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☆ The rule capping credit card late fees at $8 is on hold — here’s what it means for you
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. banking industry won a key victory in its effort to block the implementation of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that would've drastically limited the fees that credit card companies can charge for late payment. The CFPB estimates that the rule would've saved American families $10 billion a year in fees paid by those who fall behind on their bills. It would've capped late fees that are typically $32 per incident to $8 each and limited the industry's ability to hike the fees. "Consumers will shoulder $800 million in late fees every month that the rule is delayed — money that pads the profit margins of the largest credit card issuers," a CFPB spokesman told CNBC on Friday. The CBA said it will continue to press its case in the courts on why the CFPB rule should be "thrown out entirely."

Persons: Rohit Chopra, Mark Pittman, would've Organizations: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Banking, Housing, Urban Affairs Committee, Washington , D.C, Financial, Bureau, Northern, Northern District of Texas, U.S . Chamber of Commerce, U.S, CNBC, Consumer Bankers Association, District, CBA Locations: Washington ,, U.S, Northern District

☆ Federal judge in Texas says agency created to help minority-owned businesses must provide assistance to all races
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Devan Cole | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Washington CNN —A federal judge in Texas said Tuesday that a US Commerce Department agency intended to help minority-owned businesses must offer assistance to all individuals, regardless of race, agreeing with White business owners who claimed that its policies were unconstitutional. Because they aren’t on the Agency’s magic list, the Agency presumes they aren’t disadvantaged,” Pittman wrote. Time’s up.”The MBDA is one of the only federal agencies focused exclusively on developing and advocating for minority-owned businesses. In recent years, conservatives have increasingly turned to federal courts in Texas to challenge certain federal programs and actions. “To the extent the MBDA offers services pursuant to an unconstitutional presumption, that’s fifty-five years too many,” Pittman said in his latest ruling.

Persons: Mark Pittman, Donald Trump, Pittman, …, ” Pittman, ”, Nixon, “, ’ ”, MBDA Organizations: Washington CNN, US Commerce Department, US, Minority Business Development Agency, Latino, Agency, US Department of Commerce, Fort, Northern, Northern District of, Biden, “, Centers Locations: Texas, Asian, Fort Worth, Northern District, Northern District of Texas, SFFA

☆ Legal experts blast Elon Musk filing lawsuit in Texas against Media Matters
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“The complaint admits that the thing Media Matters was making a big deal about actually happened,” Vladeck said. According to Musk, Media Matters established a test account following extremist material and then refreshed the feed until X’s ad system displayed an ad for major brands. “It’s one of those lawsuits that’s filed more for symbolism than for substance.”Media Matters’ responseIn a statement Monday evening, Media Matters President Angelo Carusone vowed to defend the group against the suit. “Media Matters stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court.”Some legal experts suggested that Media Matters’ first course of action may be to try to move the case out of the Texas federal court. “Musk and his lawyers seek to isolate Media Matters’ investigation as the sole reason major advertisers have joined the exodus from X.

Persons: Elon, “, Ted Boutrous, Boutrous, Steve Vladeck, ” Vladeck, Mark Pittman, Donald Trump, Joe Biden’s, X, ’ ”, Joan Donovan, ” Akiva Cohen, Klein, Musk, ’ ” Cohen, ” Cohen, Ken Paxton, Andrew Bailey, ”, that’s, Angelo Carusone, ” Carusone, Ken White, “ X, ” White, Nora Benavidez, “ Musk, ” Benavidez, – CNN’s Oliver Darcy, Jon Passantino Organizations: CNN, Media, X, Twitter, University of Texas, Court, Northern, Northern District of, Nazi, Musk, Boston University, YouTube, Elon, Texas, ”, “, Washington , D.C, District of, Free Press Locations: Texas, Northern District, Northern District of Texas, Kamerman, New York, Missouri, California, Washington ,, District of Columbia, Los Angeles

☆ Media Matters: Elon Musk’s X sues media watchdog over report on pro-Nazi content on the social media site
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Brian Fung | Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The lawsuit filed Monday accuses Media Matters of distorting how likely it is for ads to appear beside extremist content on X, alleging that the group’s testing methodology was not representative of how real users experience the site. “Media Matters designed both these images and its resulting media strategy to drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp.”The lawsuit simultaneously names Media Matters and Eric Hananoki, its senior investigative reporter, as defendants. It calls for a judicial order forcing Media Matters to remove its analysis from its website and accuses Media Matters of interfering with X’s contracts with advertisers, of disrupting their economic relationships and of unlawfully disparaging X. In a statement Monday evening, Media Matters President Angelo Carusone vowed to defend the group against the suit. “Media Matters stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court.”On Monday evening, X CEO Linda Yaccarino chimed in defending the social media site.

Persons: Elon Musk, Eric Hananoki, Angelo Carusone, ” Carusone, ”, Linda Yaccarino chimed, I’m, ” Yaccarino, “, Ken Paxton, Musk, ” Musk, opportunistically, that’s, Steve Vladeck, Joan Donovan, ” Ken White, “ X, ” White, White, Mark Pittman, Donald Trump, Pittman, Joe Biden’s, Jon Passantino, Dan Berman Organizations: CNN, Media, “ Media, X Corp, Court, Northern, Northern District of, “, Whites, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros, Northern District of Texas, University of Texas, Boston University, YouTube, of Columbia Locations: Northern District, Northern District of Texas, Texas, Los Angeles, California

☆ A federal judge who first blocked broad student-loan forgiveness just gave Biden a win by agreeing to pass on a case challenging a debt relief rule
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A federal judge that blocked student-debt relief agreed to transfer a related case to a different court. The case was challenging a rule to help borrowers who say they were defrauded by their schools. The Education Department said it was filed in the wrong venue, and the Trump-appointed judge agreed in a rare win for the administration. On February 28, CCST filed an 87 page complaint against the Education Department, saying that the department's latest reforms to the borrower defense process creates a "framework with new federal standards, adjudicatory schemes, and evidentiary presumptions." Judge Reed O'Connor, who is in the same district as Pittman, ruled the Affordable Care Act invalid in 2018.

[1/2] U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks about the student loan forgiveness program from an auditorium on the White House campus in Washington, U.S., October 17, 2022. The program fulfilled Biden's 2020 campaign promise to cancel a portion of the nation's $1.6 trillion in federal student loan debt but was criticized by Republicans and others as an overreach of his authority. Biden's administration has said the plan is authorized under a 2003 federal law called the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, or HEROES Act, that allows student loan debt relief during wartime or national emergencies. Beginning in 2020, the administrations of President Donald Trump, a Republican, and Biden, a Democrat, repeatedly paused federal student loan payments and halted interest from accruing, relying upon the HEROES Act. Missouri-based U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey found the states - Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina lacked the legal standing to sue.

☆ U.S. Supreme Court's 'major questions' test may doom Biden student debt plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( John Kruzel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

She did not realize she was setting off on a path toward another, less-welcome family first - racking up more than $150,000 in student debt. The major questions doctrine is an outgrowth of an approach favored by many conservatives and business groups to curb what they call the excesses of the "administrative state." Beginning in 2020, the administrations of President Donald Trump, a Republican, and Biden, a Democrat, repeatedly paused federal student loan payments and halted interest from accruing. Two lawsuits - one by six conservative-leaning states and the other by two student loan borrowers who opposed the plan's eligibility requirements - prompted lower courts to block it. 'INSUFFICIENT FUNDS'The major questions doctrine gives judges broad discretion to invalidate executive agency actions unless Congress clearly authorized them in legislation.

☆ Arizona throws out one of the first lawsuits seeking to block Biden's student-loan forgiveness
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Arizona's new Democratic attorney general dismissed a lawsuit seeking to block student-debt relief. It was the third lawsuit filed that attempted to block the relief, and on Friday, Arizona's new Democratic attorney general Kris Mayes dismissed the case. Mayes took office earlier this month, and she indicated that she would be reviewing whether to continue her predecessor's legal challenge to Biden's broad debt relief. Two other lawsuits succeeded in pausing the implementation of Biden's debt relief, and those cases are now headed to the Supreme Court, which will hear the oral arguments on February 28. One of the lawsuits was filed by six Republican-led states who sued because they argued the debt relief would hurt their states' tax revenues, along with that of student-loan company MOHELA.

☆ 'A lone Trump-appointed judge in Texas' should not have the ability to block student-loan forgiveness for millions of Americans, says a Democratic lawmaker introducing a bill to stop it from happening
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

His new bill would channel that authority to D.C. courts and the Supreme Court only. "Although the Biden administration has appealed this ruling, its long-overdue student debt relief program will now, at a minimum, be stalled for many months," Jones wrote. Two federal courts have so far succeeded in blocking Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers. Some Republican lawmakers have lauded those rulings because they have consistently argued Biden does not have the authority to cancel student debt broadly without Congressional approval. Now, the fate of this debt relief rests with the Supreme Court as it will begin to hear arguments on February 28 as to whether Biden can move forward with the loan forgiveness.

[1/2] A view of the U.S. Supreme Court building on the first day of the court's new term in Washington, U.S. October 3, 2022. The Supreme Court on Dec. 1 said it would hear arguments on the legality of the debt relief program in the other case pursued by six mostly Republican-led states. Biden announced in August that the U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples. Students who received Pell Grants to benefit lower-income college students would have up to $20,000 of their debt canceled. The Congressional Budget Office in September calculated that the debt forgiveness program would cost taxpayers about $400 billion.

Rulings by lower courts in two challenges filed against the debt relief program have put Biden's policy on ice. Biden announced in August that the U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples. The Congressional Budget Office in September calculated that the debt forgiveness program would cost taxpayers about $400 billion. Biden and his predecessor Trump had invoked the law to pause student loan repayments. Biden on Nov. 22 extended the repayment pause to no later than next June 30 to give the Supreme Court time to decide the case.

☆ Federal appeals court rejects Biden's bid to revive student debt plan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A federal appeals court on Wednesday declined to put on hold a Texas judge’s ruling that said President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt was unlawful. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Biden administration’s request to pause a judge’s Nov. 10 order vacating the $400 billion student debt relief program in a lawsuit pursued by a conservative advocacy group. Circuit Court of Appeals that, at the request of six Republican-led states, had barred it from cancelling student loans. Biden announced in August that the U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples. About 26 million Americans have applied for student loan forgiveness, and the U.S. Department of Education had already approved requests from 16 million by the time Pittman issued his ruling.

Nov 30 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday declined to put on hold a Texas judge's ruling that said President Joe Biden's plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt was unlawful. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Biden administration's request to pause a judge's Nov. 10 order vacating the $400 billion student debt relief program in a lawsuit pursued by a conservative advocacy group. Circuit Court of Appeals that, at the request of six Republican-led states, had barred it from cancelling student loans. Biden announced in August that the U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples. About 26 million Americans have applied for student loan forgiveness, and the U.S. Department of Education had already approved requests from 16 million by the time Pittman issued his ruling.

☆ Biden's student-loan forgiveness remains blocked after another federal court rejects the administration's attempt to revive its debt relief
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

It was in response to Biden's appeal to the court after a Texas judge blocked the relief. Separately, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on an 8th Circuit decision also blocking relief. On Wednesday night, a three-judge panel in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it would not grant the Biden administration's request to pause a district court decision that blocked the implementation of student-loan forgiveness. The Supreme Court has not yet issued a decision on whether it will grant the Biden administration's request to revive debt relief for millions of borrowers. Now, the fate of student-debt relief appears to rest at the Supreme Court.

☆ U.S. appeals court rejects Biden's bid to reinstate student debt plan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A federal appeals court on Wednesday declined to put on hold a Texas judge's ruling that said President Joe Biden's plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt was unlawful. A federal appeals court on Wednesday declined to put on hold a Texas judge's ruling that said President Joe Biden's plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt was unlawful. Circuit Court of Appeals that, at the request of six Republican-led states, had barred it from cancelling student loans. Biden announced in August that the U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples. Biden's program has drawn opposition from Republicans, who have portrayed it as shifting the burden of debt from wealthy elites to lower-income Americans.

In the past two months, student loan forgiveness has been the target of two high-profile lawsuits. Meanwhile, the Biden administration responded by extending the student loan payment pause yet again. What's happening to student loan forgiveness? Since the status of student loan forgiveness remains in the air, the Biden administration has extended the student loan payment pause until the Supreme Court makes a ruling. Select ranked SoFi Student Loan Refinancing and Earnest Student Loan Refinancing as some of the best companies for refinancing student loans.

☆ U.S. to extend student-loan payment pause during Supreme Court challenge
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Biden administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to lift a lower court's order blocking his plan to cancel billions of dollars in student debt in a challenge brought by six Republican-led states. Biden said on Twitter the pause in student debt repayments would be extended while the case is pending, potentially until June 30. "I'm confident that our student debt relief plan is legal. The administration stopped taking applications for student debt relief after Pittman's decision. Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Caitlin Webber, Tim Ahmann and Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Biden administration to make it easier for student loan borrowers to discharge debt in bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Annie Nova | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

President Joe Biden speaks on the student debt relief plan as Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona listens in at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 17, 2022. The Biden administration announced on Thursday updated guidelines that will make it easier for those struggling with their student debt to discharge it in bankruptcy. Under the rules, the agencies may recommend that a bankruptcy judge discharge a borrower's student debt if they find their case warrants it. Currently, it's difficult, if not impossible, for someone to walk away from their federal student debt in a normal bankruptcy proceeding. Outstanding student debt exceeds $1.7 trillion, and even before the pandemic, some 10 million borrowers were in delinquency or default.

☆ Meet the Republican-appointed judges who blocked Biden's student-loan forgiveness
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The judges have a history of conservative rulings on topics ranging from immigration to abortion. Student-loan forgiveness remains blocked until the courts make final decisions. For example, the judge who ruled in the Texas decision compared student-loan forgiveness to a 1933 law that gave Adolf Hitler power, sparking criticism from some legal experts. Here are the judges who deemed student-loan forgiveness illegal for millions of borrowers. Grasz also spent eleven years serving as Nebraska's Chief Deputy Attorney General — one of the six states that sued Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan.

☆ Biden administration warns of 'historically large increase' in student loan defaults without debt forgiveness
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Annie Nova | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Student loan borrowers gather near The White House to tell President Biden to cancel student debt on May 12, 2020. Student loans plagued with problems before CovidEven before the pandemic, when the U.S. economy was enjoying one of its healthiest periods in history, problems plagued the federal student loan system. watch nowFederal student loan payments have been on pause since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic first hit the U.S. and crippled the economy. Despite offering student loan borrowers forbearances during previous natural disasters, default rates still skyrocketed, Kvaal said in the filing. "[T]he one-time student loan debt relief program was intended to avoid" that problem, he added.

☆ The Trump-appointed judge who blocked Biden's student-loan forgiveness compared the debt relief to a law enabling Hitler
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Mark Pittman, a federal judge in Texas, blocked Biden's student-debt relief last week. In a hearing prior to the ruling, Pittman compared the relief to a law that gave Hitler power. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by two student-loan borrowers who sued because they did not qualify for the full amount of debt relief. Replying to that argument, Pittman suggested that allowing loan forgiveness in response to an emergency is similar to a German law that gave Hitler power. "Again this is a Trump-appointed judge invalidating student debt cancellation (after likening statutes authorizing debt cancellation to ... the rise of Hitler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)"

☆ Why a Trump-appointed Texas judge blocked Biden's student-debt cancellation plan
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Trump-appointed Judge Mark Pittman struck down Biden's debt relief in Texas last week. They claimed that enacting broad student-loan forgiveness is an overreach of the authority and should require Congressional approval, while Biden has maintained one-time student-loan forgiveness is well within the administration's legal authority. The plaintiffs' standing to sueBoth of the plaintiffs who brought the Texas lawsuit hold student loans. The first plaintiff, Myra Brown, sued because her loans are commercially-held and therefore ineligible for Biden's debt relief, which requires the borrower to owe their debt directly to the federal government. Pittman said that Biden's Justice Department argument that the plaintiffs' standing does not exist is "untrue."

☆ Here's what happens now that Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan is officially blocked
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A federal judge in Texas struck down Biden's student-loan forgiveness on Thursday. Now, however, the Education Department has stopped accepting applications. "We are disappointed in the decision of the Texas court to block loan relief moving forward," he added. "Amidst efforts to block our debt relief program, we are not standing down." Where student-loan forgiveness goes from hereShortly after the Texas ruling, the Education Department said the Justice Department had filed an appeal of the court's decision, which will go to the conservative 5th Circuit.

☆ Applications for student loan forgiveness no longer accepted
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is no longer accepting applications for student loan forgiveness after a second federal court shut down the program. “Courts have issued orders blocking our student debt relief program,” the Education Department said on its federal student aid website. Student loan forgiveness is likely to end up before the Supreme Court. People with student loan debt have not been required to make payments during the pandemic. As for loan forgiveness, the Education Department said on its website that it would hold on to the applications for those who have already applied.

☆ Biden’s Student Loan Drubbing
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden’s student-loan forgiveness gambit may have purchased votes this week. But on Thursday a Texas federal judge handed the President a legal defeat by ruling that his $400 billion write-off is unconstitutional. The Administration had moved to dismiss the challenge by two student borrowers on grounds that they lacked standing to sue. But Judge Mark Pittman disagreed and ruled for the plaintiffs on summary judgment because he said no material facts were in dispute.

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