Mann's Research on Credit Card Debt Cited in Times Editorial
THE SCHOLARSHIP OF COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL’S MANN CITED IN
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL ON CREDIT CARD DEBT
Press contact:
James O’Neill
212-854-1584
Cell: 646-596-2935
August 6, 2008 (NEW YORK) – Columbia Law School Professor Ronald Mann’s research on credit card debt was cited in the lead editorial in today’s New York Times about abusive credit card practices.
Mann, author of Charging Ahead: The Growth and Regulation of Payment Card Markets Around the World (Cambridge Univ. Press 2006), is an expert on electronic commerce, secured transactions, payment systems and the global credit card industry.
The Times editorial notes that Mann has criticized a 2005 bankruptcy law which gave extra protections to lenders. Mann has said the law “creates a ‘sweat box of credit card debt,’” the Times notes. “As borrowers become ‘distressed,’ the credit card issuer has more time to pile on interest charges and fees until the client actually goes bankrupt.”
The editorial notes that while the Federal Reserve should swiftly adopt proposed new rules against deceptive credit card practices, the real burden to act falls on members of Congress, who, the Times writes, “have shirked the responsibility to ensure fair lending to credit card customers and have listened more intently to the banking lobbyists,” citing passage of the 2005 bankruptcy law as a low point.
To read the full editorial, click here.
Journalists interested in speaking to Mann about his research can contact him at 212-854-1570 or [email protected]. Columbia Law School also has a TV and radio studio on campus equipped with IFB and ISDN lines. Reporters or producers wishing to schedule live or taped interviews can contact the Law School’s Public Affairs office at 212-854-2650.
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, stands at the forefront of legal education and of the law in a global society. Columbia Law School joins traditional strengths in international and comparative law, constitutional law, administrative law, business law and human rights law with pioneering work in the areas of intellectual property, digital technology, sexuality and gender, and criminal law.