Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Consuming Debt: Structuring The Federal Response To Abuses In Consumer Credit, Heidi Mandanis Schooner

Scholarly Articles

Predatory lending is an avaricious fraud that demands attention. Several states have enacted new laws to combat predatory lending. Moreover, the battle against predatory lending and other abusive practices has focused attention on the overall structure of consumer credit laws. The current structure is dual; both state and federal governments play significant roles in combating credit fraud. The dual structure has been the source of controversy as federal regulators have claimed the power to preempt state law. This article furthers the structural debate and the effort to combat predatory lending by examining the architecture of consumer credit laws within the …

Tila ‘Finance’ And ‘Other’ Charges In Open-End Credit: The Cost-Of Credit Principle Applied To Charges For Optional Products Or Services, Ralph J. Rohner, Thomas Durkin

Scholarly Articles

The thesis of this article is that a more workable approach to characterizing fees for optional products and services is possible by focusing on charges that represent payment for discrete products or services of value to the consumer, freely chosen by consumers as contract options which do not affect the amount of credit available to the consumer, the consumer's access to it, or the allocation of payment responsibility and credit risk in the transaction or plan. In other words, these fees are for separate-or separable-purchases, analogous to subsequent events in closed-end credit that require no new disclosure or adjustment in …

Exporting Bank Credit Card Rates And Charges, Ralph J. Rohner

Scholarly Articles

Banks enjoy virtually unlimited authority to export interest rates, late fees, and over-limit charges across state lines. Open issues include the exportability of other fees, the viability of consumer common law claims such as unconscionability, and the effect of home-state choice-of-law.

Multiple Sources Of Consumer Law And Enforcement (Or: 'Still In Search Of A Uniform Policy'), Ralph J. Rohner

Scholarly Articles

In 1972 the National Commission on Consumer Finance surveyed and made recommendations for improving the legal and marketplace environments for consumer credit. Twenty years later, industry, consumer groups, government agencies, and the national and state legislatures are still groping for a coherent approach to the regulation of consumer credit. It is time for another national commission, or similar group, to make an objective and informed assessment of appropriately uniform policy for consumer financial services, and to craft a blueprint for future developments.

1981 Annual Survey Of Consumer Financial Services Law Developments, Ralph J. Rohner

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

In Search Of A Uniform Policy: State And Federal Sources Of Consumer Financial Services Law, Ralph J. Rohner, Fred H. Miller

Scholarly Articles

Any effort to project the vectors of development in the law affecting consumer financial services for the 1980s must take into account the sources from which the legal ground rules will emanate. Those sources are in one sense bifurcated-i.e., the states have long had a significant role in regulating consumer credit and related consumer transactions, and, since 1968, the federal government has been substantially and increasingly involved in standard setting for consumer financial transactions.

At these two levels of government there is further fragmentation of the lawmaking function. Each of the fifty states, and countless local government entities, enact laws …

1980 Annual Survey Of Consumer Financial Services Law Developments, Ralph J. Rohner

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Truth In Lending 'Simplified': Simplified?, Ralph J. Rohner

Scholarly Articles

Disclosure of credit terms has been viewed as a primary means of protecting consumers from fraud and deception in credit transactions. To enhance the value of disclosure, Congress enacted the Truth in Lending Simplification and Reform Act of 1980. Professor Rohner analyzes this attempt to simplifij crcdit cost disclosures and finds that the new Act is no more likely to increase consumer protection than the original Truth in Lending Act. The new Act does solve some problems, but does nothing about others and even introduccs further complexities into credit transactions. Among the difficulties left unaddressed by the new Act are …

Problems Of Federalism In The Regulation Of Consumer Financial Services Offered By Commercial Banks: Part Ii, Ralph J. Rohner

Scholarly Articles

The first portion of this article reviewed the array of federal and state consumer protection laws affecting commercial banks and described the many areas of friction created by such multiple lawmaking. This half of the article addresses the question of how these various laws are enforced by the federal and state bank supervisory agencies and concludes with an evaluation of the many options for improving the overall regulatory and enforcement structure for consumer protection.

A Functional Analysis Of Truth In Lending, Ralph J. Rohner, Jonathan M. Landers

Scholarly Articles

The purpose of this Article is to take a hard look at the possible objectives of a disclosure statute such as Truth In Lending, and ask the basic question whether these objectives are attainable, and if so, what type of a statute can best effectuate the legislative policies. Given the lawmakers' fascination with disclosure-type legislation in the scheme for protecting consumers, and the myths that accompany such legislation, this undertaking should prove useful.

New Directions In The Enforcement Of Consumer Credit Laws: From Public To Private And Back Again, Ralph J. Rohner

Scholarly Articles

The response of sympathetic lawmakers to perceived abuses in the consumer credit field is almost totally predictable. One group will urge the enactment of disclosure rules so that well-informed consumers will be able to look out for themselves in the marketplace. Another group will urge the passage of laws directly prohibiting the distasteful practice, or mandating a corrective mechanism. Both groups will then engage in endless rhetorical debate over the costs and benefits of either approach, the infringements on competition and marketplace freedom, and the burdens on small business.

All of these responses take for granted that the disappearance of …

Problems Of Federalism In The Regulation Of Consumer Financial Services Offered By Commercial Banks, Part I, Ralph J. Rohner

Scholarly Articles

In this first half of a two-part article, the author reviews the complex structures through which federal and state consumerprotection laws are enacted and enforced with respect to commercial banks. Problems arisefrom the multiolicity of law-making bodies, the dual banking system, unclear preemption standards, and expandingfederal domination of the consumer creditfleld The secondpart of the article, which will appear in the next issue of this Review, analyzes the actual enforcement activities of the federal and state banking agencies. It concludes with a series of recommendationsfor improving the combined federal-state consumer protection programs affecting commercial banks.

For Lack Of A National Policy On Consumer Credit: Preliminary Thoughts On The Need For Unified Federal Agency Rulemaking, Ralph J. Rohner

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.