Creola Johnson
Presidents Club Professor of Law
Expertise
Education
- BS, Louisiana State University
- JD, West Virginia University
Biography
Following graduation, Professor Creola Johnson spent four years practicing bankruptcy and corporate law at Klett, Lieber, Rooney and Schorling in Pittsburgh.
She has taught at the West Virginia University College of Law and has worked as a staff attorney with Pittsburgh’s Neighborhood Legal Services Association, supervising a bankruptcy project for law students.
Before joining the Moritz College of Law faculty, Professor Johnson was a faculty fellow at the University of Iowa College of Law.
She teaches Sales, Secured Transactions, Debtor and Creditor Rights, Business Bankruptcy, Consumer Protection and Non-Conventional Lending, and Consumer Law.
Presentations:
- The Facts and Myths of Filing for Bankruptcy (August 9, 2007) (video)
Useful Payday Loan Links:
- AARP: 4 reasons to avoid payday loans
- US Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Alert on Payday Lending
- The Institute of Consumer Financial Education’s Easy-to-Use Budget and Spending Plan
- Consumers Union’s web page contains a wealth of stories and info about payday lending
- Consumer Action’s Annual Credit Card Survey 2008
Useful Links on Subprime Loans and Foreclosures:
- Subprime Mortgage Lenders and Older Borrowers
- Are Reverse Mortgages Helpful or Hazardous?
- Consumers Union on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)
- Center for Responsible Lending
Useful Links about Credit Cards and Credit Related Issues:
- Credit Card Disputes: How to Dispute a Credit Card Bill
- Fair Credit Reporting: How to Get Your Credit Report and Dispute Information Contained In It
- Can Credit Repair Companies Really Improve My Credit Report?
- Guide to Building a Better Credit Report
- CNN’s Guide to Who Watches Your Credit
- Consumer Credit Reporting Basics: Experian- Credit 101
- TransUnion’s Credit Reporting Basics
- Is it better to pay with a debit card or credit card? Learn the advantages and disadvantages of each
Useful Bankruptcy Links:
- For legal articles focusing on “bankruptcy” law and an FAQ answered by leading lawyers
- Warning Signs that you are in Financial Trouble and should consider Filing Bankruptcy
- National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees
- National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys
- National Bankruptcy Review Commission
- National Consumer Law Center
- American Bankruptcy Institute
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
- Bankruptcy and Debtor-Creditor Discussions
- Bankruptcy LawTrove
- Bankruptcy Lawfinder
- University of Arizona College of Law’s on-line Bankruptcy course
Other Useful Links:
- For a free credit report, go to annualcreditreport.com. This website is the ONLY authorized online source for you to get a free credit report under federal law. You can get a free report from each of the three national credit reporting companies every 12 months. Many other sites claim to offer “free” credit reports, but charge you for another product if you accept their “free” report. To learn about your right to a free credit report from the FTC, go to http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/freereports/index.html. If you only want the truly free credit report, go to annualcreditreport.com.
- Parents teach your children basic economics and money management principles
- Having problems with debt collectors? Understand your rights with debt collectors
Selected Scholarship
- Creola Johnson, Prosecuting Creditors and Protecting Consumers: Cracking Down on Creditors That Extort via Debt Criminalization Practices, 80 Law & Contemp. Probs. 211 (2017). https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/lcp80&i=731
- Creola Johnson, Pamela Foohey, Jim Hawkins, & Nathalie Martin, Consumer Credit in America: Past, Present, and Future, 80 Law & Contemp. Probs. 1 (2017). https://ssrn.com/abstract=2977263
- Creola Johnson, Creditors’ Use of Consumer Debt Criminalization Practices and Their Financial Abuse of Women, 34 Colum. J. Gender & L. 5 (2016). https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/coljgl34&i=15
- Creola Johnson, Is a Law Degree Still Worth the Price?: It Depends on What the Law School Has to Offer You (2014). https://cap-press.com/books/isbn/9781611633719/Is-a-Law-Degree-Still-Worth-the-Price
- Creola Johnson, Fakers, Breachers, Slackers, and Deceivers: Opportunistic Actors During the Foreclosure Crisis Deserve Criminal Sanctions, 40 Cap. U. L. Rev. 853 (2012). https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/capulr40&i=875
- Creola Johnson, Congress Protected the Troops: Can the New CFPB Protect Civilians from Payday Lending?, 69 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 649 (2012). https://ssrn.com/abstract=2160557
- Creola Johnson, America’s First Consumer Financial Watchdog Is on a Leash: Can the CFPB Use Its Authority to Declare Payday-Loan Practices Unfair, Abusive, and Deceptive?, 61 Cath. U. L. Rev. 381 (2012). https://ssrn.com/abstract=2160542
- Creola Johnson, Renters Evicted En Masse: Collateral Damage Arising from the Subprime Foreclosure Crisis, 62 Fla. L. Rev. 975 (2010). https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/uflr62&i=995
- Creola Johnson, The Magic of Group Identity: How Predatory Lenders Use Minorities to Target Communities of Color, 17 Geo. J. Poverty L. & Pol'y 165 (2010). https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/geojpovlp17&i=169
- Creola Johnson, Financial Literacy Education: Making Financial Literacy as High a Priority as Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, 5 Consumer J. 8 (2009).