Headline News Archive

2018

June

18

• Trump taps budget aide to head Consumer Bureau. The White House on Saturday said it would nominate Kathy Kraninger, a White House budget official, to serve as the next director of the Consumer…

• Is the gig economy a myth?. A new survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that, in 2017, the share of workers in “alternative employment arrangements” (gig jobs and other)…

• Rebel developers are trying to cure our smartphone addiction. A small but growing number of behavioral scientists and former Silicon Valley developers have begun trying to counterprogram the news alerts, friend requests and updates…

16

• Credit freezes will soon be free for everyone. Starting this fall, the big three credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — will be required to let you freeze your credit file…

15

• I need a student loan. What are my options?. My daughter received a scholarship, but we still owe the college $15,000 this year. That's more than we can afford to pay. Where do we…

14

• Beware the Nigerian email scam. By this point, savvy people know it’s a bad idea to trust an email from a Nigerian prince hoping to use their bank account to unload…

• The Fed just made life even worse for home buyers. Buyers are facing a competitive market in which they need to move quickly, bid high and make other concessions if they want to land the…

• Bill would protect licenses of those who default on student loans. Senators Marco Rubio and Elizabeth Warren plann to introduce a bill that would prevent states from suspending residents’ driver’s and professional licenses over unpaid federal…

• Apple making it harder for police to collect evidence from iPhones. Apple announced that it would block access to a port that law enforcement uses to break into iPhones during criminal investigations, a move that could…

13

• Kids’ influence looms large over their parents’ home-buying decisions. If you’re used to parents of toddlers asking their kids whether they want to go to the park or the pool, to drink apple juice…

• Bitcoin's price was artificially inflated last year. A concentrated campaign of price manipulation may have accounted for at least half of the increase in the price of Bitcoin and other big cryptocurrencies…

• What's in a name? Consumer Bureau to find out. Next week, President Trump is expected to nominate a replacement for Mr. Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget who has been…

• AT&T wins: Judge clears $85 billion bid for Time Warner with no conditions. A federal judge said Tuesday that AT&T's $85.4 billion purchase of Time Warner is legal, clearing the path for a deal that gives the pay-TV…

12

• How to choose a student loan repayment plan. It can mean the difference between an affordable plan and a debt that balloons out of control.

• To catch a credit card thief. How virtual mall cops hunt down scammers trying to use stolen cards online.

• Air ambulances leave patients with $45,000 bills. The air-ambulance industry says reimbursements from U.S. government health programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, don’t cover their expenses. The companies say they thus must ask…

• An early retirement is doable. Here’s how.. We can learn a lot from the growing community of people who did what most of us only dream of doing: retiring in their 20s,…

11

• Seven steps to buying a home. Along with paying down debt, building an emergency fund, and planning for retirement, buying a home is one of the most popular financial planning goals.…

• Why flunking or dropping that college class will dent your wallet. If your child's thinking of withdrawing from that organic chemistry class he hates, tell him to hang in there and do the best he can—thousands…

• Rent strikes grow in popularity as gentrification drives up rents. Often viewed as a last resort by tenant-rights groups, rent strikes have in recent years become increasingly common in the District and other gentrifying cities…

• Five ways Mulvaney is cracking down on his own agency. The acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) often says that the only reason he hasn't burned the agency down is because it's…

• Net neutrality is now really, officially dead. Now what?. There are no more procedural delays on the FCC's decision to kill net neutrality—the rules have been rolled back. Here's everything you need to know.

09

• Trump's consumer agency chief looks to shut down complaint database. The Trump administration may shut down a federal database of consumer complaints about the financial-services industry. Banks think that’s a swell idea. “In what world…

08

• The gig economy is shrinking. Share of Americans working as independent contractors dips, government data shows.

• Here’s the bible on navigating social security. Social Security and retirement go together like peanut butter and jelly — many people just can’t have one without the other. Yet when it comes…