Consumer Law

This course provides a survey of federal and state laws regulating consumer financial transactions. The course focuses largely on parts of the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act: Truth-in-Lending, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Credit Billing Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act, as well as recent legislation such as the Military Lending Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. It also covers regulation of consumer financial transactions at the state level, including such topics as usury laws, retail installment sales acts, predatory lending acts, and regulation of rent-to-own transactions. In addition to covering details of the relevant regulations, the course explores contemporary policy debates concerning government intervention in consumer financial transactions and the intersection of consumer law with civil rights concerns.