News

2007

August

07

• Congress looks to limit sale of SSNs. Congress will soon restrict the sale of Social Security numbers, a legal practice that many believe is a major source of fraud. Lawmakers have increasingly blamed the rising number of identity theft cases on the…

06

• Home loans are harder to get. Wake-up call! If you're ready to buy or refinance a home, the turmoil on Wall Street may be further hurting your chances of getting a loan. In a huge sell-off Friday, investors reacted to a…

05

• Capital One will report high credit limits. A major credit card company is ending a long-standing practice that critics have said raised many of its customers' borrowing costs when they applied for mortgages and home-equity loans. Capital One Financial, based in McLean,…

• Credit scores will change for authorized users. Potentially millions of consumers will soon see a change in their credit score, and in some cases it might disappear altogether. It's not because of anything they've done. Rather, the formula for the widely used…

03

• Break the bank: Go online. Here's a familiar scene: Lunch hour at the bank, and you're waiting in line for a teller. You're there to deposit a few paper checks, as well as to ask about a service charge you…

02

• Americans spend $41 billion a year on pets. f there's still any doubt whether the pampering of pets is getting out of hand, the debate should be settled once and for all by Neuticles, a patented testicular implant that sells for up to…

• Car insurance and your credit. Using credit scores in determining automobile insurance eligibility and premiums is a standard industry practice. For years, insurers have maintained that a person's scores, originally intended to measure creditworthiness, are also a predictor of whether…

July

30

• Sniffing out fake designer stuff. The young man with the sandy-brown hair holds up an orange handbag that at first glance looks like an Hermes Birkin. His voice takes on an aggrieved tone and his mouth curls into a hint…

• FCC to rule on wireless networks auction. The Federal Communications Commission will set the rules tomorrow governing the auction of $15 billion of public airwaves, a decision with stakes so high that the major U.S. cellular carriers and Google have spent millions…

29

• Save on contact lenses. It has been more than three years since American consumers received the right to get cheaper contact lenses, but word has been slow to spread. Since 2004 federal law has dictated that your eye doctor…

• Credit cards don't have to ring up debt. Lack of financial discipline carries a stiff price. I'm reminded every time I open my wallet to use one of my two friends there. My friends are my two no-fee, cash-back-rewards credit cards, the only…

• Overdrafts fees bonanza for banks. Have we all lost the ability to balance our checkbooks? In just two years, the amount of overdraft fees collected by the largest banks has increased by 70 percent, according to a recent study by…

• Check net worth, insurance, your will. Now that August recess is upon us and many people are about to join Congress on vacation, it's a good time to tackle those financial chores you have been putting off. Maybe you've been meaning…

27

• Study: Consumers don't grasp credit scores. Not paying attention to your credit score can cost you a lot of money. Many people don't know that their score - a three-digit number derived from an analysis of how they handle debt -…

26

• SEC offers conflicting shareholder proposals. The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday voted to propose competing measures regarding the rights of shareholders in the election of corporate directors, leaving a long-contentious issue in the air. Corporate governance activists including unions…

• Get smart about debit cards. Debit cards are fast becoming U.S. consumers' plastic of choice. Bank customers used their cards more than 26 billion times last year to spend more than $1 trillion, says Nilson Report publisher David Robertson. Debit-card…

• More disclosure on credit card statements. To make sure you understand your credit-card issuers' fees and terms, the Federal Reserve Board has proposed a number of changes to its Regulation Z, which governs the look and content of credit-card solicitations and…

• Consumer group blasts insurance ‘trapdoor’. The Consumer Federation of America wants to prevent insurers from denying payment for damage covered by homeowners policies on the grounds that damage from other causes, such as flooding, occurred about the same time. It…

25

• Bush's health care hypocrisy. Democratic lawmakers in Washington say they're drafting a health care reform bill that would expand coverage for low-income kids. President Bush says he'll veto any such legislation, warning that it would lead the nation "down…

24

• Minimum wage rises today. The nation's lowest-paid workers will soon find extra money in their pockets as the minimum wage rises 70 cents to $5.85 an hour today, the first increase in a decade. It ends the longest span…