in designing these forms, including getting feedback from a wide variety of sources, it is taking field-testing to a new level by asking American consumers to review two proposed forms.

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