Headline News Archive

2010

March

19

• Student loan reform shares health care fate. When the House votes on a health care package this weekend, it will also consider a proposal to make the federal government the one-stop-shop to…

• 5 steps to get on the right retirement path in 2010. The recession and stock market meltdown pretty much shattered Americans' image of an idyllic retirement. Shaky savings habits evident before personal wealth plunged are even…

18

• More taxpayers become do-it-yourselfers. The economic downturn has forced many families to cancel the lawn service and fire the housekeeper. The latest casualty: tax preparers. TurboTax, the leading manufacturer…

• Uncle Sam wants you to weigh in on credit card reform. In what feels like never-ending regulatory fiddling with the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, the Federal Reserve wants to know what…

15

• The rental car squeeze. Tried renting a car lately? In some cases, travelers say, the final bill is double or even triple the amount they thought they had agreed…

• Dems have more optimism on health care than votes. Democratic leaders scrambled Sunday to pull together enough support in the House for a make-or-break decision on health-care reform later this week, expressing optimism that…

• Plan de banda ancha EEUU se centra en velocidad, uso inalámbrico. Reguladores de Estados Unidos divulgaron un anteproyecto para mejorar el acceso a internet en el país, con énfasis en un aumento en la velocidad de…

14

• The new poor: Lured into trade school and debt. One fast-growing American industry has become a conspicuous beneficiary of the recession: for-profit colleges and trade schools. But the profits have come at substantial taxpayer…

• Dodd to unveil comprensive financial reform bill. The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee [Christopher Dodd (D-CT] will unveil on Monday a proposal to revamp the nation’s financial regulations that would empower…

13

• Tax issues on mortgage write-downs. With the Obama administration and private lenders actively considering mortgage principal-reduction programs to help financially distressed homeowners, the Internal Revenue Service has issued a new…

• Overdraft protection: Why bother?. Many millions of people will face important choices about their checking and credit card accounts in the coming months, though this week one of the…

12

• Sending money electronically: Why it's hard. When I covered consumer banking at The Wall Street Journal five years ago, banks and their technology providers said the next big thing was online,…

• What?! Another Time Warner Cable rate hike?. There's definitely an art to informing customers that you're about to smack them upside the head. About 500,000 Time Warner Cable customers in Southern California…

10

• LifeLock settles amid allegations that it misled consumers. Its chief executive prominently displays his Social Security number in ads for his identity-theft protection company. But LifeLock Inc. couldn't protect customers from the company's…

• Consumer bill gives exemption on payday loans. Senator Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who is playing a crucial role in bipartisan negotiations over financial regulation, pressed to remove a provision from draft…

• Lower credit card debt traced mainly to charge-offs. Americans cut more than $93 billion in credit card debt from 2008 to 2009. Good news, right? It's not what it seems, according to an…

• Bank of America to end overdraft fees on debit purchases. In a move that could bring an end to the $40 cup of coffee, Bank of America said on Tuesday that it was doing away…

09

• Una web falsa intenta estafar a las víctimas de Madoff. Algunos inversores que se vieron afectados por la artimaña de enormes beneficios de Bernard Madoff se han visto engañados de nuevo diciendo que se ha…

08

• Payday lenders giving advances on unemployment checks. The payday loan industry has found a new and lucrative source of business: the unemployed. Payday lenders, which typically provide workers with cash advances on…

• Working from home might be the new calling in sick. Jeremy Lesniak owns a small Web design firm in Randolph, Vt. He has 10 employees and hundreds of clients. Sick isn't an option. "I have…

• Program will pay homeowners to sell at a loss. In an effort to end the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration has been trying to keep defaulting owners in their homes. Now it will take…

• How would health care overhaul help young people?. Like most Americans, Dominic Ouellette, an uninsured 23-year-old waiter in Washington, likely would be required to have health coverage under the legislation being debated in…

• Prenuptial agreements: Unromantic, but important. Let's face it: The afterglow of that Valentine's Day proposal often begins to dim as discussions of wedding details get started. The happy couples face…

• More temp workers are becoming permanent. A growing number of businesses are converting temporary workers to permanent hires, heralding a warming job market. "It's definitely on the rise," says Rob Wilson,…

07

• Fed proposes rule to limit credit card fees. n the latest move to overhaul consumer banking practices, the Federal Reserve unveiled a preliminary rule last week to address pesky credit card fees such…