Headline News Archive

2010

August

18

• COBRA ends; insurance bill increases. Jennifer Richards of Park Ridge, Ill., is angry that her family's monthly health insurance bill tripled in August to $1,250 after her husband lost his…

• Peak day air travel costs rise. Travelers may pay as much as $60 more to fly in the U.S. through the end of 2010 as carriers including Delta Air Lines Inc.…

• U.S. role at heart of housing debate. Top Obama administration officials opened a conference on the future of housing by making clear Tuesday they are considering a limited range of options that…

17

• Overdraft fees: How to avoid them. Holly Rhodes of Baltimore says she's willing to pay a fee if she overdraws her checking account, something she acknowledges happens a little too frequently.…

• Fed adopts rules meant to protect homebuyers. The Federal Reserve on Monday moved to end a controversial lending practice that had helped propel the housing boom to unsustainable heights and then accelerated…

• A Consumer Reports for the cheap. Back in late 2008, Max Levitte was looking for a vacuum to clean up the one rug in his New York apartment. He searched online…

• Bumped from a flight? You may be stuck. Lots of luck catching another flight if you've been bumped or miss a connection. Commercial airlines in the USA have never been so full. Seven…

• For-profit schools resist regulatory action. The Washington Post Co. and other for-profit providers of higher education pushed back Monday against a government report last week that found many of their…

• New limits on overdraft fees take effect. New regulations took effect this week banning banks from allowing consumers to automatically overdraft their checking accounts - and charging those customers high fees in…

16

• Second credit report not required for mortgages. Mortgage giant Fannie Mae said Friday that lenders who sell mortgages to the company are not required to run a second credit report before a…

• Shorter-term mortgages gain favor for refinancing. More homeowners are refinancing into shorter-term loans, saving a bundle by taking advantage of the lowest mortgage rates in decades. Nearly a third of borrowers…

15

• How FTC debt settlement rules protect you. The advertisements for debt settlement are nearly irresistible to the overextended. They make the process sound almost painless; some even promise that government programs will…

• In this play, one role is enough. Meet Brad Miller, a Democratic representative from North Carolina who was elected to Congress in 2002, talks straight and understands how big banks can put…

• Social Security turns 75. appy 75th birthday, Social Security. On Aug. 14, 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act and changed the lives of millions. But will…

• New flood boundaries, higher premiums. One day your house is outside a hazardous flood plain - and the next day it's in, potentially costing you hundreds of dollars a year…

14

• The FDIC's guidelines on overdraft fees. Should financial institutions be responsible for watching out for, and offering alternatives to, customers who chronically overdraw their accounts? The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seems…

• Your card has been declined, just as you wanted. Coming soon: credit and debit cards that cut you off when you disregard your own monthly budget. In the next couple of days, MasterCard is…

• Beware of 'virtual staging' makeovers. Try to picture this real estate scenario -- virtually. Like most shoppers searching for a home, you start on the Web, checking out listings and…

13

• Big banks resisting changes to overdraft fee policies. Say this about big banks: They're persistent. A federal judge this week ordered Wells Fargo & Co. to pay more than $200 million to customers…

• Insurance regulators face tough balancing act. A few months into a new job as a contract engineer, Jim Arey was stunned by an $8,000 bill he received for two doctor-administered infusions…

• Elizabeth Warren: poised to become borrower's best friend. Somewhere along the line, Elizabeth Warren became a symbol. She's either the plain-spoken, supremely smart crusader for middle-class families that her supporters adore, or she's…

12

• Banks push lucrative overdraft programs. Hoping to preserve more than $10 billion in annual fees, banks and credit unions are pushing hard for customers to accept costly overdraft protection on…

• Borrowers refuse to pay billions in home equity. During the great housing boom, homeowners nationwide borrowed a trillion dollars from banks, using the soaring value of their houses as security. Now the money…

• Support for broadband loses speed. More than half of Americans generally disagree with federal government efforts to expand broadband connections around the nation, saying those projects are not important, according…

• U.S. plans more aid for jobless homeowners. In an acknowledgment that the foreclosure crisis is far from over, the Obama administration on Wednesday pumped $3 billion into programs intended to stop the…