Only three months ago, Florida Congresswoman and chair of the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was actively lobbying her fellow lawmakers in opposition to pending reforms for the payday loan industry, finding nothing wrong with lenders who charge interest rates in the range of 300% to people in dire need of cash. Now that the actual rules have been announced, the legislator has had a sudden change of heart. [More]
Government Policy
Should Agency That Provided Accreditation To Corinthian Colleges Be Held Accountable In School’s Failure?
By 6.2.16
Up until the day it collapsed in 2015, for-profit education chain Corinthian Colleges Inc. was accredited by Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), one of the nation’s largest federally recognized accrediting bodies. With taxpayers potentially on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in forgiven student loans, the California Attorney General is calling on the Department of Education to revoke federal recognition of ACICS. [More]
CPSC Recalls Kids’ Jewelry Kits With Cra-Z Amount Of Lead
By 6.2.16
Last month, an investigation by New York state’s attorney general turned up craft kits marketed to children with 10 times the acceptable level of lead. While state attorneys general don’t have the power to order a recall, the AG forwarded the information to the Consumer Products Safety Commission and the distributors and retailers of the product. Today, the distributor announced a recall of the craft kits. [More]
Consumers, Payday Lending Employees Face Off On Proposed Short-Term Lending Rules
By 6.2.16
Consumer advocates, regulators, and representatives of the small-dollar lending industry descended upon Kansas City on Thursday to discuss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s long-awaited proposed rules intended to rein in predatory lending. [More]
Would You Sign Up For TSA PreCheck If It Was Cheaper?
By 6.2.16
The Transportation Security Administration continues to try to wriggle itself out of the tough spot it’s found itself in, with passengers, airlines, lawmakers, and airport officials chiming in on excessively long wait times at security checkpoints in our nation’s airports. In an effort to cut down those lines, the agency has been trying to push more people to enroll in its PreCheck Program — but is the cost keeping travelers from signing up? [More]
Another 4.4 Million Cars From 11 Brands Recalled For Takata Airbags
By 6.2.16
Sometimes it might be shorter and easier to just publish a list of the vehicles that haven’t been recalled today. While cars continue to be manufactured and sold with the potentially harmful ammonium nitrate airbags, 2.4 million more vehicles containing the problematic safety equipment have been recalled in the last two days. [More]
New Rules Aim To Rein In Predatory Payday Lending, But Will They Work?
By 6.2.16
After nearly four years of studying the issue of high-cost, short-term financial products like payday loans, and auto-title loans, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finally released its proposed rules intended to prevent borrowers from falling into the costly revolving debt trap that can leave people worse off than if they hadn’t borrowed money in the first place. [More]
The FDA Wants You To Eat Less Salt, Hopes The Food Industry Will Help With That
By 6.1.16
When it comes to salt, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration agrees with the Centers for Disease Control: we’re all consuming too much sodium, and the food industry should be helping us cut back by cutting it from their products. [More]
Segway Trying To Make Hoverboards Happen Again With $999 Scooter
By 6.1.16
It’s only been a little more than three months since hoverboards — a term that should not apply, as no hovering is involved — disappeared from Amazon after the Consumer Product Safety Commission determined that the self-stabilizing scooters were not unsafe unless they met certain standards. Now Segway, the company who tried to start the dorky standing scooter craze with its namesake device, is hoping to be the high-price future of the hoverboard market. [More]
AT&T CEO Says He Can’t Deploy Robocall Blockers Without FCC Approval. He’s Wrong
By 6.1.16
On his personal phone line, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson blocks unwanted, pre-recorded and auto-dialed robocalls. So why is Darth Randy not making this technology available for all of his customers? He claims it’s because he needs the FCC’s permission to do so, but the FCC says that just isn’t so. [More]
Report: For-Profit College Students Earn Less After Graduation Than They Did Before
By 5.31.16
For-profit college chains often market themselves to non-traditional students — single parents, lower income individuals, military servicemembers — as a viable path to better job prospects and more money. However, a new report suggests that enrolling in of these sometimes costly schools may not help students reach their goals. [More]
Chicago Officials: TSA Wait Times Have Dropped To Less Than 10 Minutes At City’s Airports
By 5.27.16
After weeks of excessively long lines at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints plagued travelers going through Chicago’s airports, the city’s officials says wait times are down to less than 10 minutes. [More]
Mayborn USA Recalling More Than 3M Spill-Proof Cups Because Drinking Mold Is Gross
By 5.27.16
Before you hand that sippy cup over to your toddler, you might want to take a minute to make sure it’s not one of a few million spill-proof vessels being recalled due to risk of mold. We may not know everything about kids here at Consumerist, but we’re willing to bet swallowing mold wouldn’t be a popular experience. [More]
Altria Sues FDA To Keep “Black & Mild” Name
By 5.26.16
Earlier this month, the Food & Drug Administration expanded its oversight of tobacco products, effectively banning the use of “mild” to describe cigars. That’s a problem for Altria Group, which makes the Black & Mild brand, and so the tobacco behemoth has sued the federal government to keep using the name. [More]
FDA: ‘Evaporated Cane Juice’ Is Just Sugar, Deal With It
By 5.26.16
What’s “evaporated cane juice”? It’s a sweetener produced from the liquid that comes out of sugar cane when you cut or shred it. However, the Food and Drug Administration notes that it’s also a term that food producers use in ingredients list to avoid using the word “sugar.” The FDA has had enough of this, and issued guidance telling food marketers that they need to just call ECJ what it is: sugar. [More]
FCC Fines Makers, Users Of Phone-Jamming Devices That Can Disrupt Cell, GPS Services
By 5.25.16
If you’re thinking of using a phone-jamming device to shut up your fellow motorists and get them off their phones while driving, think again: the Federal Communications Commission could hit you with fines, and could fine the company that sold you the gadget as well. [More]
Airlines Have Spent More Than $12M To Cut Airport Security Lines
By 5.25.16
The unofficial start of the busy summer travel season kicks off this weekend, with more than 231 million passengers expected to crowd the nation’s airports. That is, if they don’t miss their flight because of long security lines. In a bid to ensure that doesn’t happen, the country’s largest domestic airlines are shelling out big bucks — think $12 million and up — to alleviate congestion at security checkpoints. [More]
Airline Official Says TSA Cut O’Hare Security Wait Times Down To 10 Minutes
By 5.25.16
It seems some of the Transportation Security Administration’s efforts to ease long lines at security checkpoints at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport have worked: according to one airline official, wait times at O’Hare have been cut down to only 15 minutes since TSA moved 100 part-time officers to full-time status last week, and brought in four more bomb-sniffing dogs. [via Chicago Tribune] [More]
