Over the holidays, the Center filed comments with the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) advocating for the preservation and promotion of important consumer and civil rights.
First, the Center submitted a comment on behalf of nine organizations opposing the CFPB’s proposal to roll back fair lending protections that allow consumers to prove that a particular lending practice has a “disparate impact” on different demographic groups – i.e., that the practice is discriminatory even when (as is usually the case) there is no direct evidence of biased intent. The CFPB’s proposed rule would amend Regulation B, which interprets the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). Congress enacted ECOA to ensure that lenders make credit available to consumers without discriminating based on sex or marital status, and later amended the law to further prohibit discrimination based on race, age, and other protected characteristics. Congress passed ECOA in the 1970s after women’s and civil rights advocates highlighted the rampant refusal by banks and the government to lend to women unless they obtained a husband’s approval, if at all. Since its passage, agencies have broadly interpreted ECOA as prohibiting policies with discriminatory effects. Yet the CFPB’s draft rule would undo that long-held understanding and bar disparate impact liability under the Act. The Center’s comment urges that the proposal be dropped because Congress intended to incorporate disparate impact into ECOA, because disparate impact is necessary to prohibit discrimination in emerging technologies, and because the CFPB failed to follow the requisite procedures in crafting the rule.
Two weeks later, on behalf of sixteen national, state, and local consumer advocacy groups and one municipality, the Center submitted a comment in support of a pending petition to the FTC to renew its Click to Cancel rule. In 2024, in response to a growing trend of companies trapping consumers in subscriptions with complicated cancellation mechanisms, the FTC issued its “Click to Cancel” rule. That measure required that cancelling a subscription be as easy as signing up for one. The 2024 Click to Cancel rule was a commonsense protection that would have helped people cut expenses as the cost of living continues to rise. But the rule was struck down last year on (dubious) procedural grounds by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Fortunately, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and American Economic Liberties Project (AELP), with the Center’s support, filed a petition urging the FTC to reopen its rulemaking, follow the procedural path indicated by the Eighth Circuit, and reissue the Rule. The Center’s comment explains that the Rule is still sorely needed to address problematic subscription practices and (at a time when many states are considering similar measures) will provide a federal baseline for businesses to follow nationwide.
The comment continues the Center’s longstanding support of the Click to Cancel effort. The Center submitted a comment in the original FTC rulemaking process and filed an amicus brief on behalf of consumer groups in the litigation challenging the Rule.
The Center is also partnering with CFA and AELP to work with state advocates who would like to adopt a Click to Cancellaw in their own states.