The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Education Department rule that fails to protect students from fraud challenged by lawsuit

A low-income advocacy group filed a lawsuit Wednesday to invalidate the U.S. Department of Education’s new borrower defense rules, which dump protections from predatory schools and impose standards and hurdles for defrauded students seeking to cancel loans.

The lawsuit was filed by the Project on Predatory Student Lending and Public Citizen Litigation Group on behalf of the New York Legal Assistance Group. The lawsuit challenges borrower defense regulations published in September 2019 that are due to take effect in July 2020.

Federal law states that students can ask to cancel their federal student loans when the schools they attend engage in misconduct or close suddenly. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Education issued new rules to protect student borrowers and federal taxpayers. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos attempted to block those rules from going into effect three times – and the groups suing now were successful in having those attempts declared illegal.

Happy Presidents' Day 2020

Presidents’ Day is a good day to think about government and what you can do as a citizen to be involved and help it work as effectively as possible.

For decades, I’ve been a member of the League of Women Voters, an organization who’s purpose is to educate citizens so that they can become informed participants in government.

Friday, Feb. 14, 2020, was the 100^th anniversary of the founding of the National League of Women Voters. To celebrate, I went to a Gala 100th Birthday Party and High Tea sponsored by the Tacoma-Pierce County League of Women Voters in Tacoma, Washington. The photo of me at the left was taken at the tea.

Harbor Breeze Santa Ana ceiling fans are being recalled by Fanim Industries due to injury hazard

Fanim Industries is recalling about 70,000 Harbor Breeze Santa Ana ceiling fans.

The fan’s blade holders can break allowing the blade to be ejected from the fan, posing an injury hazard to consumers.

Watch out: Romance scams rising sharply

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.

More information on romance scams is available on the FTC’s romance scam page and in a video. Information about FTC complaint data can be found at ftc.gov/exploredata, and consumers can file a complaint at ftc.gov/complaint.

Copyright 2020, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Federal judge approves merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, but states may appeal

 

A federal judge approved the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint Tuesday, ignoring complaints from 14 government agencies and consumer advocates that the merger will harm competition and result in higher prices.

The decision removes the last big stumbling block for the $26 billion merger, proposed more than a year ago.

On June 11, 2019, 13 states and Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit to stop the deal from going through, saying the merger of two of the four national wireless carriers would harm consumers nationwide by reducing competition in the market and putting access to affordable, reliable wireless service at risk.

Chrysler recalls nearly a quarter-million 2014-2019 Ram ProMaster vans for shifter cable issue

Photos: Mr.choppers

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is recalling about 222,207 model year 2014-2019 Ram ProMasters vans equipped with the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engine.

The transmission shifter cable could separate, disconnecting the transmission shifter from the transmission, which could result in the inability of the driver to shift the transmission. The gear shift level position may not match the transmission gear, according to the recall.

As a result, the driver may not know the actual gear position and unintended vehicle movement could occur, increasing the risk of a crash.

Court grants FTC’s request to halt scheme that offered fast government services through hundreds of fake websites

Defendants operating hundreds of websites that promised a quick and easy government service, such as renewing a driver’s license or determining eligibility for public benefits, were ordered by a federal court to temporarily stop their activities.

The FTC alleges that consumers provided information because they believed the websites would provide the services. Instead, consumers received only a PDF containing publicly available, general information about the service.

The FTC alleges that the defendants’ sites used similar language to get consumers to give up their credit card information, personal data, or both.

Baby boomer bloggers keep chugging on even in tough times

It’s been a tough week. I had to organize the hundreds of photos I took at the National Women’s History Alliance conference in early January, which meant I lost time writing my book, “Follow the Money: My Life as a Financial Journalist.”

On Sunday, the Super Bowl was so violent, the game itself and the ads, and sexist, the half time show, that I’m trying to get over it before it before I write about the Super Bowl ads. Then, the delay in results for the Democratic winner of the Iowa caucuses disappointed. Next came the state of the union address, which I didn’t watch, but I’ve had to endure dozens of clips on the radio and television. Then, Wednesday, the Senate voted to acquit President Trump.

Can I go to bed and cover up my head?

Meanwhile, my baby boomer blogging friends are writing about:

• A sailboat trip in the West Indies.
• The challenges of shopping at IKEA.
• The pros and cons of cruises.
• What to do when mobility starts to decline.
• The one thing you need to do to follow your dreams.
• How North Carolina isn’t turning out to be warm for a winter vacation.
• How to view your life with kindsight.

Carol Cassara of Heart•Mind•Soul writes about these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #635. Click here to get the links to the articles. And be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers enjoy hearing from readers.

Copyright 2020, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

If you’ve had problems arranging a funeral, tell the FTC as it looks at changes to its Funeral Rule

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.”

What you should do if you’re traveling during the coronavirus outbreak

The coronavirus outbreak that started in Wuhan, China, has spread to at least 25 other countries. It has killed at least 425 people, and infected more than 20,500 in China. Among the countries with cases of the coronavirus are Australia, Cambodia, Canada, France, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the United States, and Vietnam.

In the U.S., 20 airports are screening passengers for the virus.

Symptoms of the coronavirus are fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, headache, shortness of breath, and gastro-intestinal problems.