When 143 million people have already been affected by a massive data breach at one of the three major credit reporting agencies, what’s a few million more? That’s apparently the reality for Equifax, which upped its estimate of how many consumers were affected in the hack just hours before company executives were scheduled to discuss the incident with lawmakers. [More]
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Wells Fargo Subpoenaed Over Alleged Insurance Scheme That Resulted In 25,000 Vehicle Repossessions
By 8.2.17
Less than a week after a report alleged, and Wells Fargo admitted, to charging its auto loan customers for unnecessary and unwanted insurance, the bank has been subpoenaed by New York state banking and insurance regulators over the matter. [More]
Student Loan Company With Allegedly Shoddy Recordkeeping Under Investigation
By 7.20.17
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office has opened an inquiry into the business practices of National Collegiate Student Loan Trust following reports that the company often files collection lawsuits against defaulted borrowers without proper or correct paper. [More]
Sen. Cory Booker Concerned Over Hefty Overdraft Fees, Seeks Info From Top Banks
By 7.18.17
Each year, banking customers spend an estimated $32 billion on overdraft fees. While many banks have modified their policies regarding the costly fees, recent reports found those changes aren’t enough to protect most consumers. Now, in an effort to add to those protections, one lawmaker is pressing banks for more information on their policies. [More]
Instagram Users Not Pleased After Their Accounts Are Disabled For No Reason
By 7.6.17
Instagram already has a lot of reasons it can employ to justify closing a user’s account: hacked feeds, spammers, lawbreakers, bullying, etc. But dozens of Instagram users are raging against the Facebook-owned photo-sharing platform today, saying they were locked out of their accounts without any reason or explanation. [More]
Lawmakers Ask Education Secretary DeVos To Explain Delayed Loan Forgiveness For ITT, Corinthian Students
By 5.18.17 — Updated: 5.25.17
Thousands of former students at bankrupt for-profit schools run by ITT, Corinthian Colleges, and others are still on the hook for millions of dollars in student loans, even though the Department of Education approved their claims for a refund. Now, lawmakers want Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to explain why. [More]
BMW Owners Say Their Parked Cars Are Going Up In Flames
By 5.11.17
When you park your car, turn the engine off, and walk away, you have a reasonable expectation that when you return the vehicle will be in the same spot and in the same condition as when you left. But some BMW owners say they’ve returned only to find their car in flames. Now, these owners and fire officials from across the country are asking why. [More]
Senators Give Yahoo 10 Days To Answer For Massive Breaches
By 2.13.17
Verizon’s $4.8 billion acquisition of Yahoo might still be going forward as planned, but that doesn’t mean the latter company is exempt from answering some tough questions about its massive data breaches: Lawmakers have given Yahoo until Feb. 23 to answer for the company’s actions related to the hacks. [More]
Lawmakers: Wells Fargo Employee Files Show Bank Knew Of Fake Account Fiasco
By 11.4.16
Under federal law, when brokers or other registered representatives leave a position with a banking institution, that company is required to notify the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) with a form that includes a field that describes why the worker was leaving. It’s those filings that lawmakers are pointing to now, claiming that Wells Fargo knew well in advance that its employees were taking part in the now infamous fake account fiasco. [More]
Senator Wants To Know What’s Up With Samsung’s Lithium-Ion Batteries
By 10.19.16
While Samsung says it tested the batteries used in its now recalled and defunct Galaxy Note 7 devices before putting them in consumers’ hands, there are still plenty of unanswered questions related to how such a dangerous problem — exploding phones — could have gone unnoticed. [More]
Why Was My Netflix Account Commandeered From Ecuador?
By 8.11.16
From time to time, Netflix customers share their passwords with friends and family members, even some that may live in other countries. In those cases, it’s not unusual to see activity on your account from a device in, say the U.K., streaming the latest episode of Game of Thrones. But Consumerist reader Niki doesn’t know anyone in Ecuador, and she certainly didn’t give out her password to someone living there. Yet, she’s repeatedly seen activity in that country, despite changing passwords and email addresses associated with the account. [More]
Lawmakers Want Answers On Walmart Prepaid Card Glitch That Left Thousands Without Funds
By 6.28.16
When a prepared credit card system goes down, millions of unbanked American lose their ability to access funds needed to pay bills, buy groceries, and make other purchases. This scenario was illustrated last month when customers using Walmart-branded Green Dot prepaid debit cards said they had been stranded without their funds for several days, and in some cases weeks. Now, a pair of lawmakers wants to understand the debacle better and work to prevent something similar from happening again. [More]
Students Affected By Corinthian Colleges Closures Have Some Relief Options
By 4.27.15
Although many of us saw the final collapse of Corinthian Colleges Inc. on the horizon since last summer, for the nearly 16,000 students who were currently enrolled at the company’s 28 remaining Everest University, Heald College and WyoTech campuses news that they no longer have a school to attend was no doubt jarring, opening a door to questions about their future education and the debt burden they now carry. [More]
