Headline News Archive

2018

June

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…

• Booking with Airbnb? Here’s your survival guide. Summer travelers who are planning vacations face a modern dilemma: Splurge on a traditional hotel, or potentially save a few bucks by renting someone’s home…

07

• Labor market is the best since 1970 — but not if you want a raise. When unemployment is low, companies are supposed to have to fight over workers by offering them bigger raises. What in the name of worker bargaining…

• More than half of U.S. households have ditched landline phones. More than half of U.S. households — 53.9% — rely entirely on cellphones, according to a survey from the National Center for Health Statistics, an…

• A debate over payday lending unfolds in the black church. Black churches have become an unexpected battleground in the national debate over the future of payday lending. The Trump administration is reviewing a federal rule…

• Mulvaney fires all 25 members of consumer watchdog’s advisory board. Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, fired the agency’s 25-member advisory board, days after some of its members criticized his leadership…

06

• States ask CFPB to keep complaints database public. Fourteen Democratic state attorneys general are asking the CFPB to keep its consumer complaint database open to the public. State law enforcers risk losing a…

• Mulvaney sides with payday lenders asking courts to block restrictions. Payday lenders fought, and lost, a battle to block new federal rules curbing short-term loans that critics say can trap people in cycles of debt.…

05

• Facebook may face fines — again — for potentially mishandling users’ data. Facebook’s arrangements with Amazon.com, Apple, BlackBerry and Samsung allowing their devices to access data from the social network’s users could further expose Facebook to steep…

• Getting down payment help now. Sharing home’s gain (or loss) later. For aspiring homeowners, coming up with a healthy down payment has long been the biggest obstacle to owning a home.  Now, a small but growing…

• Teaching new mortgage lender a lesson backfires on homeowner. Q: My mortgage was sold to a loan processor in 2011. I got a welcome letter saying my payment was $635 when it really should…

• Hooked on your iPhone? At WWDC, Apple finally offers help. Apple is trying to make us love our iPhones a little less. Helping consumers and parents combat addiction and encourage healthier relationships with technology was on…

• EEUU: Medicare se quedará sin dinero antes de los previsto. El Medicare se quedará sin dinero más pronto de lo que se había previsto anteriormente, y los problemas financieros del Seguro Social no pueden ser…

04

• The U.N. says Trump is making life harder for the poor. A top human rights investigator is criticizing the United States for failing the poor. Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights,…