There is a really fun legal gray area when it comes to foreclosed properties. Laws about how to handle the process are different around the country, and reports are popping up about banks cutting the locks off the doors of homes where people are still in residence, gerbils being confiscated — and let’s not forget the hapless Canadian tourists whose delicious beverages went missing after the locks were changed on their vacation rental. [More]
recession watch
Temp Jobs Up 22% While Overall Job Market Remains Flat
By 10.6.10
It’s generally been considered a sign of good things on the horizon when you hear about an increase in the number of temp jobs. These non-committal hires are usually a sign of employers tip-toeing back into a period of stability or even growth. That’s why the latest Labor Department numbers have some prognosticators scratching their heads. [More]
Texas AG Calls For Statewide Foreclosure Freeze
By 10.5.10
Hot on the heels of foreclosure and eviction freezes by GMAC/Ally, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, the Attorney General for the state of Texas has become the latest AG to request that loan servicing companies put a temporary halt to foreclosures. [More]
Cleveland Browns Fans Charged $5 Each To Stand In Parking Lot
By 10.5.10
Given the team’s 1-3 start to the season, Cleveland Browns fans probably need a drink or two before settling in for a game at Browns Stadium. But that proposition just got a little pricier for those cheapskates who thought they could save a little money (and gas) by walking to the tailgate lot. [More]
Regulators Deny Proposed USPS Rate Hikes
By 10.1.10
Earlier this summer, we wrote about the Postal Service’s proposal to stay even partially solvent by raising rates on first-class mail and small parcels. Alas, the USPS will now have to go to Plan B (which we’re pretty sure involves selling lemonade and washing cars) to increase revenue, after regulators slammed down the hammer of denial on the rate hike. [More]
Al Franken Wants To Put An End To Abuse By Debt Collectors
By 9.28.10
A few months after Minnesota Senator Al Franken convinced the FTC to look into the practice of debt collectors having arrest warrants issued for people with less than $100 in debt, the former SNL star announced that he will be introducing legislation to put an end to some of the collection industry’s more abusive practices. [More]
Obama Signs $30 Billion Small Business Lending Bill
By 9.27.10
Earlier today, the President Obama put his John Hancock on a $30 billion small business lending bill intended to spur economic growth among, well… small businesses. [More]
Want To Be A Zombie In Harrisburg? That'll Be $450.00
By 9.27.10
Some economist eggheads might believe that the recession is over, but try telling that to the zombies of Harrisburg, PA, who had to move their march of the undead after the city tried to squeeze them for some fees. [More]
Chat Live With Austan Goolsbee About The Economy
By 9.8.10
Austan Goolsbee, chief economist of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board and someone who will actually speak on-camera with Consumerist, is taking questions live online today at 3 p.m. And you can get in on the fun. [More]
McDonald's Alienates San Francisco Homeless By Raising Dollar Menu By $.50
By 9.7.10
We say it a lot around here these days: Times are tough. And they just got tougher for the homeless people in San Francisco who had relied on a local McDonald’s for their discount sustenance. A few weeks back, that particular Golden Arches — located in the city’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood — jacked up the price on their former Dollar Menu items to $1.50, much to the consternation of the homeless. [More]
Car Sales Haven't Been This Crappy Since 1983
By 9.2.10
Americans only bought just under 1 million new cars last month, which is the weakest August since the 993,100 sold in 1983. This figure looks extra weak in comparison to last August, when the Cash for Clunkers program was in full force. Now, the business is quite different. [More]
Home Prices Go Up — But Won't Stay Up
By 8.31.10
The expiring tax credit caused a burst of homebuying activity, says the AP, but the effect is likely to be short-lived. [More]
Loan Applicant Receives Rejection Letter Calling Her 'One Crazy Ass Bitch'
By 8.30.10
When the owner of a Seattle beauty salon had her application for a loan from the Rainier Valley Community Development Fund denied last year, that was bad enough. When she later received what appeared to be a second rejection letter for the same loan application, she discovered that the reason for her inability to get the loan was that she is a “crazy ass bitch.” [More]
Would You Rather Be Richer, Thinner, Smarter Or Younger?
By 8.27.10
Imagine if you will that you are standing before four doorways, each of which could magically improve one facet of your life — wealth, waistline, IQ, youth. You can only go through one doorway; which one do you choose? [More]
Ohio Woman Indicted For Using Starbucks Job Applications To Commit ID Theft Worth $115K
By 8.26.10
The last thing anyone needs when they’re out of work is to worry about the safety of the personal information they put on a job application. But the U.S. Attorney in Ohio has indicted a woman on allegations that she used this sensitive info to falsely obtain credit cards and run up a $115,000 tab. [More]
The Era Of "Investing" In Your House Is Over
By 8.23.10
The NYT says using a house to fund a comfortable retirement, pay for the education of your children, and send you on a cruise every winter was a purely 20th century phenomenon. And, like that century, the party is now over. [More]
It'll Cost You $300 To Blog In Philadelphia
By 8.23.10
I grew up in the Philadelphia area and I can’t remember a time when the city wasn’t described as “cash-strapped” by the local media. But I’d never imagine Philly’s financial follies would be so dire that it would begin requiring business licenses for businesses that don’t really exist. [More]
10 Top Retail Chains That Are Shrinking
By 8.23.10
Apparently, people haven’t been spending their unemployment checks at the mall in recent months, because a large number of prominent retail clothing and food chains — from Abercrombie & Fitch to Winn-Dixie — are being forced to shutter stores in the wake of the economic downturn. [More]
