News

2012

January

26

• Consumers in the middle of Google-Facebook battle. Google and Facebook might have finally gotten the average consumer riled up about privacy. For the past two years, each company has experimented with different ways to divine more and more about how people live…

25

• Consumer bureau head Cordray testifies on Hill. Republicans in Congress don't much care for the agency that Richard Cordray heads, and they were downright furious over the way he got his job earlier this month. But when the new director of the…

24

• Europe weighs tough online privacy law. Europe is considering a sweeping new law that would force Internet companies like Amazon.com and Facebook to obtain explicit consent from consumers about the use of their personal data, delete that data forever at the…

• College students face stiff competition for financial aid. f worries about paying for college disrupt your sleep, here's news that will keep you up until dawn: More students than ever are competing for a shrinking pool of financial aid. Several states have reduced…

• Change.org emerges as influential advocate. Ben Rattray knows that revolution does not always happen spontaneously. The 31-year-old entrepreneur rattles off a list of populist actions over the past year: the consumer revolts against Bank of America’s and Verizon’s unpopular fees,…

• Settlement with mortgage lenders "inadequate". As Obama administration officials pushed Monday toward finalizing a deal with the nation’s largest banks over widespread foreclosure abuses, they encountered a fresh wave of criticism from a familiar source: Liberal activists and consumer advocates…

23

• All 2011 unemployment insurance benefits taxable. The jobless rate is dipping, but millions of people are still out of work. And that could have implications when they file their income tax returns. Collecting unemployment insurance benefits? All that you received in…

22

• Five tips to remember when you ask for a raise. Asking for a raise in a weak economy may seem like a long shot. Or maybe even job suicide. But experts say that if you're valued by your employer and carefully present your request, a…

21

• Blacks face bias in bankruptcy, study suggests. Blacks are about twice as likely as whites to wind up in the more onerous and costly form of consumer bankruptcy as they try to dig out from their debts, a new study has found.

20

• New rules for international money transfers. Customers who send international money transfers will soon be entitled to clearer cost disclosures. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday issued new rules governing remittances, which are often used by immigrants to send money…

19

• SOPA and PIPA: wrong tools to combat online piracy. My day job is to write about and report on technology. I get paid to create content. Original content. The people I write for make money off the words I commit to paper (or, you…

• Who do you trust more with your data: Facebook or a bank?. If you want to know how much Web companies know about you, talk to Max Schrems. The Austrian law student used European Union privacy laws to obtain all the data Facebook had collected on him…

• Mortgage settlement deal "very close". The federal government is "very close" to a settlement with mortgage servicers that could help a million homeowners by reducing what they owe on their mortgages, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan told a meeting of the…

• NHTSA ill-equipped to assess cars' high-tech systems. The nation's top auto safety regulator is ill-equipped to detect problems with high-tech electronics that are increasingly commonplace in today's cars, a new government study has concluded. Calling such shortcomings "troubling," the report called on…

18

• Options for 401(k) plans get more affordable. As employers prepare for new federal rules requiring them to explain how fees affect 401(k) returns, industry providers are rolling out better, lower-cost plans. The Department of Labor rule "is a big driver of change,"…

17

• Credit card debt drops. Consumers whacked down credit card debt by 11% last year, and average debt loads dropped in every state. The average credit card balance for 2011 was $6,576, down from $7,404 the previous year, according to…

• AT&T: 'measured' phone rate up; Wells: money transfer fees coming. With bills for pretty much everything steadily rising, some people try to keep a lid on monthly costs by opting for "measured" phone service. What that means is they're charged a fixed rate for a…

• Wikipedia to go offline to protest anti-piracy bill. Most people probably haven't paid much attention to the huge corporations waging war in Washington over legislation designed to crack down on online theft of movies, music and other content. But the conflict will hit…

• Tips for 2011 tax-filing season. This year, the deadline for filing your federal tax return is April 17. Taxpayers get an extra two days to file because April 15 is a Sunday and April 16 is Emancipation Day in Washington,…

15

• Apply for financial aid to determine if college is affordable. Dear Liz: I have an 18-year-old daughter who wants to attend a private, out-of-state school. I don't have any money saved for her education and do not make enough to cover the cost of this…