Bills were introduced in both the House and Senate to delay “swipe fee reform” by at least a year and they call for a study of its potential effects. The new rules, scheduled to take effect July 21, would cap the fee banks can charge merchants for processing debit card fees at 12 cents per transaction. [More]
washington
Landlord Wouldn't Fix Leak For 5 Months. This Letter Got Him To Do It in 5 Days.
By 3.7.11
Raymond and his wife had a leak in their master bedroom ceiling that they begged their landlord to fix for five months, with no result. With a baby due in a month, they really needed full use of their bedroom. Then Raymond wrote a very good complaint letter specifically citing his state’s landlord-tenant law and proposing a retroactive rent reduction for all the months the leak wasn’t fixed. That got their attention. [More]
Seattle-Area Restaurant Refuses To Serve TSA Agents
By 2.22.11
Fed up with what he views as crappy treatment from the TSA, the owner of a restaurant near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has decided to put all TSA agents on his No-Eat List. [More]
Rich DC Burbs Pay $9.58, Rurals Pay $31.17/Mbps
By 2.18.11
The rich get richer while the poor get…slower? A new report by investigative journalist John Dunbar cracks open the numbers that are tightly held by the industry and found vast disparities in the quality and price of service based on how close to town. By comparing customer speed tests and surveys, he found that while folks in the low-income areas outside of the Washington Metropolitan Area pay slightly less for their broadband, those in the wealthier DC burbs are getting far more bandwidth for their buck. The poor are paying on average $31.17/Mbps while the rich are paying only $9.58. [More]
Lawmaker Tries To Stop Modern Day Debtor's Prisons
By 2.17.11
We’ve brought you several stories about so-called modern day debtor’s prisons that have starting rising across America as shady debt collectors pervert the power of the courts to their own end. They’re basically deputizing the local police to do their debt collecting for them. Now a Washington lawmaker has put forward a new bill to try to put a stop to the practice. [More]
Finallyfast.com Refunds Thousands In Scareware Suit
By 1.5.11
FinallyFast, one of those companies with the late-night infomercials promising to make your computer faster, has settled with the Washington AG for misleading and deceiving consumers, and making it hard to cancel or get refunds. One of their tactics was to make the free scan on their site falsely identify harmless files on your computer as being errors. Consumers can now get some of their money back. [More]
Wells Fargo Repossesses Fully Paid-Off Car
By 11.2.10
Looks like banks are really bad at more than just home foreclosures. A woman in Tacoma, WA, was left car-less after Wells Fargo had her vehicle repossessed, even though she owned her car outright. [More]
Wendy's Employee Caught Using Credit Card Skimmer To Steal 135 Identities
By 7.29.10
How many times have you handed over your credit card at a fast-food joint and never thought twice about the security of your identity? Here’s some news that might give you pause — an employee at a Wendy’s in Washington state has been charged with using a card skimmer to steal the identities of 135 customers and racking up around $75,000 in fraudulent charges on those accounts. [More]
American Airlines Loses Netanyahu Bodyguard's Guns
By 7.7.10
World leaders are people just like the rest of us. They have dreams and flaws, put their pants on one leg at a time, and they’re not even immune to having their luggage lost or stolen while traveling by air. Not even when that luggage is the four Glock 9mms belonging to their personal bodyguard. UPDATE: The luggage has been found, but the guns are gone. [More]
Walmart Aims For Store In D.C.
By 7.6.10
Now that Walmart has finally triumphed over Chicago, it’s setting its sites on the remaining urban markets that have so far resisted the retailer. The Washington Post says an unnamed source has told them that Walmart is in final negotiations with a plot of land “on New York Avenue NE near the intersection of Bladensburg Road.” The area currently houses an auto parts shop and a strip club, among other businesses. [More]
Filibuster Scuttles Jobless Benefits Restoration For Third Time
By 7.2.10
Happy Fourth of July weekend! To help you celebrate Independence Day, which includes independence from the government dole, a Senate filibuster has successfully prevented unemployment benefits from being extended for 1.3 million out of work citizens. [More]
Cul-de-sacs Are Making Us Fat
By 6.23.10
Are the disconnected cul-de-sacs so popular in suburban development actually strangling their communities? [More]
Woman Arrested For Squatting In $3.3 Million Mansion
By 6.16.10
If you’re going to live in a house that doesn’t belong to you, why not make it a luxury home? After all, there are more than a few of them sitting empty these days. And that’s exactly what a woman in Washington state had been doing, at least until she got caught. [More]
Should Plastic Shopping Bags Be Banned?
By 6.6.10
There’s a growing movement in the United States, especially in coastal communities, to curb the use of plastic shopping bags. In fact, both San Francisco and North Carolina’s Outer Banks are among those communities that have already passed laws forbidding plastic bags. A statewide ban made it to the State Assembly level in California and at least one politician in Seattle is pushing for an end to their use. [More]
Sheriff's Deputy Sues Burger King Over Spitty Whopper
By 4.15.10
A year after being served a Whopper with some extra-special sauce inside, a sheriff’s deputy in Washington state has filed a lawsuit against Burger King, claiming the company was negligent for having an employee that spat in his burger. [More]
Mastercard Spent $960,000 In Q4 To Lobby Congress
By 3.30.10
Kaching, kaching, that’s the sound of Mastercard’s lobbyist’s coffers engorging. The credit card company spent nearly a million dollars in the 4th quarter to lobby Congress critters. By comparison, they spent only $680,000 in the 3rd quarter, and $510,000 in Q4 2008. Among the issues of keen interest to the big orange and yellow interlocking circle: overdraft fees, banking reform, interchange fees, issuer practices, and the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The good thing about being Mastercard is that you can just charge all your lobbying expenditures.
MasterCard spends $960,000 in 4Q to lobby Congress [AP via LowCards]
Woman Suspected In Multiple ID Thefts Did It "To Buy Groceries"
By 3.25.10
Forget those guys who held up a Taco Bell just to score some apple empanadas. That’s small-time compared to the Tacoma-area woman, now facing at least 12 counts of ID theft, who says she did it all “to buy groceries.” [More]
Do Not Check Your MySpace Page When You're Trying To Rob An Office
By 3.19.10
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: When you’re trying to commit a burglary, do not take a few seconds to see what your MySpace pals are up to. Just ask the teen thief in Washington state whose cunning caper fell apart when he decided to surf the web. [More]
