Nearly six years after a federal court ordered Wells Fargo to pay $203 million in refunds to customers victimized by the bank’s overdraft policies — and after years of bouncing back and forth through the appeals process — the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to let that judgment stand. [More]
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Maker Of Super-Powerful Desktop Magnets Must Recall Pieces, Provide Refunds
By 3.24.16
Nearly four years after federal regulators dealt a swift blow to the makers of super-powerful desktop magnetic toys Buckyballs, filing a lawsuit against the company and persuading retailers to stop selling the dangerous toys, a Colorado-based company has been ordered to recall similarly powerful magnets that can cause fatal injuries when swallowed. [More]
Regulators Investigating 13 Hoverboard Companies, Amazon Announces Refunds For Scooter Owners
By 1.21.16
For nearly two months now, federal regulators have been working to get to the bottom of exploding hoverboards. This week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced just which brands of self-balancing scooters they are investigating, while also offering a few safety tips for consumers who might already have one of the devices at home. [More]
College Financial Service Provider Higher One To Pay More Than $55M In Fines, Refunds For Misleading Students
By 12.23.15
Higher One, Inc. promises to help students reach their goal of achieving a degree by providing money management and refund services. But federal regulators say the company misled these students into paying improper fees, opening unneeded accounts through deceptive marketing tactics, and now it must pay $55 million in fines and restitution to harmed consumers. [More]
Lender EZCORP Must Pay $10M In Refunds, Fines For Illegal In-Person Debt Collection Practices
By 12.16.15
A small-dollar lender has been slammed with a top-dollar penalty by federal regulators who say that the company’s debt collection practices violated the law. [More]
Angie Of Angie’s List Defends Policy Of Removing Negative Reviews If Customers Get Refunds
By 12.14.15
If a company offers you a refund after you post a negative online review of your transaction, does that make your original comment any less valid? According to Angie Hicks of crowdsourced review site Angie’s List, once your dispute with a company is resolved, you should only be allowed to say nice things about the company. [More]
People Holding Onto RadioShack Gift Cards Can Now File Refund Claims
By 12.4.15
If you’re one of millions of consumers holding on to an older RadioShack gift card, listen up: the retailer has begun the process of issuing refunds for the balance of those cards — totaling $46 million. [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]
West Virginia Sues VW Over Deceptive Advertising For Vehicles Equipped With “Defeat Devices”
By 10.6.15
Since the Environmental Protection Agency revealed that Volkswagen had rigged its “clean diesel” to cheat on emissions tests, a number of consumers and cities have sued the carmaker. Now West Virginia becomes the first state to join the list of those alleging the company tricked car-buyers into paying thousands of dollars more for supposedly environmentally-friendly vehicles. [More]
“Make VW Pay” Campaign Seeks Rebates For Consumers Tricked Into Buying Recalled Clean Diesel Vehicles
By 9.23.15
While the nearly 500,000 recalled Volkswagen and Audi vehicles may be considered safe to drive, many owners of these cars feel they were tricked into buying them by VW’s “clean diesel” marketing. A new campaign is calling on the carmaker to buy back all of those vehicles — and to refund the owners the full retail price for their cars. [More]
Safeway To Refund Customers $30.9M For Online Ordering Overcharges
By 9.1.15
Nearly nine months ago, a federal court in California ruled that Safeway must refund customers the amount of money they were overcharged when the company broke its own terms and conditions by marking up prices of items ordered online. We finally know how much the supermarket chain will hand over: about $30.9 million. [More]
Bread Recalled Because Broken Light Bulb Is Not Supposed To Be An Ingredient
By 8.27.15
When crafting a tasty sandwich for lunch, the one ingredient you don’t want to forget is a broken light bulb. Wait, what? Shards of light bulb certainly don’t belong in our digestive systems, that’s why Bimbo Bakeries has issued a recall of several types of bread. [More]
Company Offering Deferred-Interest Loans For Dental Work Must Repay $700K To Consumers Over False Claims
By 8.19.15
Getting a root canal, a crown replaced, or even a simple filling at the dentist can really drain your bank account, especially if you don’t have insurance. That’s why a growing number of dental offices are offering third-party financing to patients. But sometimes these loans offer terms that are too good to be true. [More]
Citi To Return Additional $4.5M In Overcharged Fees To 15,000 Investment Account Holders
By 8.19.15
Last October, Citigroup agreed to return a total of $16 million to nearly 30,000 customers after an investigation by the state of New York found the company overcharged some customers advisory fees on their investment accounts. While that redress seems pretty hefty, it wasn’t enough, with the financial institution now agreeing to pay an additional $4.5 million to another 15,000 account holders. [More]
Citizens Bank Must Pay $31.5M In Fines, Refunds For Failing To Credit Full Deposit Amounts
By 8.12.15
Several federal agencies teamed up like your favorite buddy-cop movie to bring down the bad guy today. In this particular case the bad guy was Citizens Bank, which must now pay a total of $20.5 million in penalties and $11 million in refunds to the owners of accounts it allegedly failed to credit for full amounts of deposited funds. [More]
YotaPhone 2 Cancels U.S. Version, Offers Refunds Instead
By 7.31.15
It’s easy to understand why gadget fans were interested in the Yotaphone 2: it’s an Android smartphone with a regular touchscreen on the front and an e-ink display that can display widgets or function as a power-saving regular screen on the back. When the company behind the phone announced in May that a U.S. version compatible with our LTE networks here in the US would become available, lots of people stepped up to place orders, including reader Steve. [More]
Citibank Must Pay $700M Over Illegal Marketing, Collection Practices
By 7.21.15
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Citibank and one of its subsidiaries to pay $700 million in relief to more than 8.8 million consumers for engaging in a string of illegal credit card practices, including deceptively marketing and billing for debt protection and credit monitoring services, and misrepresenting fees related to debt collection actions. [More]
Victims Of Debt Collection Scam To Start Receiving $4M In Refunds From FTC
By 6.30.15
More than a year after the Federal Trade Commission settled charges with a massive debt collection operation that extorted payments from consumer using false threats, those affected by the deceptive practices are finally seeing a bit of restitution in the form of checks totaling $4 million. [More]
