Each year consumers spend nearly $32 million in exorbitant overdraft fees to their banks and credit unions without fully understanding the way in which these fees work or how much they spend on each overdraft. Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reminded banks that using consumers’ lack of knowledge to collect more fees isn’t acceptable by imposing a $7.5 million fine against Regions Bank for unlawful overdraft practices. [More]
Government Policy
SEC Reportedly Investigating Bank Of America Over Customer-Protection Rule Violations
By 4.28.15
Financial institutions are required under federal law to follow an array of rules that aim to protect consumers’ accounts. Bank of America may not have followed one of those rules over the course of several years, and now reportedly faces an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. [More]
Petition Calls For Loan Relief For Corinthian College Students
By 4.27.15
Ever since for-profit education chain Corinthian Colleges began its downward spiral last summer, consumer groups, students and legislators have urged the Department of Education to provide current and former students relief from student loans they took out to finance an education based on deceptive recruitment practices. Now that CCI has closed its remaining Everest University, Heald College and WyoTech campuses, consumer advocates say discharging federal student loans held by these students – and protecting students of other for-profit institutions – should be of immediate concern for the Department. [More]
Ford Recalls 400,000 Vehicles Under Investigation By NHTSA For Door Latch Issues
By 4.27.15
Nearly seven months after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration first opened an investigation into thousands of Ford vehicles that may contain malfunctioning door latches, the car manufacturer has issued a recall of nearly 400,000 sedans. [More]
Corinthian Colleges Completes Collapse, Closes Remaining Campuses Effective Immediately
By 4.26.15
Although it was nearly a year in the making, the largest collapse in U.S. higher education finally occurred Sunday, as embattled for-profit education chain Corinthian Colleges Inc. – the operator of Everest University, Heald College and WyoTech – announced it would close the remainder of its campuses effective Monday. [More]
Anatomy Of A Comcastrophe: A Look Back At How Comcast Failed To Buy Time Warner Cable For $45B
By 4.24.15
We were skeptical from the start, but obviously someone at Comcast believed that the company would eventually be allowed to acquire Time Warner Cable for the massive sum of $45 billion. Yet this morning the nation’s largest pay-TV and Internet provider walked away from the mega-merger that would have given it unprecedented market share in both of these industries and control over cable and broadband service for the two largest cities in the U.S. So how did we get here? [More]
FDA Warns Makers Of Diet Supplements Containing Speed-Like Ingredient
By 4.23.15
Following calls for action from scientists and consumer health advocates, the FDA has sent warning letters to a handful of diet supplement makers demanding that they cease selling products that contain a speed-like ingredient. [More]
Senators Want To Close Federal Funding Loophole Exploited By For-Profit Colleges
By 4.23.15
Each year for-profit colleges receive billions of dollars in Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits by exploiting a loophole in the rules that govern how these institutions collect federal funds. Once again, a group of senators has set out to change the way in which these schools count student aid, this time by urging the Department of Education to take an aggressive stand. [More]
Telemarketer Penalized $3.4M For Scamming Elderly Into Paying For Unwanted Medical Alert Service
By 4.23.15
Two years ago, the Federal Trade Commission shut down a Brooklyn-based telemarketing scheme that bullied elderly consumers into paying for a medical alert service they never ordered or wanted. Now a federal court has hit the telemarketer’s repeat-offender operator with a $3.4 million penalty. [More]
There Are Two Things That Could Stop The Comcast/TWC Merger, And We Might Get Both
By 4.23.15
Update: Comcast is reportedly planning to back out from the merger deal as early as tomorrow in the face of the likely opposition from both the FCC and Justice Department. [More]
Thousands Of Shark Vacuum Cleaners Recalled For Shock Hazard
By 4.23.15
Commercials for Shark vacuum cleaners boast the devices’ plethora of uses: detaching the canister to clean at the top of bookshelves, easy swivel movements and powerful suction abilities. One thing the ads don’t discuss is the possibility that users could be shocked while using the device. For that reason, nearly 142,000 vacuums are being recalled. [More]
Possible FCC Hearing Could Signal End Of Comcast, Time Warner Cable Merger
By 4.22.15
While it’s already been reported that antitrust lawyers at the Dept. of Justice are leaning toward moving to block the $45 billion merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, staffers at the FCC — the other regulatory body reviewing the merger — are recommending a move that could signal opposition to the deal from both agencies. [More]
Top Cable Lobbyist Just Doesn’t See Why You Hate Your Cable Company When Google, Facebook Are Big Too
By 4.22.15
The NCTA is big cable’s big lobbying group. Right now, they’re trying their hardest to make sure the FCC can’t protect consumers and businesses from the largest ISPs with a lawsuit trying to block the FCC’s net neutrality rule. At the organization’s head head is former FCC chairman Michael Powell, who loves terrible internet speeds and data caps for all. [More]
Many Americans Still In The Dark About Overdraft Fees & Other Bank Practices
By 4.22.15
While millions of consumers contribute to the $32 billion in overdraft fees collected each year, a new video shows that many checking account holders don’t fully understand the way overdrafts work or how much they spend on the fees each year. [More]
IRS Hung Up On 8.1 Million Taxpayers Without Answering Phone
By 4.22.15
We knew going into this tax season that budget cuts to the Internal Revenue Service would result in less help for taxpayers and a likely increase in taxpayer fraud and errors, but today IRS Commissioner John Koskinen detailed exactly how badly things went this year. [More]
FBI, TSA Issue Warning To Airlines Over Possible Flight Hackings
By 4.22.15
A week after a government report identified security weaknesses within the airline industry including the possibility that newer airplanes with interconnected WiFi systems could be hacked, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Transportation Security Administration issued an alert warning airlines to be vigilant about monitoring for such threats. [More]
Trek Recalls 998,000 Bikes Over Brake Issue That Left One Rider Paralyzed
By 4.22.15
Trek is recalling almost one million bikes in the United States and Canada after an issue with a quick-release lever on the bike’s front wheel hub left one rider permanently paralyzed. [More]
Mortgage Servicer Must Refund Consumers $48M For Array Of Deceptive Practices
By 4.22.15
Every once in a while government agencies team up to take down unscrupulous operations that prey on financially vulnerable consumers. Such was the case this week when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission took action against a mortgage servicer that engaged in a assortment of deceptive practices often resulting in consumers losing their homes. [More]
