Kim tells Consumerist that while she lives in the United States, she got married in the Cayman Islands. That sounds very beautiful and romantic and all, but she wondered: would she have problems with the handwritten marriage certificate when she returned home and needed to change her last name? Nope. No private or government institutions had any trouble with the handwritten certificate…except Scottrade. Apparently, online brokerages are stricter about name changes than the U.S. State Department. Who knew? [More]
Government Policy
So You Think You're A Filmmaker? Enter Consumers Union's New Video Contest
By 9.24.10
In an effort to both educate younger people about health care reform and engender the creative spirit in our readers, Consumers Union has announced its So You Think You’re Invincible? video contest. [More]
Webloyalty Settles With NY AG For $5.2 Mil
By 9.24.10
Online “marketing” company Webloyalty has settled with the New York AG for $5.2 mil. You know how when you buy movie tickets and at the end it says, “You won a free $10 gift certificate!” And then if you read the small print it says that if you accept the gift certificate you get signed up for a discount club that charges a monthly fee? Yeah, that was their game. [More]
FDA Puts Controversial Diabetes Drug Avandia On Near Lockdown
By 9.24.10
Warning that the diabetes medication Avandia increases patients’ risk of heart problems and strokes, the Food and Drug Administration threw a set of cuffs on the drug. It will still be available, but only as a last resort for those who go through several other methods of battling the disease. [More]
Having Trouble With Similac's Recall Site? There's A PDF For That
By 9.24.10
Not long after news broke that a recall had been issued for Similac powdered baby formulas because they might contain tiny beetles, many people had trouble accessing the Similac website or toll-free phone number to check if the formula they were using for their babies was on the list of recalled lot numbers. [More]
North Dakota Court Says Bank Can Rob Customer Of $12K In Overdraft Fees
By 9.23.10
If you live in North Dakota and find yourself buried in overdraft fees, don’t go crying to the state’s Supreme Court. Judges ruled that a bank was within its rights to stick a hog farmer with $12,000 in overdraft charges. [More]
Pro-Playoff Groups Blitz Bowl Championship Series With Corruption Allegations
By 9.23.10
Most college football fans agree that the method the NCAA decides who gets to play for its football championship is competitively abhorrent, and now a political action committee is claiming that the system is buried in financial malfeasance as well. [More]
Similac Baby Formula Recalled Because It May Contain Chunks of Beetle
By 9.23.10
Certain types of Similac powdered baby formula have been recalled because of, as the FDA delicately puts it, “the remote possibility of the presence of a small common beetle in the product.” [More]
Mugging Alarms On ATMs Are Expensive And Useless
By 9.22.10
Anti-robbery systems at ATMs, like an alarm button button or a PIN code used to alert police you’re getting mugged, are rarely installed on the cash disgorgers, and with good reason. [More]
FDA Won't Require 'Genetically Modified' Label On Salmon
By 9.21.10
If you’re curious about whether the food you’re munching on is the product of gene-splicing scientists, don’t expect the Food and Drug Administration to allay those fears. [More]
Nintendo To Fansites: Don't Advertise Our Games For Free (Updated)
By 9.21.10
Nintendo’s legal team is on a quest to stop Pokémon fan sites from posting screenshots from its games. [More]
Feds Tell Reporter It's Illegal To Build Sand Castles in Florida
By 9.20.10
A journalist who was searching the Florida Gulf Islands National Seashore for signs of oil pollution got a silly reason to go home from federal agents. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representative told the WEAR ABC 3 Pensacola reporter, who was using a shovel to dig through the sand, that he needed to produce a permit that said he could do so. Soon after, a National Parks Service rep told the reporter the same thing. [More]
Restaurant Makes The Best Out Of Health Department Ding
By 9.20.10
A Midtown Manhattan sandwich shop got less than stellar marks from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene decided to integrate its ‘B’ grade into some inaccurate, possibly ironic advertising. [More]
Updated List Of Airports With Full-Body Scanners
By 9.17.10
Just in case you had thought/hoped/prayed that the use of full-body scanners at airports was going to be a passing fad, you should know that the devices continue to sprout up at security checkpoints everywhere. In just the last few months, seven more airports have joined the roster. [More]
Shards O Glass Freezepops Recalled
By 9.17.10
Shards o Glass Freezepops has realized that “some of our products are addictive and deadly when used correctly” and is calling for an immediate recall of all their products. They’re shutting down the factories “until we can provide consumers with a safer line of glass-filled treats.” Maybe they don’t need to go to extremes, how about a light, narrower version? New menthol flavor? [More]
What's On Warren's Mind? Check Her Old Blog
By 9.17.10
If you’re looking for insight into what’s going on inside the mind of Elizabeth Warren, check out her blog. Before she became the new special adviser to President Obama, and probably the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau she designed, she was blogging on CreditSlips, a group blog by several academics on consumer credit, bankruptcy, mortgages, and the like. WSJ’s Mary Pilon rounds up some of her notable posts, like her final one, entitled, “Bullshit — Professionally Speaking,” on the subject of deceptive contract language. [More]
Elizabeth Warren Outlines Her Vision For Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
By 9.17.10
Hours after it was announced that Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren would be named a special advisor to President Obama in the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, she took to the White House blog to share the broad strokes about the new agency. [More]
Elizabeth Warren Named Special Advisor To President
By 9.16.10
The Consumer Financial Protection Agency has gotten one step closer to a reality, with Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren being named a special advisor to President Obama, focusing on the agency’s creation. [More]
