Three defendants in a student loan debt relief scheme have been ordered to pay millions to resolve Federal Trade Commission charges that they deceived consumers by promising to reduce or eliminate their student loan debt.
A federal court found that Brian Colombana, Impetus Enterprise Inc., and Fig Tree & Co. deceptively marketed student loan debt relief services, tricked consumers into paying illegal upfront fees, and failed to deliver the promised debt relief.
The court entered judgments against the defendants of nearly $11 million. They’re banned from selling debt relief products and services and telemarketing.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit in Illinois Monday against Fifth Third Bank, one of the largest banks in the Midwest.
The CFPB alleges that for several years Fifth Third, without consumers’ knowledge or consent: opened deposit and credit-card accounts in consumers’ names; transferred funds from consumers’ existing accounts to new, improperly opened accounts; enrolled consumers in unauthorized online-banking services; and activated unauthorized lines of credit on consumers’ accounts.
The lawsuit claims that Fifth Third violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s prohibition against unfair and abusive acts or practices. It also charges the bank with violating the Truth in Lending Act and the Truth in Savings Act.
The CFPB alleges that for years and continuing through at least 2016, Fifth Third used:
California funeral homes that use a legal loophole to hide prices tend to charge more for basic services than funeral homes that prominently disclose prices, a study showed. For example:
For the basic services fee, the $1,835 median price of price hiders was 36 percent higher than the $1,348 median price of price posters.
For direct cremation, the $1,695 median price of price hiders was 31 percent higher than the $1,295 median price of price posters.
For immediate burial without a casket, the $2,595 median price of price hiders was 37 percent higher than the $1,900 median price of price posters.
“Many funeral homes charging high prices use a legal loophole to hide these prices from the public,” said Josh Slocum, executive director for the Funeral Consumers Alliance. “The California legislature should close this loophole so that consumers can comparison shop among all funeral homes.”
Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $3 billion to resolve civil and criminal charges related to its practice between 2002 and 2016 of pressuring employees to meet unrealistic sales goals that led to millions of accounts being created under false pretenses or without consent, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
As part of the agreement with the department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wells Fargo admitted that it collected millions of dollars in fees and interest to which it wasn't entitled, harmed the credit ratings of some customers, and unlawfully misused customers’ sensitive personal information, including customers' identification.
“When companies cheat to compete, they harm customers and other competitors,” said Michael D. Granston, deputy assistant attorney general for the department’s Civil Division. “This settlement holds Wells Fargo accountable for tolerating fraudulent conduct that is remarkable both for its duration and scope, and for its blatant disregard of customer’s private information.”
If you’re ordering flowers for Valentine’s Day, be careful you don’t fall for a scam as a last-minute shopper.
The Better Business Bureau has received numerous reports from shoppers who turned to online florists for last-minute orders. They paid for a beautiful arrangement but ended up getting disappointing flowers – or nothing at all.
How the scam works
Since you can’t get flowers locally, you try the internet. You enter your credit card information and delivery details.
From here, the scam can take a few different routes. Your flowers are delivered, but they don’t arrive on time, are damaged, or look nothing like the picture. Your attempts to get a full or partial refund go unanswered or are flatly refused. In other scams, your flowers are never delivered, and the online florist shop becomes unreachable. Other consumers have reported that after paying, they’re contacted by the florist shop and forced to upgrade their purchase, paying extra for something they don’t actually want to buy.
Consumers reported losing $201 million to romance scams in 2019 – up nearly 40 percent since 2018, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Romance scammers prey on consumers who are looking for love, converting what feels like a budding relationship into an ask for money to help the scammer get out of some manufactured crisis. The stories and feelings can be compelling, and the losses can be huge.
In 2019, more than 25,000 consumers filed a report with the FTC about romance scams, and over the past two years total reported losses to romance scams were higher than to any other scam reported to the FTC.
If a new romantic interest asks you to send money, don’t do it. It’s a romance scam.
Here are tips from the FTC to avoid romance scams:
Stop communicating with the person immediately.
Search online for the type of job the person says they have. See if other people have heard similar stories. For example, you could do a search for “oil rig scammer” or “U.S. Army scammer.”
Do a reverse image search of the person’s profile picture. If it’s associated with another name or with details that don’t match up, it’s a scam.
Never wire money to a stranger, or pay anyone with gift cards. If someone asks you to wire money or pay with gift cards, report it to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.
It makes me so happy when the Academy Awards are over. Then, I can stop watching violent movies.
So this year, although there were some great movies, the majority still were overly violent and largely male oriented.
Here are my picks for the best movies made in 2019:
Best picture
I liked “1917” best, a tale of two British World War I soldiers sent on a critical, stressful mission. Although it was violent, it was about a war. It wasn’t gratuitous violence. I thought it was a well written, engaging story.
I also liked “Marriage Story.” The writing was good, and it was about something that happens to ordinary people, a bitter divorce, although the two main characters were an actor and a director.
“Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood” didn’t catch my fancy. Spoiler alert. About an egotistical actor and his stunt man side kick, it ends up with a different twist about the Charles Manson murders. To me, it didn’t seem like an important “story” to tell.
As for “Little Women,” I’ve never liked the story. Having grown up with two sisters, I don’t find the story of sibling rivalry among sisters that engaging. However, I did enjoy the costuming with 2020 being the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage and revisiting an era when suffrage leaders were doing their work.
“Ford v. Ferrari” was very good, but “1917” was better. However, it was another buddy movie like “Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood.” It was discouraging to see the leaders of Ford Motor Co., in the 1960s, all white men. Not a woman or minority in sight. Not even as a secretary.
When I watched “Parasite,” I was glad when it was over. It’s a dark comedy set in Korea in which members of an unemployed family target a wealthy household. I was extremely anxious that the poor family would get caught, but disgusted at the rich family, some who could tell the smell of poor people who rode the subway.
I didn’t like “Jojo Rabbit,” a Hitler youth comedy, at all. With the rise of Nazism around the world, even in the United States, I don’t think a 10-year-old brown shirt having Hitler as an imaginary friend is funny.
I didn’t see “Joker” by choice. I just couldn’t stand the idea of watching the development of a psychopathic killer, who I’d seen in terrible, awful Batman movies.
For some reason, the Super Bowl this year seemed to be so violent and sexist.
I'm not a football fan, but I watch the Super Bowl every year to comment on the ads to see if they continue to be violent, sexist, and ageist.
This year, the game itself and the ads this were so violent, with dozens of ads for violent TV shows and violent movies. It was discouraging. After being blasted with all the violent ads, it hard to even concentrate on the others to see if there was anything worthwhile.
I was also disappointed with the half time performance. When it came time for women can take part in the Super Bowl, we had scantily clad women singing and dancing. It was so discouraging that women's role in the Super Bowl and on TV continues to be as sex objects. As one of my friends said when I commented on this on Facebook, let's have a marching band.
However, I didn’t see any sexist or ageist ads, which is a big improvement from years past.
This year, the most expensive 30-second ads cost advertisers $5.6 million.
Best ads
Google: An older man asks Google to see photos of his late wife, Loretta.
Jeep Gladiator: An older Bill Murray, of “Groundhog Day” movie fame, finds an orange Jeep in downtown Punxsutawney, kidnaps the groundhog, and goes on a series of adventures, saying “No day is the same in a Jeep Gladiator.”
In Tuesday’s email, I received a notice from the Federal Trade Commission that outlines its proposal to reexamine the Funeral Rule. The rule, adopted in 1984, protects consumers from unfair and deceptive practices in the sale of funeral products and services.
My heart sank when I read the email. With the Trump administration destroying laws on pesticides, clean water, consumer protection, and many others, I worried this is another attempt to hurt consumers.
My first prize-winning article as a journalist was on funeral costs. I’m including the article in the book I’m writing on my journalism career, “Follow the Money: My Life as a Financial Journalist.”
The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Wednesday that four more companies are recalling inclined sleepers to prevent additional deaths and suffocation injuries.
Infant fatalities have been reported with other manufacturers’ inclined sleep products, after the infants rolled from their back to their stomach or side, or under other circumstances.
At least 73 infant deaths have occurred in inclined sleepers, including the Fisher-Price rock ‘n play and the Kids II rocking sleeper.
The CPSC is proposing a new rule that would remove these products from market.
Parents and caregivers should stop using all versions of inclined immediately, even if it hasn’t been included in a recall, consumer groups advises. Consumers can contact the companies included in Wednesday’s recall and request a refund or voucher.
The companies and products in the most recent inclined sleeper recall are:
For more information, call Summer Infant at 800-426-8627 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit www.summerinfant.com and click on Safety Alerts and Recall Information.
