This curious 1960’s ad for a Bank of America personal loan portrays needy borrowers as jerky junkies twitching for a fix. Thankfully, BofA has a storehouse of jars of “instant” money (that operate suspiciously like a cup of cappuccino) that is the balm for your frayed nerves. [More]
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Chase Sends You New Credit Card, Then Cancels It Before It Arrives
By 2.2.11
Reader Danny writes in that he was approved for a new Chase Ink credit card, but by the time it showed up in his mailbox, it was already canceled. [More]
Sprint Also Making Upgrade Program Suck More
By 2.2.11
Not wanting to be left out of the party, Sprint became the latest carrier to announce it’s going to make it more expensive for customers to upgrade. [More]
A Rose Scented Conditioner By Any Other Name…
By 2.1.11
Guys, if you’re looking for something nice and Consumeristy to do for your gal for Valentines, here’s some inspiration. Benjamin Stein blogs about how his wife was in love with, besides him, Clairol’s Herbal Essences with Rose Hips and Jojoba conditioner. Then the line was discontinued. She was crushed. So he concocted a plan. He bought up all the overstock of the conditioner he can get from eBay and stashed it away, 38 bottles worth… [More]
USDA's New Guidelines Finally Listen To Tyler
By 2.1.11
“If you read the document it really is what I’ve been saying for over 2+ years. The government realized, “What’s the point in recommending all this ultra-healthy Whole Foods type of food if NOBODY listens to us? Let’s just simplify it and listen to Tyler and what he’s been saying for two years: eat less of ANY food you’d like to start off with (and learn about nutrition as you go) and just move around.” – A tongue-in-cheek email about the USDA’s new dietary recommendations from Tyler Weeks who documented his weight-loss journey to less than 200 lbs on 344pounds.com. [More]
100 Sled Dogs Slain After Tourist Slump
By 2.1.11
In what is the most disturbing tale of the aftershocks of the economic downturn, in Canada an outdoor adventure company is being investigated for the “execution-style” mass killing of 100 of its sled dogs. The sled dogs were not as in demand after the Olympic Games in Vancouver were over, so, when the tourists went, the dogs had to go too, reports the Vancouver Sun. [More]
Skimmer Uses Bank Door Swipe, Crooks Don't Even Touch ATM
By 1.31.11
In a twist to the usual ATM skimmer scam, there’s a new report from Krebs on Security about crooks who put the skimmer inside the bank door-lock. When you swipe your card to get inside, they grab your digits. A camera hidden behind a mirror above the ATM and pointed down at the keypad records your PIN code when you punch it in. [More]
Shocking New USDA Recommendations: "Just Eat Less"
By 1.31.11
For the first time ever, the USDA came out and said that in order to combat obesity, you have to eat less. So just eat a single down, okay? [More]
"Armed" Man Arrested At Walmart Was "Armed" With A Cellphone
By 1.31.11
A Walmart in Missouri went into lockdown after a bystander reported a man in the parking lot was behaving “erratically” and wielding a gun, reports the Kirksville Daily Express. The eyewitness reported that the man was holding a gun to his head. [More]
This Is Why You Need To Double Check Your Statements After Prepaying Your Mortgage
By 1.28.11
For those who try to prepay their mortgages, here’s a cautionary tale from reader RM. Basically every single time that he’s prepaid his mortgage, there’s been a big problem. The bank keeps applying it to the future interest instead of the existing principal. The future interest is calculated based on the current principal, so that means they’re having him paying extra interest that would have never accrued if they had subtracted his payment correctly! [More]
Airport Calls 3-Inch Plastic Toy Gun A "Firearm"
By 1.28.11
Overzealous airport security prevented a man and his wife from bringing onboard a 3-inch long plastic toy soldier’s gun. They said it was a “firearm” and forced the couple to mail it home before passing through security. [More]
Virgin Killing Off Unlimited Mobile Broadband Plan
By 1.27.11
Say “sayonara” to another unlimited mobile plan, Virgin is adding a 5GB cap and throttle to its $40 “Unlimited Broadband2Go” MiFi plan. After you surpass the threshold in a month, your transfer speeds will get reduced to 256 kbps or lower for the rest of the month. The changes go into effect Feb 15. Happy Valentines Day. [More]
Mom Jailed For Falsifying Address To Send Kids To Better School District
By 1.27.11
An Ohio mom has been convicted and sent to jail for lying about her address so she could send her daughters to a better neighboring school district. School officials said she was cheating the system by having her daughters receive an education she hadn’t paid the taxes for. “Those dollars need to stay home with our students,” said school officials. To snare her, the school hired a private investigator, who videotaped her driving the children into the district. [More]
Change Your Old Amazon Password Now To Avoid This Cracking Risk
By 1.26.11
Some old Amazon account appear to have a flaw in their password protection scheme that makes them more vulnerable to a brute force cracking attempt. For affected accounts, if you haven’t changed your password in several years, and it’s over 8 characters long, it looks like all people have to do is enter the first 8 characters correctly and they’re in. Even if after the 8 characters they just type gobbledygook. [More]
Man Develops Cobwebs Waiting For Verizon FiOS To Lookup His Address
By 1.25.11
It should not take numerous minutes for Verizon to look up John’s address just to see if he might be eligible for FiOS. All told it took them 27 minutes just to locate his address and say, nope, you can’t get FiOS. So he served them by talking trash about their database. Oh snap! [More]
Waiter Thwarts Dine And Dashers By Leaping Onto Their Speeding Car
By 1.25.11
A brave waiter threw himself onto a customer’s SUV as it sped away from the restaurant. They had tried to run out without paying their $51 bill. The 24-year old jumped on as the car pulled out of the parking lot, grabbing onto the roofrack and planting his feet on the running board. Listen, you just don’t mess with a waiter’s tips. [More]
We Were Told Snake Infestation Was "Made Up"
By 1.25.11
An interesting wrinkle to story about the house infested with thousands of snakes: when the previous owners bought it, they were told the owners before them “made up a story that there were snakes” in there to get out of paying their mortgage. The real estate agent also told them “every precaution” had been taken to make sure there was no snake problem. Unfortunately, the snakes turned out to be very real indeed. [More]
8 Year Old Snow Boots Crack, Columbia Replaces
By 1.25.11
Most companies don’t even seem to care about you 8 weeks after you buy something from them, so Gabe and his mom were pleasantly surprised when Columbia agreed to replace a pair of cracked snow boots that were 8 years old. [More]
