While a report earlier this year suggested that consumers don’t spend nearly enough time shopping for the right mortgage, that doesn’t mean lenders are off the hook for purposefully steering potential homeowners into costlier mortgages. Because doing so will land a company in hot water with federal regulators. Just ask RPM Mortgage and its top executive, who must now pay $20 million for their allegedly deceptive practices. [More]
Government Policy
![CFPB Fines Mortgage Company $20M For Pushing Customers Into Spending More Than They Had To](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/housefield.jpg)
CFPB Fines Mortgage Company $20M For Pushing Customers Into Spending More Than They Had To
![Apple Recalls Beats Pill XL Speakers Due To Fire Hazard](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/beatspillxlcomposite.png?w=300&h=225&crop=1)
Apple Recalls Beats Pill XL Speakers Due To Fire Hazard
When you spend a few hundred dollars on a portable speaker, you probably assume that you’re buying a quality piece of electronics that will sound nice and not overheat and catch fire when it’s not supposed to. That is not the case for the Beats Pill XL, a signature product for the headphone company, which is now part of Apple. [More]
![IRS Agrees To Share Copies Of Fake Tax Returns With Victims Of Identity Theft](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/irstaxfbi.jpg?w=680)
IRS Agrees To Share Copies Of Fake Tax Returns With Victims Of Identity Theft
After lawmakers called on the Internal Revenue Service for more transparency for victims of identity theft, the agency says it will give those people copies of fake tax returns filed using their name and information. [More]
![June Recall Roundup: Melting Mason Jars And Phantom Ovens](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/mason-jar-night-lights_800.jpg?w=300&h=225&crop=1)
June Recall Roundup: Melting Mason Jars And Phantom Ovens
In this month’s Recall Roundup for consumer goods, a laptop battery recall expands, mason jar night lights melt, and a friendly toy policeman is not as friendly as he initially appears to be. [More]
![Senate Passes USA Freedom Act, Ushering In A Kindler, Gentler Era Of NSA Snooping](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/snoopingneighbor.png)
Senate Passes USA Freedom Act, Ushering In A Kindler, Gentler Era Of NSA Snooping
As expected following the June 1 expiration of one of the PATRIOT Act’s most controversial privacy-invading provisions, the Senate today passed a substitute bill, the USA FREEDOM Act (or rather, deep breath… the Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015) that prohibits the sort of mass data collection the National Security Agency enjoyed under the recently sunset Patriot provisions, but still leaves in place many concerns for privacy advocates. [More]
![Forcing McDonald’s Workers To Accept Wages On Debit Cards Not Okay In PA, Says Judge](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/mcdonalds.png)
Forcing McDonald’s Workers To Accept Wages On Debit Cards Not Okay In PA, Says Judge
Two years ago, a Pennsylvania woman sued her former employers at McDonald’s because they forced her and other workers to accept their wages on fee-laden prepaid debit cards. Though the fast food franchisee, who runs 16 McDonald’s, later changed this policy, the lawsuit continued to move forward, and last week a judge ruled against the franchisee’s claims that the debit card requirement was completely legal. [More]
![IRS Officials, Congress Agree That Agency Needs Better Anti-Fraud Measures](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/irs.png?w=680)
IRS Officials, Congress Agree That Agency Needs Better Anti-Fraud Measures
Congress was understandably alarmed at the news that cyberbaddies, believed to be criminals based in Russia, were able to gain access to previous years’ return data for 104,000 U.S. taxpayers. The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing today, where the Inspector General of the IRS explained that the agency simply isn’t keeping up with the criminals who want its data. [More]
![Bernard Walker](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/6728268595_4fc99df93b_b.jpg?w=300&h=225&crop=1)
White House Makes Push For Private Sector To Help Curb Dangerous Overuse Of Antibiotics
Today at the White House, representatives for some 150 organizations, including Consumer Reports, and private companies gathered for a forum on how to rein in the rampant, and potentially deadly, overuse of antibiotics in everything from hospitals to farm animals. [More]
![(frankieleon)](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/4313801825_fd1e8280f5_b.jpg?w=300&h=225&crop=1)
Homeland Security Secretary Reassigns TSA Head, Tells Agency To Revise Airport Security Procedures
After yesterday’s report that undercover government agents were able to sneak mock explosives and weapons past Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at airports in 95% of tests, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is making some changes: He’s reassigned the acting administrator for the TSA and says he’s directed the agency to revise screening procedures “to address specific vulnerabilities identified” in the undercover operation. [More]
![Takata Plans To Stop Using Ammonium Nitrate, Phase Out Certain Airbag Inflators](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/takata1.png)
Takata Plans To Stop Using Ammonium Nitrate, Phase Out Certain Airbag Inflators
A day before representatives from Japanese auto parts maker Takata are set to appear in front of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee to discuss the more than 34 million defective airbags linked to six deaths and more than a hundred injuries, the company announced it would stop using an often volatile chemical in its safety devices moving forward and call back some airbags replaced during earlier recalls. [More]
![JessicaKRoach](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/airportsecurity.jpg?w=300&h=225&crop=1)
Report: TSA Agents Failed 67 Out Of 70 Undercover Tests
UPDATE: Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has since reassigned the head of TSA and directed the agency to address the vulnerabilities identified in the report. [More]
![Patriot Act’s NSA Phone-Snooping Program Expires (For Now)](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/iphone_inspectors.jpg)
Patriot Act’s NSA Phone-Snooping Program Expires (For Now)
As lawmakers in D.C. flipped over their calendars from May to June last night, the sun set — at least temporarily — on the National Security Agency’s ability to collect mass amounts of information from telephone companies about their customers’ calls. [More]
![The IRS Is Still Using Windows XP, Has A Cybersecurity Staff Of 363 People](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/irslogo.png)
The IRS Is Still Using Windows XP, Has A Cybersecurity Staff Of 363 People
In the last few years, tax return fraud has become a serious problem at the state and federal levels, thanks to the growth of e-filing and security holes in IRS and third-party tax software systems. Is the IRS to blame for this trend? There are really only two options: the IRS is either broke or incompetent. [More]
![AT&T Still Trying To Wriggle Out Of Federal Throttling Lawsuit](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/att.png)
AT&T Still Trying To Wriggle Out Of Federal Throttling Lawsuit
Seven months after the Federal Trade Commission sued AT&T’s wireless division for allegedly misleading customers about “unlimited” data plans, and nearly two months after a judge denied AT&T’s attempt to dismiss the case, the Death Star is still trying to choke the government’s lawsuit into submission. [More]
![Adam Fagen](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/irstaxfbi.jpg?w=300&h=225&crop=1)
FBI Opening Investigation Into IRS Breach That Affected 100,000 Taxpayers
After the news yesterday that the Internal Revenue Service reportedly suspects Russian identity thieves were behind a breach that allowed thieves to access information for approximately 100,000 taxpayers, the Federal Bureau of Investigation says it’s now investigating the incident. [More]
![IRS Suspects Russian Identity Thieves In Data Breach](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/actualirs.png?w=680)
IRS Suspects Russian Identity Thieves In Data Breach
You may remember that the Internal Revenue Service announced late yesterday that about 100,000 taxpayers’ personal information was breached when thieves armed with their personal information were able to log in to the IRS transcript system and extract even more sensitive information about their victims. Today, we learned that the IRS suspects that an organized group of hackers out of Russia are responsible for the 200,000 attempts to extract taxpayer data. [More]