And, again, history repeats itself. The nation’s leading residential solar energy financing lenders are using predatory methods including undisclosed profit arrangements with their preferred installers and expensive financing with hidden fees as a standard practice to target consumers for financial exploitation, according to a new report. Read more →

Another huge recall deserves your attention. Best Lighting Products is recalling about 710,600 LED High Bay light fixtures and, in addition, about 19,100 were sold in Canada. Plastic pins securing the LED board can degrade, allowing the energized LED board to come loose and contact the lens or combustible materials, posing a fire risk. Read more →

Thursday I wrote about how more than 50 percent of inflation is caused by corporate price gouging and wondered why politicians don’t talk about it and news organizations don’t cover it. Friday I was going to write about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suing Acima and its former chief executive officer Aaron Allred for illegal lending activities. Read more →

What’s surveillance pricing? It’s when a company looks at information about you and sets the price of an item or service you want to buy based on that information. The FTC issued orders to eight companies offering surveillance pricing. It wants to know about the possible impacts these practices have on privacy, competition, and consumer protection. Read more →

Consumers need to read ingredient labels carefully to avoid brominated vegetable oil or BVO because, although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finally banned it, products containing BVO may remain for sale on store shelves.  BVO has mainly been used to help stabilize citrus flavorings in sodas, sports drinks, and energy drinks. Read more →

Here’s another huge recall consumers need to know about. Bissell is recalling about 3.2 million steam shot handheld cleaners in the United States and another 355,000 in Canada. The recalled steam cleaners can spew hot water or steam onto users while heating or during use, posing a burn risk. Bissell has received 157 reports of minor burn injuries. Read more →

The National Association of Realtors settlement of a class action lawsuit, scheduled to be carried out by August 17, requires realtors to obtain buyer signatures on home buyer contracts. The $418 million settlement did away with the traditional agent’s commission of 5-6 percent, which should lead to more negotiation, more competition, and lower costs. Read more →

Another huge recall deserves your attention. About 919,400 power adapters sold with Rest 1st Generation sound machines are being recalled in the U.S. by Hatch Baby, with 44,352 sold in Canada. The plastic housing around the adapter can come off when removing it from an outlet, leaving the power prongs exposed and posing a shock risk to consumers. Read more →

California often has among the most beneficial laws for consumers. On July 1, these four bills will become law in the state: Capping security deposits -- Until now, landlords have been allowed to require a security deposit equal to as much as three months’ rent. Instead of landlords being allowed to require a security deposit equal to as much as three months’ rent. Read more →

Consumers are in a poor position in the economy, because corporations spend so much on advertising and they donate billions of dollars to influence government to do their bidding making products and services more expensive and less safe. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has made another decision that will reduce consumer “power” even more. Read more →