Are you a property owner? If someone sends you a solicitation or a bill asking for money in exchange for a copy of your deed, throw it away. That isn’t a thing. [More]
Don’t Pay $100 Or More For A Certified Copy Of Your Deed: That’s Not A Thing
By May 21, 2013
Team Of ‘Robin Hoods’ Feeds Parking Meters, Gets Sued
By May 20, 2013
The city of Keene, New Hampshire claims that the problem isn’t the “Robin Hood” brigade of people who feed parking meters in the city in order to save drivers from tickets. No, they can fill meters with coins all day long and the city government claims that it won’t mind. The problem, claims the city, is that the merry band of meter-feeders are harassing and stressing out all three parking enforcement officers and being nuisances while they save residents from tickets. So the city has sued them. [More]
CFPB’s First Criminal Referral Leads To U.S. Indicting Debt-Repair Firm For Defrauding 1,200
By May 7, 2013
In the first criminal referral from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the U.S. is coming out swinging against a debt-settlement company in a new indictment. The firm has been charged with defrauding more than 1,200 people struggling with credit-card debt, with prosecutors saying the defendants “systematically exploited and defrauded” people around the U.S. [More]
H&R Block Sending $25 To Customers Impacted By Filing Delay
By April 25, 2013
Last month the Internal Revenue Service said H&R Block had bungled over 600,000 tax returns, potentially causing refund delays for those customers. The tax preparation firm says to make up for that glitch, it’ll be sending out $25 gift cards to any customers who filed their taxes at company-owned H&R Block locations and were impacted by the processing delay. [More]
IRS Issued $11 Billion In Improper Refund Payments, Is Totally In Trouble With Mom
By April 24, 2013
Someone’s got some explaining to do: the Internal Revenue Service sent out about $11.6 billion in payments it shouldn’t have, through the Earned Income Tax Credit program last year, according to a report by the inspector general. This isn’t going over well with its parents at the White House because that is way more than its allowance. [More]
FDA Knew Lab Committed Research Fraud, Approved Drug They Tested Anyway
By April 22, 2013
After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration learned about potentially fraudulent work done on behalf of pharmaceutical companies by a contract research firm in Texas, they didn’t pull the drugs off the market. You might think, though, that they might hold off on approving new drugs based on testing that came from that lab. You would be wrong. [More]
Fitbug Keeps Getting Fitbit’s Phone Calls, Notices Similar Name, Sues
By April 22, 2013
Tiny movement-trackers are the new hotness in gadgets, and there’s a lot of competition. Still, we’d love to know why it is that U.K.-based Fitbug just now noticed that the American brand Fitbit has a very similar product to theirs, with a very similar name, when the latter product has been around since 2007. [More]
Bogus Weight-Loss Products, Fraudulent Prizes Top List Of Biggest Scams
By April 19, 2013
More than 1-in-10 American adults fall victim to some sort of fraud, according to a new report from the Federal Trade Commission. And scams related to fraudulent weight-loss products are by far the most prevalent. [More]
CISPA Passes In The House But Senate Will Likely Knock It Down Due To Privacy Concerns
By April 18, 2013
It’s baaaaaack: Last year we started paying attention to the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, otherwise known as CISPA, for its perceived similarities to the reviled SOPA and PIPA bills. Despite getting killed off last year, CISPA has now been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives by a huge margin. [More]
eBay Seller Freaks Out And Sues Customer Over Bad Feedback That’s Actually True
By April 16, 2013
An eBay vendor shipped their customer’s package with insufficient postage by mistake. That’s not ideal, but it happens. The customer, upset that she owed extra postage, left negative feedback on eBay. That may have been an overreaction, as she could have asked for a refund instead. Again, not ideal, but that happens. What doesn’t usually happen is the seller filing a lawsuit seeking damages from the customer and eBay. [More]
Filing Your Taxes Can Be Stressful, But At Least You Aren’t Using MS-DOS
By April 15, 2013
It was pretty exciting for our household back in 1992 when Tax Dad got his first home office computer, and was able to use a primitive version of TurboTax to prepare his clients’ returns, instead of using a typewriter. In these days of Web filing, tax software from 1991 looks positively antiquated. [More]
Scooter Store Files For Bankruptcy After Overbilling Medicare At Least $47 Million
By April 15, 2013
If you watch daytime TV or have been stuck watching daytime TV while visiting your parents, surely you’re familiar with The Scooter Store. The power wheelchair vendor has had some trouble lately, including accusations of Medicare and Medicaid fraud, a raid by the FBI, and even a lawsuit from the company’s hometown, of New Braunfels, Texas. The company laid off most of its employees, and plans to deal directly with health care providers, rather than blanketing the airwaves and selling directly to consumers. [More]
Ask Tax Dad: Dependent Mom And Free Fast Food
By April 15, 2013
Usually, our staff Certified Tax Cat handles readers’ questions about taxes, but he’s too busy staring at a blank spot on the wall. Filling in for him is Laura’s dad, a retired accountant and real live independent tax preparer. Exclusively on Consumerist this spring, Tax Dad answers your questions. Also, to celebrate federal income tax deadline day, we link some coupons for free fast food deals good for today only.
This should be the last installment of Ask Tax Dad for 2013: tune in next year when Tax Cat comes back, Tax Dad returns, or maybe Tax Cat’s dad will show up to handle your tax questions. [More]
Brooklyn Grandma Finds $100K In Safety Deposit Box, But Can’t Keep It
By April 11, 2013
Let’s say you have some valuable things you don’t want to keep in your home, so you take out a safety-deposit box at your neighborhood bank. The bank manager leaves you alone in a transaction room to deposit your items, and you discover that your brand-new box isn’t empty. There’s money in it. $100,000 in cash. [More]
Ask Tax Dad: Old Clothes, An Audit Dispute, And IRA Rollovers
By April 8, 2013
Usually, our staff Certified Tax Cat handles readers’ questions about taxes, but he’s also a cat, and cats occasionally just do whatever the hell they want. Filling in for him is Laura’s dad, a retired accountant and real live independent tax preparer. Exclusively on Consumerist this spring, Tax Dad answers your questions. [More]
Ask Tax Dad: Amending My Taxes, Social Security Disability, And Buried In Online Brokerage Paperwork
By April 3, 2013
Usually, our staff Certified Tax Cat handles readers’ questions about taxes, but he found a particularly good sunbeam and called in for a personal day. Filling in for him is Laura’s dad, a retired accountant and real live independent tax preparer. Exclusively on Consumerist this spring, Tax Dad answers your questions. [More]
Ask Tax Dad: Overfunded 401(k), Living In My Rental Property, And More Tax Returns For Dead People
By April 2, 2013
Usually, our staff Certified Tax Cat handles readers’ questions about taxes, but he’s currently at a Warby Parker showroom shopping for some even less fashionable glasses. Filling in for him is Laura’s dad, a retired accountant and real live independent tax preparer. Exclusively on Consumerist this spring, Tax Dad answers your questions. [More]
Ask Tax Dad: Professional Organizations, Accident Settlements, And No Refund In 2014
By March 29, 2013
Usually, our staff Certified Tax Cat handles readers’ questions about taxes, but caught his tail in an antique adding machine and is out on medical leave. Filling in for him is Laura’s dad, a retired accountant and independent tax preparer. The April 15th filing deadline is coming up, and Tax Dad is here to dispense his wisdom in between e-mails gently urging his daughter to just send over her 1098-E already. [More]
