The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Sterling Jewelers agrees to $11 million settlement for signing consumers up for store credit cards without their consent

Photo credit: M.O. Stevens

Sterling Jewelers Inc. has agreed to pay $11 million after investigations by the New York Attorney General’s Office and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that Sterling signed consumers up for store credit cards without the consumers’ knowledge or consent. Sterling also enrolled consumers in a credit insurance product without consumers’ knowledge or consent and misrepresented the terms of the store cards. Under to the settlement, Sterling will pay $11 million in penalties.

“By tricking consumers into enrolling in store credits cards, Sterling Jewelers betrayed customers’ trust and violated the law,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. “This settlement holds the company accountable for its misconduct and ensures that no more consumers are deceived.”

Sterling, doing business as Kay Jewelers, Jared The Galleria of Jewelry, and other brands, is based in Ohio and operates about 1,500 jewelry stores throughout the United States.

How much do you need for an emergency fund?

With 800,000 federal employees being furloughed or working without pay, many stories have been reported about people having difficulty paying their bills including mortgages, rent, car payments, and student loans.

How much money should consumers have for an emergency fund? The standard recommendation for is three to six months of expenses.

To make your calculation, estimate the costs of housing, food, health care including insurance, utilities, transportation, personal expenses, and debt. Things you can cut from your budget – such as entertaining, eating out, shopping, vacations, and savings – don’t need to be included.

Toyota and Fiat Chrysler recalling about 3.3 million vehicles due to faulty airbags

Toyota is recalling 1.3 million vehicles in North America and Fiat Chrysler is recalling more than 1.6 million vehicles worldwide.

The air bag inflators can explode when deployed and scatter metal fragments, which can strike, injure, and even kill vehicle occupants.

Toyota’s announcement Wednesday includes 1.3 million vehicles in the United States.

Fiat Chrysler agrees to pay $800 million to settle charges of emissions cheating

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Robert Bosch agreed Thursday to settle charges related to “defeat device” software intended to circumvent emissions standards for air pollutants. Bosch, a parts supplier, supplied and programed the software used by Fiat Chrysler and Volkswagen in diesel vehicles.

The two agreements, to be filed later this month, will provide compensation for consumers who purchased or leased Fiat Chrysler vehicles containing illegal defeat devices and more than $172.5 million to 49 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

Fiat Chrysler and Bosch attempted to pull the wool over the eyes of American consumers, and pollute their way to the bank, said New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump’s government shutdown is disrupting agencies that protect consumers, workers, health, and safety

Consumer, worker, health, and safety protection agencies throughout the federal government are being disrupted by federal worker furloughs coming from the partial government shutdown, according to a report Public Citizen released Wednesday.

“As long as the shutdown continues, essential consumer, worker, health and safety protections carried out by these agencies are on hold,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. “Corporate lawbreakers are going unpunished, safety inspections are being postponed, discrimination charges are going uninvestigated, polluters are not being held in check, financial fraudsters are not being policed, consumer complaints are not being received and accident investigations have ceased.”

Many agencies are falling behind, and it could take many weeks for them to catch up, according to furloughed workers quoted in the report. More than 75 percent of workers have been furloughed at seven agencies dedicated to protecting consumers and workers, according to federal agency memos, and nearly 50,000 employees have been sent home without pay at the following agencies:

Did you overspend for the holidays?

About 93 million Americans, or 37 percent, overspent over the holidays, and 46 million people, or 18 percent if Americans, regret at least one holiday purchase, according to WalletHub’s 2019 Post-Holiday Shopping Season Survey.

“Buyer’s remorse is especially common when a purchase is made on impulse,” said Paul Rose, interim dean of the School of Education, Health, and Human Behavior at Southern Illinois University. “Many people procrastinate when purchasing gifts, and run out of time in December to carefully consider their purchasing options.”

There’s also a cultural connection between the holidays and shopping. Three in 10 people say that spending more makes the holidays happier, while two in 10 say that the holidays are worth accumulating credit card debt for.

Loan servicer settles charges it deceived student borrowers about lower-cost payment plans and loan forgiveness

Federal student loan servicer ACS Education Services agreed to a $9 million settlement Friday for steering distressed borrowers away from income-based repayment plans towards other, more expensive options. It also addresses claims that ACS deceived borrowers about the availability of loan forgiveness after a borrower works for 10 years in a public-service job. 

In addition to paying penalties and restitution to borrowers, ACS has agreed not to service loans for the major federal programs or private loans for five years. Most eligible borrowers will receive between $100 and $450. 

“Students rely on college to be a ladder to success, but too often prohibitive costs and disingenuous loan servicers trap students in a quicksand of debt,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. “ACS has systematically failed borrowers by refusing to educate them on more effective federal repayment options, and instead, pushing them towards options that padded their bottom line.”

For-profit college to pay more than $493 million in debt relief to students due to fraudulent practices

Forty-eight attorneys general announced an agreement Thursday with for-profit education company Career Education Corp. to reform its recruiting and enrollment practices and offer debt relief of about $493.7 million to 179,529 students nationally.

CEC currently offers mostly online courses through American InterContinental University and Colorado Technical University. CEC has closed or phased out many of its schools over the past 10 years. They include Briarcliffe College, Brooks Institute, Brown College, Harrington College of Design, International Academy of Design & Technology, Le Cordon Bleu, Missouri College, and Sanford-Brown. 

The agreement resolves a five-year investigation into allegations that CEC made misleading statements or failed to disclose information to prospective students on total costs, transferability of credits, program offerings, job placement rates, and other topics.

Happy New Year to American consumers everywhere

What will 2019 hold for consumers throughout the nation? It’s difficult to say, but one thing for sure is that 2018 has been a tough year for consumers.

I’m in the process of writing my annual article about the top consumer stories of the year just passed. For 2018, there wasn’t much good news.

Deregulation efforts by the Trump administration brought the weakening of environmental regulations such as coal companies can now dump coal waste into streams. And, efforts by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to help consumers have been stymied with policies such as gutting student loans protections put in place.

Wells Fargo to pay $575 million in settlement with 50 states for consumer fraud

Photo: Laimerpramer

Wells Fargo agreed to a $575 million settlement Friday with fifty states and Washington, D.C.,  due to of the bank’s illegal sales practices. Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest bank, has acknowledged opening millions of deposit, credit card, and other accounts and conducting transfers of funds without customer authorization during various periods from 2002 through 2017.

“Wells Fargo customers entrusted their bank with their livelihood, their dreams, and their savings for the future,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. “Instead of safeguarding its customers, Wells Fargo exploited them, signing them up for products – from bank accounts to insurance – that they never wanted. This is an incredible breach of trust that threatens not only the customers who depended on Wells Fargo, but confidence in our banking system. As our investigation found, Wells Fargo’s conduct was unlawful and disgraceful.”

California will receive $148.7 million, the largest payment under the settlement.