The city of San Francisco and Airbnb have a somewhat contentious relationship, most recently involving tens of millions of dollars in back-taxes the short-term rental company agreed to pay the city earlier this year. Now, to ensure things continue to go smoothly for renters and rentees of services like Airbnb, the city has created a new office for the sole purpose of enforcing rules regarding vacation and short-term rentals. [More]
rules
Pew: With Nearly 23 Million Consumers Using Prepaid Cards, More Protections Are Needed
By 6.30.15
To the naked eye, general purpose reloadable prepaid cards function much like long-established credit and debit cards and have quickly gained traction with consumers, especially those who have been shut out from traditional banking options. In fact, about 23 million consumers use prepaid cards regularly. [More]
Dept. Of Labor Proposal Would Expand Overtime Pay To Nearly Five Million More Americans
By 6.30.15
Working more than 40 hours a week but not getting paid overtime because you make too much already? If so, you might soon be pocketing more dough for your extra hours under newly proposed federal regulations that raise the threshold income level at which workers are exempt from overtime pay of time-and-a-half wages. [More]
All Major U.S. Airlines Offer Free Cancellations Within 24 Hours, Except One
By 6.29.15
Update: In March 2016, American announced that it was phasing out the hold option and transitioning to the 24-hour cancellation window option.
Even the most prepared traveler occasionally has to change their itinerary for unforeseen circumstances. While dealing with airlines to make a simple change can be both a test of your patience and a drain on your bank account, if you catch the issue soon enough you might save hundreds of dollars in change fees. That’s thanks, in part, to Department of Transportation rules that allow a ticket to be held at the same price for 24 hours before purchase or canceled within 24 hours after purchase — most of the time. [More]
CFPB Proposes Delay Of New Mortgage Rules By Two Months
By 6.26.15
Prospective homebuyers anticipating a more streamlined disclosure process while buying their dream home may have to wait a little longer, as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing a delay to new rules. [More]
Congress Takes Another Stab At Undercutting Gainful Employment Rules Two Weeks Before Implementation
By 6.17.15
The Department of Education’s long-awaited gainful employment rules – aimed at reining in the for-profit college industry – go into effect on July 1. But just because there are only 14 days before implementation, doesn’t mean those opposed to the regulations are giving up their fight. [More]
New York Regulator Finalizes First-Of-Its-Kind Plan To Govern Virtual Currency With “BitLicense”
By 6.3.15
Nearly a year after the New York Department of Financial Services took steps to regulate businesses that operate in virtual currency, the Department announced the finalization of the “BitLicense” plan, making it the first set of guidelines for the use of cybercurrency. [More]
CFPB Fines Regions Bank $7.5M For Collecting Illegal Overdraft Fees
By 4.28.15
Each year consumers spend nearly $32 million in exorbitant overdraft fees to their banks and credit unions without fully understanding the way in which these fees work or how much they spend on each overdraft. Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reminded banks that using consumers’ lack of knowledge to collect more fees isn’t acceptable by imposing a $7.5 million fine against Regions Bank for unlawful overdraft practices. [More]
Many Americans Still In The Dark About Overdraft Fees & Other Bank Practices
By 4.22.15
While millions of consumers contribute to the $32 billion in overdraft fees collected each year, a new video shows that many checking account holders don’t fully understand the way overdrafts work or how much they spend on the fees each year. [More]
FCC Proposes Treating Online TV Like Cable TV; Amazon Objects If It’ll Stop You From Binge-Watching ‘The Wire’
By 4.6.15
There’s another internet-related firestorm a-brewing at the FCC. This one is not as broad or as contentious as the now infamous net neutrality ruling, but it is bringing all the big players out to have their say. And what, you might ask, has everyone worked up? It’s the big bandwidth bugaboo of the twenty-teens: online video. [More]
Report: Teens Buy E-Cigarettes Online With Little Difficulty Despite Industry Safeguards
By 3.2.15
Back in February 2014, Ohio became the first state to prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. Since then, 40 other states and cities have followed suit. Despite those regulations, a new study found it’s increasingly easy for teens to skirt the rules by purchasing the products online. [More]
Reverse Mortgage Complaints Show Consumers Confused By Loan Terms
By 2.9.15
While reverse mortgages are only available to a select group of consumers – those 62 years and older – the alternative loan product still makes up a large portion of complaints received by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Today, the Bureau released a report highlighting the most common consumer complaints about reverse mortgages, along with advice for borrowers [More]
Senators Introduce Bill To Block States From Blocking Public Broadband
By 1.23.15
Congress is just all up in the FCC’s business lately, it seems. Earlier this week, lawmakers in both houses proposed their own version of net neutrality, one that would also strip the FCC of its own authority to regulate broadband in the future. Today, there’s a bill looking to jump into one of the FCC’s other big issues right now: state laws that prohibit communities from developing municipal broadband. [More]
RadioShack Employee Buys Customer An Accessory In Order To Get System To Approve Phone Upgrade
By 9.27.10
Has RadioShack gone too far with its sales quotas? Allison wrote us to say that when she tried to upgrade her phone recently, the employee had to add accessories to the transaction before the system would approve it. She said he canceled some, and she ended up paying $2 for “two plastic covers for phones I don’t own.” But she says her mom had an even more bizarre experience at a RadioShack, where the assistant actually paid for the accessories herself. [More]
Bank Of America Wants Customer To Travel 1,500 Miles To Close His Mother's Account
By 9.14.10
It hasn’t even been a month since our last dead Bank of America customer story, but here the bank is at it again, refusing to let a woman’s son close her checking account no matter what he does. Although she lived and banked in Tennessee and he lives in Pennsylvania, the latest nonsense has the bank demanding that he visit Texas in person to get a document notarized. [More]
Continental Refuses To Believe Woman's Service Dog Is Real
By 8.18.10
Continental sure has a lot of skeptical employees when it comes to customers with disabilities. Jessica tried to buy a ticket yesterday and was told no, because the ticket agent didn’t believe that Jessica’s self-trained service dog was legit. [More]
Court Says California Mall Can't Ban Customers From Talking To Each Other
By 8.16.10
The Westfield Galleria in Roseville, California takes the comfort of its patrons seriously–so seriously, in fact, that it wants them to shut up and focus on shopping, or else ask for permission first if they want to talk about any topic that’s not mall related. Last week, the state’s 3rd District Court of Appeal found that the rule violated the state’s constitution, so now mall shoppers can gab as much as they want to each other. [More]
Does "One Coupon Per Customer" Apply To Couples Making Individual Purchases?
By 7.19.10
Liz is wondering what’s going on at her local Hobby Lobby. She’s a professional doll maker and she buys a lot of supplies from the craft store chain every month. So far, she and her husband have been able to use the company’s in-store coupons for separate purchases even if they stand together in line at the register, but it looks like her Hobby Lobby may be cracking down on that. Should it? [More]
