More than 77 million Americans have a debt in collections. Many of these debts will be sold to debt buyers for pennies, or fractions of pennies, on the dollar. This Article details the perilous path that debts travel as they move through the collection ecosystem. Using a unique dataset of 84...

Consumer debts in the United States can effectively live (and grow) forever: most statutes of limitations do not extinguish them; they can morph into relatives' obligations after the debtor's death; and they sometimes rise from the grave even after they have been paid. All the while, interest...

Consumer debts in the United States can effectively live (and grow) forever: most statutes of limitations do not extinguish them; they can morph into relatives' obligations after the debtor's death; and they sometimes rise from the grave even after they have been paid. All the while, interest...

In the complex modern financial system, individual investors rarely experience a clean, on-off choice between intermediation and disintermediation. Rather, retail investors must navigate a system presenting different degrees of intermediation, depending on the vehicle and transaction. Financial...

The recent financial crisis demonstrated that, contrary to longstanding regulatory assumptions, nonbank financial firms — such as investment banks and insurance companies — can propagate systemic risk throughout the financial system. After the crisis, policymakers in the United States and...

During the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, representations and warranties (contractual statements enforceable through legal action) may have given investors false assurance that mortgage loans were being properly underwritten. This assurance in turn may have contributed to overinvestment in...

In MetLife, Inc. v. Financial Stability Oversight Council, Civil Action No. 15-0045 (RMC) (D.D.C. March 30, 2016), the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia overturned the designation of MetLife, Inc., as a systemically important financial institution regulated by the Federal Reserve...

This Essay argues for the repeal of the bankruptcy safe harbors for financial contracts because they are redundant systemic risk safeguards. Most systemically important types of financial contracts now clear through clearinghouses. Clearinghouses are a superior method to the safe harbors for...

The mortgage foreclosure crisis raises legal questions as important as its economic impact. Questions that were straightforward and uncontroversial a generation ago today threaten the stability of a $13 trillion mortgage market: Who has standing to foreclose? If a foreclosure was done...