News

2013

May

21

• Reforming student loans is off to a good start. Congress has only begun working on student loans this year, and already it’s going better than last year’s debacle. Election-year politics drove Congress and the White House to endorse a bumper-sticker policy — keep loan…

• Short sales routinely show up as foreclosures. Are large numbers of homeowners who have negotiated short sales with lenders at risk because of a startling omission in the American credit system? Do their credit reports and scores indicate that they were foreclosed…

• Loan documents missing after mortgage is paid off. In a recent column you wrote that when you pay off your mortgage you should receive, among other things, the original note marked “paid” or shown with a zero balance. We paid off our mortgage…

• Mistakes to avoid in retirement planning. We keep hearing we need to save more money than we've saved. We're worrying about if we have enough to survive a health care crisis in retirement. And in the middle of all that, we're…

17

• Travel nightmare: Dakar, Dhaka — what's the difference?. Sandy Valdivieso and her husband intended to fly from Los Angeles to Dakar, Senegal. They ended up almost 7,000 miles off-course in Dhaka, Bangladesh. How something this bizarre could happen illustrates how a single mix-up…

• Refinery woes cause nationwide gas price spike. It's been a rollercoaster year for gas prices, which began the year averaging $3.29 a gallon, then zoomed to $3.78 in February before dropping to $3.50 last month. Current average price: $3.60. Troubles at several…

16

• Credit score confusion. Credit scores are critically important. They determine your ability to obtain credit and how much you will pay for it.  A bad score could prevent you from getting a credit card or renting an apartment…

• Wells Fargo ordered to pay $203M in overdraft case. A federal judge has again ordered Wells Fargo to pay $203 million to settle class action litigation accusing it of imposing excessive overdraft fees on checking account customers, reviving an award that had been thrown…

• 3 skills to teach your teen about money. In a recent Capital One 360 poll, 87% of 12- to 17-year-olds reported knowing at least an average amount about managing finances. Or not. That study also found that 24% of them think a debit…

15

• Surprise! Prepaid debit cards actually a good deal for consumers. Prepaid debit cards, long synonymous with frustrating or even exploitative fees, are suddenly a pretty good deal. In fact, artfully deployed, a prepaid card can be used without any fees at all, and serve as…

• Airlines bag $3.5 billion in luggage fees. Those fees passengers dole out to check a bag or change a flight proved a windfall for U.S. carriers last year, with airlines reaping a record amount from those extra charges. U.S. airlines earned $3.5…

• Retirement savers lose $117,000 to unexpected events. Unexpected setbacks, ranging from stock market declines to suddenly supporting an adult child, have taken a major hit to Baby Boomers' retirement savings, according to a recent survey. Such "retirement derailers" set savers back an…

14

• Credit card limits and saving while you’re young. Q: Michelle, do you know if not having a credit limit on a credit card (AMEX, actually) can adversely affect your credit score (I’ve been told that by a loan officer)? Michelle: Your credit limit…

• Credit-rating agencies poised to avoid overhaul. Three years after Congress told federal regulators to consider changing the way credit-rating agencies are paid, the industry appears poised to dodge a major overhaul. The ratings firms have been widely criticized for contributing to…

13

• Student debt and the crushing of the American dream. A certain drama has become familiar in the United States (and some other advanced industrialized countries): Bankers encourage people to borrow beyond their means, preying especially on those who are financially unsophisticated. They use their…

• Requiring employers to provide retirement income estimates. If you have a defined benefit pension or a traditional plan provided by your employer, federal law says you must be given an illustration of how much money you can expect to receive each month.…

10

• Is $1,721.75 the bill you'd expect for treating a cut?. It was your basic, run-of-the-mill accident. Kim Haselhoff's 9-year-old son got nipped in the finger by one of the family dogs. It didn't seem too serious, but there was a bit of blood. Unfortunately, the…

• California sues JPMorgan Chase over credit card cases. California’s top law enforcement official accused JPMorgan Chase on Thursday of flooding the state’s courts with questionable lawsuits to collect overdue credit card debt. The suit, filed in California Superior Court by the state’s attorney…

• Hackers stole $45 million in ATM card breach. They didn't use guns, masks or even threatening notes passed to bank tellers. But an alleged international gang of cyberthieves managed to steal $45 million from thousands of ATMs in carefully coordinated attacks conducted in…

09

• New rule for stay-at-home partners to qualify for credit cards. Spouses or unmarried partners who run the home will no longer be penalized for their lack of income when they apply for a credit card. A new rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)…