It’s been a rough few years for homeowners. Since the collapse of a housing bubble in 2008, mortgage-holders have been yanked around every which way by the banks that own their loans. Mega-banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America have earned their reputations for being impenetrable, hostile bureaucracies to their customers. The industry has done everything from issuing loans that borrowers had no chance of repaying, to “losing” paperwork that distressed borrowers endlessly resend, to foreclosing on borrowers who have actually paid, and even discriminating based on race and gender. [More]
Government Policy
Complaints Surging, Modifications Decreasing As Loan Servicers Snap Up Mortgages From Banks
By 2.20.14
Arrest Warrant Issued For “Cash Grant Institute” Scammer Who Failed To Pay $20 Million Penalty
By 2.20.14
Nearly two years after the FTC hit the scammy robocallers at the “Cash Grant Institute” with a record $30 million penalty for violating federal Do Not Call regulations a few million times, a judge has issued an arrest warrant for one of the scheme’s operators after he failed to repay the lion’s share of what he’d agreed to hand over. [More]
FTC Stops “Work-at-Home” Job Scammers From Working Anywhere With $55m Settlement
By 2.20.14
Some jobs really do let you work from home part or all of the time. And some jobs really do pay $50 or more per hour. Those jobs don’t come knocking on your door asking you to take them, though, and they don’t advertise openings through overly excited, unsolicited e-mails and texts. But scammers do offer those “opportunities” in spam galore–and of course, they are actually opportunities for miscreants to part consumers from their money. The FTC, however, does not take kindly to scammers using deceptive tactics to pry money out of people, and has just shut several of them down. [More]
Why Even A Net Neutrality Rewrite Wouldn’t Alleviate Slow Netflix Service
By 2.19.14
While today’s announcement from FCC Chair Tom Wheeler that the commission would take another stab at writing net neutrality rules — thus preventing ISPs like Verizon, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable from blocking or throttling access to certain sites for its customers — the re-establishment of the Open Internet guidelines still wouldn’t do much to end some of the current Netflix-related hiccups customers are seeing. [More]
FCC Chair Announces Vague Plan To Try To Fix Net Neutrality
By 2.19.14
Last month, a federal appeals court struck down the core components of the FCC’s net neutrality rules, effectively opening the door for Internet service providers to block, throttle, or charge exorbitant fees to bandwidth-heavy content companies (Netflix, we’re all looking at you). The court had ruled that the FCC had never properly classified ISPs in a way that would allow the neutrality rules to apply. Today, FCC Chair Tom Wheeler unveiled a general outline for his plan to get those guidelines back in place. [More]
Homeland Security Looking To Build Massive License Plate Tracking System
By 2.19.14
In news that is both disturbing and not at all surprising, the Department of Homeland Security is currently asking private contractors to bid on a system that would create a National License Plate Recognition database that could allow various forms of law enforcement to track the movements of drivers, whether they are suspected of a crime or just going to buy a Big Gulp at 7-Eleven. [More]
FDA May Trim Some Of Those Lengthy Warnings In Prescription Drug Ads
By 2.18.14
We’re all familiar with prescription drug commercials that are basically 5 seconds about how there’s some awesome drug for your “moderate-to-severe” fill-in-the-blank condition, followed by 25 seconds of happy families playing in parks accompanied by the sound of speed-red disclosures about a vast array of warnings and possible side effects. The FDA is now looking for you opinion about whether it should look into trimming down all that fine print. [More]
Nestlé Recall: Because Even Hot Pockets Shouldn’t Contain Beef “Unfit For Human Food”
By 2.18.14
Can someone please find Jim Gaffigan and hold his hand while he hears this news? After a beef processing plant announced a recall last week of almost nine million pounds of meat “unfit for human food,” Nestlé has announced it’s pulling certain flavors and batches of Hot Pockets from the shelf. And yes, I can hear the jokes you’re making. [More]
White House Wants FCC To Support Net Neutrality, Won’t Order It To Reclassify Broadband ISPs
By 2.18.14
The White House today issued a response to a petition asking the Obama administration to intervene with the FCC to preserve net neutrality. Although the response “reaffirms” and “strongly supports” the administration’s commitment to net neutrality, that support does not extend to telling the FCC what to do. [More]
NSA, Homeland Security Admit They Shouldn’t Have Blocked Sale Of Parody Merchandise
By 2.18.14
No one likes being made fun of or humiliated (okay, some people do, but that’s part of a much larger discussion), but you can’t throw your authority as a big, scary federal agency around to stop people from mocking you, even if they’re making some money doing so. [More]
FTC: Spammers Responsible For Millions Of ‘Free Gift Card’ Text Messages To Pay $2.5M
By 2.18.14
You did not win a free $1,000 gift card like that text message tells you. It’s a scam, and the companies behind it are now paying million of dollars in settlements. [More]
Time Warner Cable Shareholder Sues To Block Comcast Merger
By 2.17.14
It’s not just consumers and advocacy groups that are worried about the pending sale of Time Warner Cable to Comcast for $45 billion. On Friday, a TWC shareholder has filed a lawsuit to block the merger, claiming that executives prioritized their own bank accounts over investors’ interests for a deal that will have a difficult time passing regulatory muster. [More]
5 Ways The FCC Has Failed Consumers (And One Way To Fix It), From A Former FCC Commissioner
By 2.14.14
Former FCC commissioner Michael Copps has a long history of trying to support consumer interests. He has been an outspoken critic of media consolidation for many years. Back in 2011, he was the lone dissenting vote on the Comcast/NBC merger and recently, he’s been calling on the FCC to reclassify broadband ISPs and fix net neutrality ASAP. [More]
GM Recalls 778K Vehicles After Fatalities Caused By Ignition Switching Off For No Reason
By 2.13.14
No one wants their car to switch off while driving down the highway. That’s why General Motors announced Thursday that it’s recalling nearly 778,000 compact cars. [More]
Click On The Link In That ‘Funeral Notice’ E-mail At Your Own Risk
By 2.13.14
Most e-mail scams try to take advantage of consumers’ curiosity, which is why phishing messages promising sex and/or porn still dominate the scam spam landscape. But some online jerks are trying to tap into an equally primal, but less crude, instinct by sending out fake funeral notices in the hope that people won’t be able to keep themselves from clicking away. [More]
FTC Approves Oversight Program For Compliance With Kids’ Online Privacy Rules
By 2.12.14
The FTC announced today that the agency has approved a new “safe harbor” certification program for websites that handle childrens’ personal data. The kidSAFE program will certify websites and programs that meet the standards of the the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. [More]
Chick Fil-A To (Eventually) Stop Using Antibiotic-Filled Chicken
By 2.11.14
In a move that could (hopefully) have a positive ripple effect on the rest of the fast food industry, Chick fil-A announced today that it will phase out the use of chickens raised using medically unnecessary antibiotics over the next five years. [More]
Bill To Ban In-Flight Wireless Voice Calls Moves Forward
By 2.11.14
The battle for a maintaining relative amount peace and quiet on commercial airlines moved on to the next stage this afternoon after a Congressional committee voted to advance a piece of legislation that would ban the in-flight use of the “phone” part of your cellphones. [More]
