Last May, I wrote about the Ohio law that, the legislature intended, would put the screws to payday lenders in that state. The law limited payday loans to four short-term loans a year and capped annual interest rates at 28......

The Austin-Statesman points out one of the many unintended consequences of federal government's deft management of monetary policy: the diminishing funding for legal services for the poor. Rock-bottom interest rates, part of the Federal Reserve's attempt to prop up a crumbling economy, are having an...

A recent action that received little coverage (other than by BankThink) was the request by Consumers Union that The Treasury Department order the OCC to rescind its preemption regulation. Consumers Union is trying to win the case of Cuomo v. The Clearing House Association, LLC through the back door....

If we can bash Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott when he grandstands publicly to no practical purpose other than advancing his political career, we can give him his "props" when he grandstands to advance his political career and incidentally screws people who desperately deserve it. Texas Attorney ...

The state's colleges and universities just got burned, forced by a new state law to shell out millions of dollars to police computer networks to make sure someone isn't downloading a song illegally. The state estimates the cost of this sweetheart deal for the RIAA at nearly $13 million initially and...

The meaning  of the 2nd Amendment is finally settled after 217 years. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday, 5 to 4,  that American Cyclists have a right to own guns for self-defense while working on their bicycles in the garage, the justices' first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. his...

The meaning  of the 2nd Amendment is finally settled after 217 years. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday, 5 to 4,  that American Cyclists have a right to own guns for self-defense while working on their bicycles in the garage, the justices' first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. his...

Is Governor Gregoire just a little too late in regards to Countrywide’s lending tactics? Aren’t we merely days away from the Bank of America takeover? As I drove back to the office today after teaching yet another short sale class, I heard the news on KIRO 710 AM that Governor Gregoire ...

The problem with public prognostications, especially by economists, is that some jerk memorializes the predictions and then waits a couple of years to remind everyone that the crystal ball must have been on the blink. In January 2006, the Mortgage Bankers Association's three-year economic forecast c...

Recently, John Carey at Dealbreaker raised a subject that  I also raised a few years ago and that, at the time, engendered some spittle-spewing outrage on some consumer financial advocacy blogs and message boards: the financial illiteracy of most Americans. In a February 2005 post about the fea...