News

2012

February

07

• How U. of Charleston cut tuition 22%. After seeing enrollment decline for the first time in a decade, the University of Charleston, in West Virginia, slashed tuition by 22% for the upcoming school year hoping to entice more students. The school, which…

• Get more from a second doctor's opinion. If you're like most people, you're inclined to trust your doctor's advice. According to Gallup, 70% of Americans say they don't feel the need for a second opinion or extra research on a medical issue.…

• 610,000 switched banks to protest debit card fees. About 610,000 U.S. bank customers switched to a smaller institution in the last three months of 2011 to protest plans by major banks to impose monthly charges for using debit cards, according to a financial…

• For many, affordable healthcare hinges on Supreme Court. t remains anyone's guess how the Supreme Court will vote this year on whether Congress can require people to buy insurance as part of President Obama's healthcare reform law. At this point, the smart money…

• Foreclosure deal doesn’t go far enough. As state and federal officials near completion of a settlement with banks over shoddy foreclosure practices, a question that has loomed over the talks for months remains: Is it a good enough deal? After nearly…

02

• Options to Google’s search services, privacy policy. Over the past few weeks, there’s been quite an uproar over Google and changes to its search services and the privacy policies that govern how and where the company can use your data. I wrote…

• Sen. Feinstein backs health insurance rate controls. A high-stakes ballot measure to give state regulators the power to approve health insurance rates in California has landed a heavyweight supporter: U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. One of California's most respected politicians, Feinstein has come…

• Honda loses small claims court suit to consumer. The owner of a Honda Civic hybrid won an unusual Small Claims Court lawsuit Wednesday against the auto giant that some legal experts believe could change strategies for both Small Claims Court and class-action litigation.…

• Obama announces home refinancing plan. President Obama on Wednesday made his latest pitch to lift the nation’s beleaguered housing market, unveiling a series of proposals to help struggling borrowers reduce their monthly payments and to stem the continuing slide in…

01

• Consumer agency chief's appointment is invalid, GOP senators say. Republican senators warned the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that they believed his recess appointment was invalid and that new agency rules would be challenged in court, leaving businesses uncertain about what rules…

January

31

• Claiming an adult child on your taxes. Your children will always remain in your heart. But if you're like most parents, you don't expect them to always remain in your house. With tax season approaching, a lot of parents are grappling with…

• F.T.C. fines debt collector $2.5 Million. The Federal Trade Commission signaled on Monday that it would continue to crack down on debt collectors who harass consumers for money they may not even be legally obligated to pay. In the second-largest penalty…

• IRS clarifies whether airline miles are taxable. Frequent-flier miles are taxable? Really? That sentiment sums up the reaction from readers — and particularly accountants and lawmakers — to last week's column on Citibank sending tax forms to customers who received thousands of…

• Japanese auto parts makers admit to price-fixing scheme. For more than a decade, executives at several major Japanese auto parts makers met in secret, sometimes speaking in code, to fix prices on wiring harnesses and other crucial components. The global conspiracy, which stretched…

• N.C. bank commissioner to oversee foreclosure settlement. North Carolina Bank Commissioner Joseph Smith will serve as a monitor to make sure the nation’s largest banks abide by the terms of a multibillion-dollar settlement over widespread foreclosure abuses, people familiar with the negotiations…

30

• Freddie Mac bets against homeowners. Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-owned mortgage giant, has placed multibillion-dollar bets that pay off if homeowners stay trapped in expensive mortgages with interest rates well above current rates. Freddie began increasing these bets dramatically in late…

26

• To shop smart, patients need to know price of care. Over the past few years, the growth in health-care costs has quietly been slowing down. Naturally, we’d like to make this trend last. That means we’ll need to avoid betting big on just one strategy.…

• Obama initiatives to address foreclosure crisis face hurdles. Two new initiatives from President Obama to address the foreclosure crisis — more help for struggling homeowners and aggressive investigations of financial firms — face significant hurdles as the nation's real estate troubles linger in…

• How to deal with higher bank fees in 2012. You should expect bank fees to go up again this year. How can that be? Customer outrage just forced Bank of America and several other big banks to scrap plans to charge a monthly debit…

• FAQ: What is Google collecting?. Google announced Tuesday that it will integrate users’ information across Gmail, YouTube, search and 57 other Google services. Google privacy director Alma Whitten, who explained the changes in a company blog post Tuesday afternoon, said…