A cap on ATM fees topping out at 50 cents, as proposed by some in Congress, sounds like a no-brainer, an automatically awesome thing that anyone who has ever groaned at a $3 fee would seem to applaud. But there could be disadvantages too. [More]
Government Policy
How Can You Fix A Broken Credit Report?
By 5.15.10
Just the words “credit report” make many want to cringe as they think of those late payments they made, or that time something just didn’t go through, causing what you might think might be irreparable damage to that record almost every consumer carries with them as they go about the business of buying things. But if something isn’t right, how can you fix it? [More]
Some Homeowners Worse After Getting Rushed Into Gov't Loan Mod Program
By 5.14.10
Despite fulfilling every obligation under trial government-sponsored loan modification programs, some homeowners can end up far worse off than if they had never joined up at all, Propublica reports. That’s because if they’re denied a permanent modification, they have to pay the entire amount that was being discounted, often within a very short period of time. This pushes already strapped families past the breaking point. [More]
No, The Government Isn't Coming For Your Gold
By 5.14.10
Goldline, a company that sells gold coins, has an important announcement: coin collectors made out well in the 1930s and were protected from “the whims and vagaries of a spendthrift government.” [More]
Senate Bill To Curb Credit Card Swipe Fees Passes
By 5.14.10
The bill to curb credit card fees that was being floated last night ended up passing. Credit card industry stocks fell Friday on the news. [More]
Do Dry Max Pampers Burn Babies' Backsides?
By 5.14.10
Parents have complained that Procter & Gamble’s Pampers Dry Max diapers are irritating their babies’ skin, and now the company is facing a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Ohio, as well as an investigation from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. [More]
Get Ready For Anti-Net Neutrality Ads
By 5.13.10
Foes of net neutrality are getting set to spend $1.4 million to air a series of ads against the Federal Communication Commission’s efforts to enforce net neutrality rules by regulating broadband access providers as telecom services. First up: this peppy offering from Americans for Prosperity, that warns that the Internet will be the next domino to fall to the encroaching menace of a “Washington takeover.” [More]
Lettuce-Borne E.Coli Outbreak Hits Fourth State
By 5.13.10
Infected romaine lettuce from a single processing facility has been linked to the sickening of at least 23 people in four different states, NY, MI, TN, and OH, says the Center for Disease Control (CDC). [More]
Cash4Gold Supports Regulations Proposed By Congress
By 5.12.10
Cash4Gold supports legislation designed to regulate it and its competitors, according to a letter from the company’s president, Jeff Aronson. “Cash4Gold supports HR 4501, the Guarantee of a Legitimate Deal Act, and the provisions outlined in the bill,” Aronson wrote to two congressman who are backing the bill.
FCC May Require Text Warnings Before You Get "Bill Shock"
By 5.12.10
The FCC is considering requiring cell carriers in the U.S. to do something their European counterparts already have to do: send customers text warnings when they’re about to incur massive charges because they’ve used up all their included minutes or are about to hit a roaming zone. [More]
FCC To Control What You Can/Can't Record From TV
By 5.12.10
At the MPAA’s behest, the FCC granted Selectable Output Control, which means you won’t be able to record certain “high value” stuff off your TV, ZeroPaid reports: [More]
USDA Tightens Chicken Rules
By 5.11.10
Yesterday the USDA announced new poultry safety rules intended to slightly reduce the number of poisonings annually from salmonella and campylobacter. An agency official says that the new rules should prevent about 65,000 cases of food sickness a year, which is only a fraction of the over a million cases annually. However, most of the other food products that contribute to that number fall under FDA regulation, so the USDA can’t say anything. “This is something we can do, so we’re doing it,” the spokesman told the Los Angeles Times. [More]
Safety Commission Cracking Down On Cadmium In Kids' Jewelry
By 5.11.10
It’s a good thing summer camps are coming up, with their weird seminars on bracelet weaving and whittling rings, because the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has just announced a recall of 19,000 charms sold at Claire’s stores, and says that’s just the beginning. [More]
Actually, You're Paying The Lowest Amount Of Taxes In 60 Years
By 5.11.10
It may not feel like it, but it turns out that you are paying really low taxes right now, the lowest in 60 years, in fact, according to a new analysis of Federal data. [More]
HUD calls For Lenders To Send Tennessee Flood Victims A Lifeline
By 5.11.10
Tennesseans homeowners have enough to worry about with the flooding, but the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has stopped worries that victims would drown in the resulting debt. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan directed lenders to put a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures in flood-ravaged areas. [More]
Toyota Waited Months To Recall Trucks For Defect Linked To 3 Deaths
By 5.10.10
An AP investigation has found that Toyota waited nearly a year after a 2004 recall in Japan to issue the same recall in the U.S.– claiming that it had little evidence of a U.S. problem. The AP says, however, that the automaker had received at least 52 reports from U.S. drivers about a steering defect in trucks and SUVs. [More]
VIDEO: Unusual Selloff 30 Min Ahead Of Crash?
By 5.10.10
Might there be more to last week’s crash than a “fat fingered” trade, or someone mistakenly entering a “billion” instead of a “million?” An online stock trader has a video showing an unusual spike in trading volume, followed by a very quick sell-off, by funds at large investment firms BlackRock and Vanguard and some other funds 30 to 15 minutes before the big crash. Prescience? Watch the video, check the logs, and decide for yourself. [More]
Stock Market Typo/Robot Apocalypse Still Being Investigated
By 5.10.10
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will meet with federal regulators and top officials from the NYSE and other exchanges to dicuss whatever the hell happened last Thursday that caused the stock market to completely freak out. [More]
