Consumer advocates applauded the Department of Education’s announcement last week to end contracts with five private collection agencies that provided inaccurate information to borrowers. [More]
Government Policy
U.S. Department Of Education Cuts Ties With Five Debt Collection Agencies To Protect Borrowers
By 3.2.15
Report: Teens Buy E-Cigarettes Online With Little Difficulty Despite Industry Safeguards
By 3.2.15
Back in February 2014, Ohio became the first state to prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. Since then, 40 other states and cities have followed suit. Despite those regulations, a new study found it’s increasingly easy for teens to skirt the rules by purchasing the products online. [More]
Shipments Diverted To East Coast During Contract Dispute Probably Won’t Come Back
By 3.2.15
Here’s the thing with container ships: you can move them. That’s the point, actually, so it’s not surprising that instead of waiting in long lines to have their cargo unloaded while the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union spent nine months in a contract dispute. Some ships were diverted to the East Coast, and it’s possible that those shipments may never come back to the West Coast. [More]
200,000 Consumers (And Counting) Ask Their Phone Companies To Just Let Them Block Robocalls Already
By 3.2.15
You still hate robocalls. We still hate robocalls. And over 200,000 other Americans hate robocalls, too, and have signed on to a petition asking their phone companies to just roll out the darn tech to block them already. [More]
Hyundai Recalls 200,000 Vehicles For Steering Issues
By 3.2.15
Here’s the thing about driving a car: no one wants it to be more difficult or dangerous than it needs to be. That’s why Hyundai is recalling more than 200,000 with steering issues. [More]
Chrysler Adds 467,000 Vehicles To 2014 Recall Of Jeep, Durango SUVs With Fuel Pump Issues
By 2.27.15
Nearly five months after Fiat Chrysler issued a recall of 230,000 Dodge and Jeep SUVs for fuel pump issues that could lead to a vehicle stall, the company expanded the number of affected vehicles by more than 467,000. [More]
Senators Chastise Govt. For Making Money Off Struggling Student Loan Borrowers, Not Offering Enough Relief
By 2.27.15
For several years now the government has offered federal student loan forgiveness programs aimed at helping borrowers to avoid defaulting on their debts. While recent reports have shown that the popularity of the programs has exceeded expectations, a group of six senators say the Department of Education could do more given the billions of dollars in payments it receives from federal loans each year. [More]
4 Things We Still Don’t Know About Net Neutrality
By 2.27.15
The FCC voted yesterday to reclassify broadband and protect the open internet. In other words, at long last, we have a net neutrality rule. And that’s great! But there is still a lot we don’t know, and there are a lot of questions left unanswered. Here are the major things we don’t know, and parts we’re waiting to better understand. [More]
Can New McDonald’s CEO Turn Tide Against Antibiotic Abuse In Farm Animals?
By 2.27.15
Since the Food and Drug Administration won’t set down hard-and-fast rules on non-medical antibiotic use in farm animals, it’s up to the farmers and the companies who buy the most meat to make a change that will cut down on the use of drugs that result in bigger cows, pigs, and chickens, but also put us all at risk for drug-resistant pathogens. [More]
Don’t Lie About Paying For Online Reviews. It’s Against The Law
By 2.27.15
In this era of social media and crowdsourced reviews, businesses with happy customers do what they can to publicize positive feedback. But if a company compensates customers for reviews and fails to disclose that tit-for-tat relationship, it’s illegal and deceptive marketing. [More]
Report: Americans Are Optimistic About Their Finances But Few Actually Feel Secure
By 2.27.15
Americans’ positive feelings about the economy have officially returned to the level they were at on the eve of the Great Recession, according to a new study from Pew Charitable Trusts. While that might sound comforting, it doesn’t mean consumers are actually feeling secure in their own financial stability. [More]
From Applause To Lawsuits And Legislation: What Key Players Are Saying About Net Neutrality
By 2.26.15
Over the summer, we rounded up what all the key players in broadband and online were saying about the potential for the FCC to write a clear net neutrality rule. Earlier today, the FCC actually went and made that rule; here’s what everyone has to say about it now. [More]
Feds & NY Attorney General Team Up To Sue Abusive Debt Collectors
By 2.26.15
Just like one of those action movies where a federal agent gets paired up with a small-town sheriff who knows all the bad guys in the area, the Federal Trade Commission has brought its crackdown on abusive debt collectors to New York and partnered with the Empire State’s attorney general to shut down a pair of unsavory operators. [More]
Privacy Advocates Call For Investigation Into Samsung Smart TVs
By 2.26.15
Samsung’s Smart TVs have come under scrutiny recently after people learned the company’s privacy policy hinted that things we say within earshot of our televisions may be recorded and uploaded to third-party transcription services. While executives for the company have worked to calm people’s fears, a privacy group is now asked federal regulators to take a look into the matter. [More]
FCC Officially Votes To Protect Net Neutrality, Reclassify Broadband
By 2.26.15
In a landmark decision today, the FCC voted 3-2 to create enforceable, bright-line rules protecting the open internet using their Title II authority to reclassify broadband internet as a telecommunications service. [More]
FCC Votes To Allow Cities To Expand Broadband Networks
By 2.26.15
As expected, the FCC today has confirmed an order permitting two cities to expand their existing municipal fiber broadband networks despite state-level laws that block them from doing so. [More]
NHTSA Increases Intensity Of Takata Airbag Investigation, Orders Company To Preserve Safety Devices
By 2.26.15
Federal regulators continue to put pressure on Takata Corporation to cooperate with a defective airbag investigation started last year. A week after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began fining the company $14,000 per day for failing to turn over documents and answer questions, the agency upgraded the investigation and ordered the company to preserve evidence. [More]
Foods That Make People Sick With E. Coli: Beef, Plants Grown In Rows
By 2.25.15
There are three different agencies in the federal government that handle different types of foodborne illnesses and separate aspects of those illnesses. While two outbreaks might be caused by the same pathogen, which agency handles them depends on whether the food contains meat or not. This is sort of inefficient. [More]
