News

2007

February

15

• Credit freeze better than monitoring. Here we go again. The Department of Veterans Affairs has disclosed that information on more than half a million individuals and about 1.3 million non-VA physicians - both living and deceased - is missing and…

14

• B of A banks on illegal immigrants. Bank of America said Tuesday that it was issuing credit cards to Spanish-speaking immigrants who may not have Social Security numbers, triggering complaints that the nation's largest retail bank is tacitly endorsing illegal immigration. The…

• Cellphones as pocket-size banks. People already use their cellphones to surf the Web, take photos and text message — besides making calls. Now, a growing number of banks are also letting them pay bills and transfer money through their…

• E-mail scam targets BBB name. The Better Business Bureau network was the target of a "spoofing" scam yesterday in which thousands of businesses in the United States and Canada received e-mails encouraging them to download what is thought to be…

13

• Online banks offer 5%-plus interest. Until recently, investing in a bank savings account was only slightly more profitable than stashing your money in a coffee can. But online banks have brought something revolutionary to the banking industry: competition. In an…

• Financial firms lure tax refunds. Financial firms are stepping up their efforts to capture money from tax refunds, hoping to capitalize on a new option that lets you have the IRS directly deposit your refund in up to three accounts.…

12

• Online bank accounts aren't for all. How would you like a checking account that earns 3% or more? It's one of the latest offers from online bank ING Direct and Jacksonville, Fla.-based EverBank. The catch: Both accounts are only available online.…

• 529 plans a top savings option. For years, as college costs have climbed to backbreaking levels, more families have begun socking money in tax-advantaged 529 savings plans. Now, as these 529 plans mark their 10th anniversary this year, they are fast…

11

• Downshifting, not retiring. There's a lot of talk these days about a "new retirement" that's expected to flourish as a wave of workers reach their 60s during the next two decades. According to popular wisdom, the road to…

10

• Taking the bait on a phishing scam. The online news site USA Voice isn't going to win any kudos from media critics. Not for its top story Monday, "Super Bowl Ads Don't Live Up to the Hype." And not for its Fox…

• The incredible shrinking downpayment. Does anybody remember the old days when home buyers actually made sizable down payments, often 20 percent or more, when they bought their first house? New national research reveals just how dated and quaint that…

09

• Is ID theft really declining?. The financial services industry, hoping to befuddle the new Congress, has been busily laying down a smokescreen claiming that identity theft is on the wane. But the Federal Trade Commission's latest compilation of consumer complaints…

• Consumer Action anuncia nueva campaña educativa sobre telecomunicaciones en California (Esfuerzos educativos durante la Semana Nacional de Protección al Consumidor). Consumer Action (CA), una organización sin fines de lucro nacional de educación y defensa al consumidor basada en San Francisco, anunció hoy el Proyecto de Educación Comunitario sobre Telecomunicaciones, para educar a los consumidores de…

• CA announces new California telephone education campaign (Effort marks National Consumer Protection Week). Consumer Action (CA), a San Francisco-based national non-profit education and advocacy organization, today announced a Telecommunications Community Education Project to educate low and moderate-income consumers about changes in the telecommunications industry and how consumers can…

• Slow start for health coalition. It caused quite a stir when some of the biggest names in the business world came together this week to declare that they want nothing less than "a new American health care system by 2012."…

• PIRG report exposes unfair textbook pricing. Today’s college students are under enormous financial pressure. The gap between tuition and fees and financial aid leaves many students working long hours through college, struggling to make ends meet, and graduating with large debts.…

• Secretive hedge funds profit at expense of market?. For years, hedge funds barely registered on the Washington agenda, and that was just the way they liked it. These investment pools designed for wealthy individuals flourished in the shadows: They collected more than $1…

• Call to let your phone loose. Until federal regulators issued a landmark ruling in 1968, Americans could not own the telephones in their homes, nor attach answering machines or other devices to them. Now, a growing number of academics and consumer…

08

• Predatory mortgages labeled 'crisis'. edatory mortgage lending, fueled by an explosion in high-cost, subprime loans, is creating a "crisis for millions of American homeowners" that requires action, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said Wednesday. Underscoring his point,…

• Five tax audit red flags. The IRS conducted 1.3 million audits last year, up more than 5 percent from the year before. And now, President Bush's recently released budget calls for a step-up in efforts to close the $300 billion…