Last year, a Consumer Federation of America report found that home renters pay up to 47% more for car insurance than their peers who own their homes. Now, one state is doing something about this: Minnesota has fined insurance giant Farmers $390,000 for charging higher rates to renters. [More]
consumer federation of america
SCI, Operator Of 1,000 Funeral Homes, Doesn’t Pass Savings On To Bereaved
By 3.7.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Did you know that there’s a Walmart of death care? That’s often a comparison used to describe Service Corporation International, which uses the public-facing brand Dignity Memorial, and operates more than 1,000 funeral homes across the country. That kind of economy of scale should mean Walmart-style discounts, right? Only a recent price survey shows that SCI-owned funeral homes charge more than their independent counterparts. [More]
22% Of Prices For Funerals With Cremation Don’t Include The Actual Cremation
By 9.13.16
The Federal Trade Commission’s Funeral Rule requires disclosures and price breakdowns to protect consumers who, unless they’re pre-planning their own funeral, are operating on a time crunch and are grieving. Yet a recent study found that more than a fifth of funeral homes failed to correctly explain and itemize available options and the expenses for direct cremation. [More]
Mercedes Pulls Potentially Confusing Ads For 2017 E-Class That Call The Car ‘Self-Driving’
By 7.29.16
Fully autonomous cars will be available to consumers someday, but not yet. After consumer advocates, including our own parent organization, Consumer Reports, complained to Mercedes and to the Federal Trade Commission about the misleading nature of an ad that shows off a new model’s driver-assist features. The car isn’t autonomous, but advocates were concerned that the ads imply that it is. [More]
Safety Advocates Applaud IKEA Recall, Hope Consumers Return Or Anchor Dressers
By 6.28.16
Safety advocates were deeply disappointed earlier this year when the news came that another child was killed that the very popular Malm dresser from IKEA fell on top of him. It’s horrible every time that an ordinary household object kills someone, but this model of dresser was part of a voluntary repair program that IKEA wouldn’t call a recall. Now the dressers have been officially recalled, but that should have happened before another child died. [More]
The Other Danger Of Online Payday Loans: Identity Theft
By 4.16.15
Many people who seek online payday loans are already in a very vulnerable position when they take on the added risk of the excessive interest rates and often exorbitant fees associated with these short-term loans. But there’s another danger possibly lurking in the payday shadows: Having all their personal and financial data end up in the hands of cyber criminals. [More]
Believe It Or Not, Outlawing Payday Loans Will Not Lead To Looting & Pillaging
By 4.6.14
Critics of payday lending say the practice traps many borrowers in a debt spiral, forcing them to take out additional loans to pay back the first. Yet these short-term loans do have proponents (many of them profiting from the industry) who claim that without this pricey option for quick cash, desperate consumers will turn to more unsavory means, leading to increased crime rates and other doom and gloom predictions. But does that really happen? [More]
Car Experiences Top List Of 10 Biggest Consumer Complaints
By 7.29.11
No wonder car salesmen get a bad rap: it’s very much deserved! At least that’s according to a new report by the Consumer Federation of America of the top 10 consumer complaints. “Misrepresentations in advertising or sales of new and used cars, lemons, faulty repairs, leasing and towing disputes,” top the list. It’s almost enough to make you want to switch to a velocipede! [More]
Banks Want To Forgive Credit Card Debt — But The Government Says No
By 11.13.08
The next wave of the credit crisis — the skyrocketing defaults on credit cards — is coming in and odd alliances are being formed. The Consumer Federation of America, along with the Financial Services Roundtable ( a self-described “major player on Capitol Hill and with the regulators” which represents the securities, investment, insurance and banking industries) has requested a “special program that would allow as much as 40 percent of credit card debt to be forgiven for consumers who don’t qualify for existing repayment plans.”
