features

Top 10 Ironic Ads From History

Top 10 Ironic Ads From History

Remember when you could buy barbiturates for the baby? Cover your house with asbestos? Or get heroin from the doctor? Okay, probably not, but thanks to the immortal beauty of advertising, you can take a trip back in time. Here’s our pick of some of the most ironic ads in American history.

Recap: Ben & Meg Interview Obama Administration On Credit Card Reform

Recap: Ben & Meg Interview Obama Administration On Credit Card Reform

Here, catch all of our interview with Austan Goolsbee breaking down why the credit card reform act was needed. If you missed any of the clips, here’s is the four-part series in its entirety…

Video: Consumer Reports Tests The Snuggie

Video: Consumer Reports Tests The Snuggie

We can yuck it up all we want about The Snuggie meme, but how does “the blanket with sleeves!” stand up to Consumer Reports rigorous testing procedures? In this delightful and informative video, Meg Marco and Ben Popken journey to the Consumer Reports labs to find out the straight dope on the fleecy wonder that has captivated the nation.

Consumerist Interviews Goolsbee On Credit Card Reform: Part 4 of 4

Consumerist Interviews Goolsbee On Credit Card Reform: Part 4 of 4

The final installment of our 4-part interview on credit card reform with Austan Goolsbee, President Obama’s senior economic adviser. In this one we say, hey, what about mandatory binding arbitration?

Consumerist Interviews Goolsbee On Credit Card Reform: Part 3 of 4

Consumerist Interviews Goolsbee On Credit Card Reform: Part 3 of 4

Are credit cards set up like a horrible game of Chutes & Ladders that plays for keeps? In the 3nd of our 4-part interview series with President Obama’s Senior Economic Adviser, Austan Goolsbee, on credit card reform, we ask why credit card companies can raise the APR on stuff you already charged, and go into some of the credit card companies’ anti-consumer tricks like liquid and fickle terms and conditions, penalty fees that aren’t trying to discourage behavior anymore, they’re just pure profit, and teeny-tiny contracts written in “Bank-o-nese.”

Consumerist Interviews Goolsbee On Credit Card Reform: Part 2 of 4

Consumerist Interviews Goolsbee On Credit Card Reform: Part 2 of 4

In the 2nd of our 4-part interview series with President Obama’s Senior Economic Adviser, Austan Goolsbee, on credit card reform, we ask, what about the kids? Specifically, what is this bill going to do about those guys giving away shirts on campus in exchange for signing up for credit cards? Because these seems a really great service for college students, who, as we know, frequently go shirtless. Also, how one side of the debate on credit cards is essentially arguing that if you didn’t want to get carjacked you should have taken the bus… because an honest business model and a profitable one needn’t be mutually exclusive.

Consumerist Interviews Goolsbee On Credit Card Reform: Part 1 of 4

Consumerist Interviews Goolsbee On Credit Card Reform: Part 1 of 4

We took your credit card reform questions to DC yesterday and interviewed Austan Goolsbee, senior economic adviser to President Obama. In part 1 of our 4-part series, we ask how are banks getting billions in bailouts and can turn around and cut off millions of credit cards and raise rates? How does it make sense that credit card companies can raise the interest rate on an existing balance? And, most importantly, why don’t we treat credit cards more like Canadians do cigarettes?

Consumerist Interviews Goolsbee About Credit Card Reform: Part 1 of 4

Consumerist Interviews Goolsbee About Credit Card Reform: Part 1 of 4

We took your credit card reform questions to DC yesterday and interviewed Austan Goolsbee, senior economic adviser to President Obama. In part 1 of our 4-part series, we ask how are banks getting billions in bailouts and can turn around and cut off millions of credit cards and raise rates? How does it make sense that credit card companies can raise the interest rate on an existing balance? And, most importantly, why don’t we treat credit cards more like Canadians do cigarettes?

Easy Weight Loss And Free Cash: A Dubious Product Online Marketing Empire Revealed

Easy Weight Loss And Free Cash: A Dubious Product Online Marketing Empire Revealed

I started out looking at the advertising and affiliate practices of one company, CreditReport America, and learned that the company that owns this site apparently produces a solid majority of the ads on the Web that annoy me.

Top 10 Reasons Your Chargeback Will Be Denied

Top 10 Reasons Your Chargeback Will Be Denied

A reader who works in the chargeback section of a major credit card company has just about had enough with people tossing around “chargeback! chargeback!” as the solution to every customer service problem. While it is a great tool, you gotta make sure you use it right. To help you do that, here’s our credit card company insider’s guide to the top 10 reasons why your chargeback will get rejected.

112 Ways To Save Money

112 Ways To Save Money

You guys are some thrifty freakazoids. We asked you to submit your money-saving secrets and you dumped like 35 elephants on our heads in comments and emails. We’ve trimmed that down to 112 . Here they are! Enjoy your savings.

Four Unexpected Situations Where Bad Credit Hurts

Four Unexpected Situations Where Bad Credit Hurts

If you aren’t planning on getting a big loan in the next couple of years, you probably shouldn’t be worried about your credit score right? Wrong.

Debunking Five Credit Score Myths

Debunking Five Credit Score Myths

Your credit score. It’s amazing how one little score can have such an impact on our finances and how misunderstood that number can be. We’ll debunk five common myths about it right here, right now.

The 15 Grossest Stories We've Posted On Consumerist This Year

The 15 Grossest Stories We've Posted On Consumerist This Year

Here are our favorite disgusting stories of 2008. You’re welcome!

Top 17 Most Useful Posts Of 2008

Top 17 Most Useful Posts Of 2008

Here are the 17 of the most popular (as determined by Google Analytics pageviews) of our “news you can use” variety for 2008. If you don’t learn at least one thing from one of these posts that saves you money, something is wrong with your brain.

Pump Up Your Savings With High-Yield Online Savings Accounts

Pump Up Your Savings With High-Yield Online Savings Accounts

Are you earning at least 4% in your savings account? If NO, do yourself a favor: Open a high-yield online savings account and start adding some serious muscle mass to your savings. Here’s the skinny:

DIY ID Theft Protection

DIY ID Theft Protection

Do you want to be one of over eight million identity theft victims? No, but most of the services sold by “identity theft protection” companies you can get for free. Here’s how.

19 Most Popular Consumerist Reader Complaints Of All Time!

19 Most Popular Consumerist Reader Complaints Of All Time!

I love how this blog gives everyday people a big voice to tell the world what’s wrong. Here’s 19 of our reader’s original stories that drew the most buzz, and blood, online over the years…