Headline News Archive
2007
November
11
- Lawsuit aims to deflate appraisal puffery. When an appraiser hired by your mortgage company confirms that the house you are buying is worth what you're paying, that's reassuring. But what if…
10
- House passes bill to ease Alternative Minimum Tax. The House yesterday narrowly approved a $73.8 billion measure to protect millions of families from the alternative minimum tax and offer new tax breaks to…
08
- Debt management plans can help consumers. Consumers struggling to keep up with higher gas prices and other rising household expenses have been pulling out their credit cards more often — sometimes…
- Free 'VINCheck' for unrecovered stolen vehicles. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) is launching a free service to help inform car buyers that the vehicle they want to purchase may be…
- Homeowners feel pinch of lost equity. As his wedding day approached last spring, Marshall Whittey [of Reno, NV] found that his money could not keep pace with the grandiosity of his…
- Swindlers' list: Dieters, debtors and you. One would think that consumers would have become hip to most frauds thanks to the constant warnings by consumer groups and federal agencies.And yet, the…
- Visa to pay up to $2.25 billion to Amex. Visa will pay American Express (AXP) up to $2.25 billion to settle a lawsuit alleging Visa illegally stifled competition to protect its position as the…
- Couple loses $20k in online car deal. Charlie Edwards doesn't like to admit it, but he lost a lot of money buying a car online because he didn’t do his homework. “I…
07
- AMT fix pitted against hedge fund tax. In early June, as the Senate Finance Committee began examining how a new breed of Wall Street titan could be paying a special low tax…
- 'Revolution' in online payments?. SAN FRANCISCO — Ted Leonsis wants you to pay bills and transfer money online in a new way, with no fees. The entrepreneur and vice…
- Consumers fed up with e-commerce sites. Can you imagine going into a store and carefully selecting your purchases, then walking up to the checkout counter only to have the sales clerk…
06
- Myth of the cooling-off period. Contrary to popular belief, Washington law doesn't allow a blanket three-day "cooling-off" period once you've signed a contract to buy a car or other major…
- How to freeze your credit report. Red Tape Chronicles has a good guide for how to set up a credit report freeze at each of the three major credit bureaus. A…
05
- Subprime bailouts: Chump check. Not everyone is happy about mortgage lenders' latest efforts to help troubled borrowers. Take Teresa Nelson. Instead of going for an adjustable rate mortgage with…
- Rising heating bills spur oil-to-gas switch. NEW YORK - With his furnace sputtering its final gasps, Charles Comito decided it was time to trade in his heating oil system for natural…
- Copps of FCC crusades against consolidation. ASHINGTON — His dark suits. His wing-tipped shoes. The nearly four decades he's toiled in the nation's capital, including the last six years on the…
- Retire early: Brokers want your cash. HOUMA, La. — After 30 years of toiling in oil fields, Ray Lirette was told in 1997 that he could retire at 52 and buy…
- Compras de la temporada navideña. No son escasos los consumidores que dejan las compras de festividades para último momento y terminan gastando más de lo que habían anticipado. Este año…
04
- Long-term insurance: Worth its weight?. Tom Binder wanted to prepare for the future - including the possibility that he or his wife could be stricken by a long, debilitating illness…
- Struggling with less. Layoffs and subsequent lower-paying jobs have taken a toll on Terri and Kevin Beirne of Orlando, Fla. Four years ago, they both were laid off…
02
- Group aims at credit predators. A national consumer advocacy group called on Congress Thursday to pass legislation halting the growth of a particularly abusive type of credit card that targets…
- Rest easier with estate planning. It wasn't until after Eleanor Barkelew got married a second time that she grappled with estate planning. She and her husband each had a child…
01
- Fed issues rules combating identity theft. U.S. financial regulators and the Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday they will soon publish final rules designed to detect "red flags" when consumers are…
- FCC approves cable competition for apartments. Federal regulators on Wednesday approved a rule that would ban exclusive agreements that cable television operators have with apartment buildings, opening up competition for other…
October
31
- Fed cuts key rate another quarter-point. The Federal Reserve cut a key short-term interest rate by a quarter-point to 4.5% on Wednesday, seeking to support troubled financial markets and shore up…