Consumerist
followups
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mortgages
When To Buy A Home And How To Avoid Screwing It Up
Are you hitting that stage in life where you're thinking of becoming a homeowner? Morningstar has published two home buying articles that together offer some good, concise advice to the prospective buyer, especially if you're a first-timer. More » -
vacations
Rent Someone's Home On Your Next Vacation
The next time you travel to another city, it might be cheaper, or at least more interesting, to rent directly from a local homeowner. Cool Tools says Vacation Rentals By Owner (VRBO.com) is a great way to find rental opportunities when you travel. More » -
housing
Need Affordable Housing? What About A Mobile Home?
Mobile homes have a less-than-stellar reputation, deservedly or not. I know my own mom always warned me against them by saying they were just tornado bait, which was enough to make me leery of even stepping foot inside a friend's mobile home growing up. But if you're not irrationally afraid of tornadoes, a mobile home might be a great housing option if you're on a tight budget or looking to save money, writes Michigan Telephone. More » -
rental cars
Car Rental Firms Create Artificial Shortage, Boost Prices
Car rental firms have cut their fleets by almost 15% in the last year, creating an artificial shortage that has helped to raise prices. Inside, a few tips that can help lower the cost of your next car rental... More » -
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There was an unexpected rise in new housing construction in February— fueled by an 82% jump in the construction of new apartment buildings. We suppose people have to live somewhere, right? [MarketWatch]
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renting
Budget Slaps Customer With $500 Repair Fee Months Later
When Sean returned a rented truck to Budget Truck Rental nearly a year ago, he went through the standard inspection with an employee, who then signed off on the return. Now the company has sent a $500 bill to collection for damage they refuse to provide evidence of. More » -
credit scores
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. More »
2:32 PM on Sun Feb 15 2009
By Bargaineering.com
34,376 views, 61 comments -
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budget
$10 Check From Budget Secretly Signs You Up For Costly Club
If you've rented from Budget and get a $10, check in the mail, don't sign it, reports Upgrade Travel Better. The fine print says doing so gives "Trilegiant" permission to sign you up in a monthly "discount" club with a monthly fee. Worse, it allows them to use the credit card you rented the car with to start charging the fees. Pretty sleazy.
Budget is aiding and abetting abuse of your credit card information [Upgrade: Travel Better] (Thanks to RC Jordan!)
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Need to save money on textbooks? Textbook Media offsets the cost of its digital copies by inserting ads at chapter breaks. BookSwim rents textbooks. Also see these old suggestions, and today's morning deal.
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renting
Fannie Mae To Stop Evicting Renters From Foreclosed Properties
As a rule, banks generally consider renters to be a liability and want nothing to do with them. When a property goes into foreclosure, these renters are usually unceremoniously tossed out and the building resold. Now Fannie Mae has announced a new program whereby renters in good standing will be allowed to stay in their apartments — if the property is owned by the government-controlled home funding company. More » -
renting
Fannie Mae Lets Renters Stay
Good news for renters who've been dutifully paying their rent while their landlords failed to make the mortgages, and were facing eviction as a result: Fannie Mae will sign new leases with them. [NYT] -
landlords
When Your Landlord Won't Refund Your Security Deposit
What do you do if you were a perfectly fine renter, left the place in great shape, but your landlord won't refund your security deposit? More » -
walmart
Walmart Shuts Down Music Store, Deactivates DRM-Protected Songs
Last week, Walmart sent out emails to its online music store customers letting them know that on October 9th, 2008, they will no longer be able to play any DRM-crippled tracks. Unlike Yahoo, which did the right thing by offering free replacement downloads of unprotected songs when they killed their DRM program, Walmart simply brags about its new unlicensed model and tells you to burn your protected tracks to CD if you really want to listen to them in the future. Good job, Walmart, there goes another betrayed consumer into the welcoming arms of digital piracy. And another. And another... More » -
bad consumer
How "Serial Evictees" Game A System Meant To Protect Renters From Abuse
There's nothing we dislike more than people who scam a system put in place to protect vulnerable consumers from abuse, but the sad fact is that they do exist. SF Weekly has an article that tracks the exploits of a serial evictee, a "renter" who leases apartments with no intention of paying rent, and then games the system in order to stay rent free for as long as possible. More » -
call joe shoen
Uhaul CEO Gave Out Cellphone Number On National TV, But Never Picks Up Or Returns Calls
In what looked like a daring move, the CEO of Uhaul, Joe Shoen, gave out his "cellphone number" on national TV and invited customers to call him with their complaints. The problem is, when you call, he doesn't pick up. If you leave a message, it's not returned. You get to hear Joe's gruffly charming voicemail message, but can't leave one of your own. His mailbox is full.
UPDATE: It seems this post may have had an effect. Commenters are reporting that Joe is now picking up. He even reportedly said to one of them, "Yes, this is Joe Shoen, are you calling about the internet?" Good on ya, Joe, now make sure that voicemail box is cleaned up. More »
