Earlier this month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed rules intended to restore some of those constitutionally granted rights that the Supreme Court has stripped away in recent decades. Faced with the possibility of having to be held responsible for their bad actions, some industry groups are coming out in force against the rules, presenting the same laughably thin argument that consumers ultimately benefit by not being able to sue the companies they do business with. [More]
Government Policy
1-in-5 Auto Title Loans Lead To Vehicle Seizure
By 5.18.16
When seeking an infusion of cash to make ends meet, consumers may turn to payday loans, cash advance loans, or auto title loans. While each of these short-term, high-interest loans pose a financial risk to borrowers, only one has the ability to take away what is often a person’s largest asset: their vehicle. And, according to a new report, one-in-five consumers who take out a single-payment auto title loan have their car seized by lenders. [More]
FBI Lends FAA Drone Detector For Tests At Kennedy Airport
By 5.17.16
Birds pose a danger to commercial aircraft, but unauthorized drones are also a threat. Fortunately for everyone, we don’t yet know what would happen if a solid unmanned aerial vehicle collided with a jet or flew into its engine. The Federal Aviation Administration doesn’t want to find out, which is one of the reasons why they tested an FBI drone-detection system to prevent crashes. [More]
TSA Deploying 58 More Screeners To O’Hare Airport To Ease Long Wait Times
By 5.17.16
After exceedingly long lines at Transportation Security Administration screening checkpoints stranded 450 American Airlines passengers overnight at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport Sunday night, the agency has sent 58 new screeners to work at the airport in an effort to alleviate the situation. [More]
New Legislation Tries To Clear Up Confusion Over “Sell By,” “Best By” & Other Expiration Dates
By 5.17.16
Stroll around your favorite supermarket and you’ll see a cornucopia of deadlines stamped and printed on your food. That carton of milk says “Sell By,” the box of mac and cheese says “Best Before,” and the jar of horseradish has a “Use By,” none of which are official or necessarily an indicator of safety or quality, resulting in millions of pounds of food being wasted every year based on sometimes arbitrary dates. New legislation coming this week in both the House and Senate hopes to clear up the confusion over the many expiration date labels you find on food. [More]
Cable’s Top Lobbyist Is Sick And Tired Of All This “Troublesome,” “Distressing” Regulation And Competition
By 5.17.16
Our old friend Michael “Regulation Is Bad” Powell, former FCC chairman and now top pro-cable lobbyist, is at it again. [More]
450 American Airlines Passengers Stranded At O’Hare Airport Overnight Because Of Long TSA Lines
By 5.16.16
The Transportation Safety Administration has been taking quite a beating lately over exceedingly long wait times at screening checkpoints in the nation’s airports. American Airlines now says its employees will be pitching in to help speed things up, after security delays stranded 450 of the carrier’s passengers overnight at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. [More]
Honda Adds 21M Vehicles To Its Takata Airbag Recall List
By 5.16.16
Honda, Takata’s largest customer, says it will recall an additional 21 million vehicles equipped with the parts maker’s shrapnel-shooting airbags after federal regulators recently increased the scope of the safety initiative by up to 40 million airbags. In all, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has recalled up to 68 million airbags. Of those, an estimated 51 million are in Honda vehicles. [The New York Times] [More]
Homeland Security Director Outlines Plan To Speed Up Airport Security Lines
By 5.13.16
Following weeks of complaints from airlines, airport personnel, lawmakers, industry groups, and, of course, passengers about seemingly unending security lines at airports around the country, the Department of Homeland Security says it will take immediate steps to address the concerns, including hiring more screeners and approving the use of increased overtime. [More]
Government Warns Eye Doctors: Provide Prescriptions After Eye Exams Or Else
By 5.13.16
It’s really easy to find eyeglass stores that also offer eye exams. You get your eyes checked, pick out the frames, and get the final product all from the same place, so you might not notice that you didn’t get a copy of your prescription after the exam. That’s against the law, and one federal agency is reminding eye doctors of the costly penalty for failing to provide prescriptions. [More]
FDA: Keep Your Dogs Away From Gum, Nut Butters Containing Xylitol
By 5.13.16
The Food & Drug Administration is issuing a stricter warning for dog owners against xylitol, a common sweetener that’s found in many gum products as well as some nut butters, because it can “can have devastating effects on your pet.” [More]
RushCard To Pay $19M To Customers After Weeks-Long Glitch Last year
By 5.13.16
Last October, thousands of unbanked consumers who rely on prepaid RushCards were unable to access their funds because of a technical glitch. After toying with the idea of creating a compensation fund for those customers, RushCard announced Thursday that it will pay at least $19 million to card users affected by the weeks-long outage. [More]
3,000 Checked Bags Stranded At Phoenix Airport After TSA System Glitch
By 5.13.16
Thousands of travelers arrived at their destination only to find their checked bags were left behind at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Thursday after a Transportation Security Administration computer system suffered a technical issue that took the airport’s bag screening system out of operation. [More]
Why Didn’t Staples And Office Depot Bother With A Defense Against The FTC?
By 5.12.16
On Tuesday evening, a federal judge in Washington, DC issued a preliminary injunction preventing the merger of Staples and Office Depot. The two companies called off their merger after that, but here’s the thing about the hearing: the FTC presented its case against the formation of an international office supply Voltron, but the stores decided not to put up a defense. In hindsight, that seems like a terrible idea. Why would they do that? [More]
Charter-TWC Merger Is Done Deal After California Approval
By 5.12.16
After the FCC gave its blessing to the marriage of Time Warner Cable and Charter, the only thing standing in the way of marital bliss was the possibility that the California Public Utilities Commission might go full drunk-uncle and raise a boatload of objections before the final “I do”s. However, today the CPUC decided instead to raise a toast to the mega-merger.
[More]
Delta Offers Up Workers To Help TSA At Major Hubs In The Name Of Shorter Lines
By 5.12.16
While some airports are threatening to fire the Transportation Security Administration over long lines at screening checkpoints, and other airlines are calling the agency onto the carpet, Delta Air Lines is offering up help in the form of free labor. [More]
Payday Loan, Check Cashing Operation Trained Employees To “Never Tell Customer The Fee”
By 5.11.16
All American Check Cashing collects approximately $1 million in check-cashing fees each year. But according to federal regulators, the company, which also provides payday loans, obtains those fees through deceptive means, including refusing to tell customers what they will be charged and lying to prevent consumers from backing out of transactions. [More]
Senators Tell Airlines: Drop Checked Bag Fees To Speed Up Airport Security
By 5.11.16
With most airlines now charging for checked bags, passengers frequently travel with rolling suitcases that push the limits of the term “carry-on.” Would getting rid of these fees (and the bulkier carry-on bags) alleviate the increasingly long wait times at airport security? Yes, at least according to two lawmakers. [More]
