Roughly 240 days from now, banks and other financial companies will no longer be allowed to prohibit customers from banding together in class-action lawsuits through the use of binding arbitration clauses, as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today released a long-awaited finalized rule on arbitration. [More]
contracts
CFPB’s Finalized Arbitration Rule Takes Away Banks’ ‘Get Out Of Jail Free Card’
By 7.10.17 — Updated: 7.11.17
AT&T, DirecTV Workers In 36 States Walk Off Job For 3-Day Strike
By 5.19.17 — Updated: 5.25.17
AT&T customers could find it difficult to obtain help this weekend if something were to happen to their DirecTV, U-Verse, or AT&T wireless service, as AT&T union workers walked off the job today following failed contract negotiations. [More]
Jimmy John’s To Pay $100K In Illinois Settlement Over Non-Compete Clauses
By 12.8.16
Earlier this year, Jimmy John’s announced, as part of a settlement with the New York attorney general’s office, that it would stop using strict non-compete clauses preventing workers from taking their sandwich-craft elsewhere, even if they were fired. Now, JJ has entered into a similar agreement with the Illinois attorney general’s office that includes a $100,000 payment to establish education and outreach programs. [More]
5 Things You Should Know About Uber’s Xchange Leasing Program & Its Costs
By 5.31.16
Last summer, Uber launched a car leasing program that aimed to remedy the one big obstacle for anyone who wanted to sign up as a driver and hit the road — if you don’t have a car, you’ve got nowhere to put passengers. Nearly a year after Xchange Leasing began connecting would-be drivers with new vehicles, experts say the program may not be all it’s cracked up to be for already financially vulnerable drivers. [More]
Yes, You Can Rent-To-Own A Dog & It’s Expensive
By 4.14.16
Rent-to-own deals — where you pay weekly or monthly installments on a purchase instead of buying it outright — are typically offered for pricier home goods, like furniture, appliances, and electronics, and often end up costing significantly more than you’d pay in cash or with a credit card. Some retailers are extending this idea to pet-buying, and just like renting-to-own a new TV or fridge, a rent-to-own puppy is going to cost you a lot more than you’d pay otherwise. [More]
Regulators Reportedly Poised To Block Staples, Office Depot Mega-Merger
By 12.1.15
Providing office supplies for commercial businesses could be the final nail in the coffin of the would-be formation of the $6.3 billion StaplesMaxDepot Voltron, with regulators reportedly poised to block the mega-merger next week. [More]
Regulators Take Action Against Online Lender For Deceiving Borrowers On Default Charges
By 11.18.15
When a company’s name has the word “integrity” in it, you may assume it’s a wholesome, truthful operation forthcoming with information that its customers would find beneficial. That apparently wasn’t the case with Integrity Advance, as federal regulators accused the short-term online lender of deceiving borrowers about the true cost of its loans. [More]
Office Depot, Staples Merger Under Scrutiny In Europe
By 9.25.15
The $6.3 billion merger between the top two office supply chains has hit yet another bump: the European Union opened an “extensive” investigation into the would-be union of Staples and rival Office Depot. [More]
After Twenty Years, Target To Drop Cherokee Brand Clothes
By 9.11.15
The racks of clothing available at Target will look a bit different in two years, as the retailer announced this week that it won’t renew a decades-long contract with apparel retailer Cherokee. [More]
Antitrust Concerns For Staples, Office Depot Merger Now Center On Corporate Supply Contracts
By 9.10.15
In an effort to gain approval for their $6.3 billion proposed marriage to Staples, Office Depot announced last month it would close about 400 stores. While that move could certainly help the merger process, it appears that federal regulators are less worried about retail sales at physical stores, and more concerned about their contracts to provide supplies to large corporations and businesses. [More]
Investors Sue American Express After Loss Of Costco Agreement
By 7.31.15
Five months after American Express and Costco announced they would go their separate ways and end their exclusive relationship – essentially allowing members of the warehouse club to use other cards – shareholders for the credit card company have filed a lawsuit claiming it blindsided investors with the loss of the contract. [More]
New Law Would Ban Companies From Penalizing Customers Who Write Negative Reviews
By 4.29.15
For the last couple of years, we’ve been telling you about ridiculous, so-called “non-disparagement” clauses that threaten customers with financial penalties for writing (or threatening to write, or even encouraging someone else to write) something negative online about a company. California has already outlawed these clauses, which tend to fail when challenged in court, but an attempt to enact legislation at the federal level has so far fallen short. But that’s not stopping some members of Congress from trying to ban this form of consumer bullying. [More]
Some Debt Collectors Get Away With Shady Behavior When Collecting Debt For Government
By 2.18.15
Federal and state regulators are continually trying to crack down on debt collectors who use unsavory, illegal tactics to make consumers pay up. But some ethically questionable collectors are operating under the regulatory radar because they collect debts for the government. [More]
Man Tries To Beat Bank At Its Own Game With Fine Print That Gives Him Unlimited Credit
By 8.9.13
When it comes to fine print on user agreements and terms of service, I’ve found that there are those who blame companies for making these documents so long and complicated that most people will never read them (and might not even be able to understand the terms even after reading them), and then there are those who say consumers can’t complain if they don’t first read and understand everything they agree to. Here’s a story out of Russia that should appeal to both sides of that debate. [More]
House-Painters Rip Down Customer’s Patio Cover Because They Thought That’s What She Wanted
By 8.2.13
Get it in writing. Those are four words you need to repeat to yourself over and over whenever you have someone doing work on your house. Just ask the California woman who learned that her house-painters had torn down her patio cover, not because they were clumsy or reckless, but because that’s what they thought she’d asked for. [More]
About That Un-Carrier Thing: Technically, T-Mobile Still Might Make You Sign A Contract
By 3.29.13
T-Mobile CEO John Legere told reporters at a big media event recently, “If you come to T-Mobile, you’ve signed your last [mobile phone] contract.” Only this is not, strictly speaking, true. If you lay out cash or bring your own device, then no, you will not have to sign a contract. when switching to Big Pink. However, customers who buy a new device on an installment plan do need to sign a contract binding them to T-Mobile for as long as they’re still making payments on the phone. [More]
T-Mobile Promises Not To Extend My Contract After Replacing Phone, Extends Contract
By 2.7.13
Philip’s wife’s phone wasn’t working very well. It would power-cycle and drain its own battery, and her texts get delayed. So he set out to get her a new phone, but this was a bigger challenge than he had expected. A replacement phone without extending the family’s contract apparently wasn’t an option. He managed to get a comparable new phone at no cost without extending his contract by calling the retention line to cancel, but this concession came with a price. [More]
Neither L.A. Fitness Nor American Express Care That Customer Was Overcharged Hundreds Of Dollars
By 12.4.12
If you’ve signed enough contracts over the years, you’ve probably signed at least one where it was amended and initialed by the signers. But when one party refuses to acknowledge that those changes were ever made, you can end up getting royally screwed. [More]
