News

2023

January

26

• White House unveils Renters Bill of Rights. The Biden administration is releasing a “Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights” that highlights the need for clear and fair leases, the right to organize, and eviction prevention and diversion, among other

23

• NJ bill would require digital-only coupon alternative. As more and more stores transition to only offering coupons online or in an app, consumer advocates say that seniors and low-income shoppers, who often lack access to technology or the skills to use it,

18

• It’s time to finally fix air travel. On Wednesday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration was forced to reboot its system that alerts pilots to safety issues, grounding all air traffic in the United States. Much of the rest of the world —

• Annoyed by grocery store loyalty apps? How to save anyway. You’ve seen the ads proclaiming, “Go digital and save even more!” To do this, though, you must have a smartphone. According to Consumer World founder Edgar Dworsky, shoppers who don&rsquo

10

• Biden’s new student loan repayment plan. Federal student loan borrowers could pay less money toward their debt and shorten the path to forgiveness under the terms of the Biden administration’s revamped income-driven repayment plan. Those who borrowed $12,000 or less

05

• A breach at LastPass has password lessons for us all. LastPass, the maker of a popular security program for managing digital passwords, published details about a recent security breach in which cybercriminals had obtained copies of customers’ password vaults, potentially exposing millions of people

2022

December

29

• Big e-vehicle tax credit possible early next year. People who want to buy an electric vehicle could get a bigger-than-expected tax credit come Jan. 1 because of a delay by the Treasury Department in drawing up rules for the tax breaks. As a result,

• What to know about Southwest flight refunds and lost luggage. How do I get a refund from Southwest? The airline has set up a dedicated website for travelers to request a refund: Southwest.com/traveldisruption. According to the Transportation Department, travelers are entitled to a

22

• Here's how Congress wants to overhaul retirement plans. Intended to boost retirement savings and access to 401(k) and individual retirement accounts, the Secure Act 2.0 is aimed at low- and middle-income workers, those strapped with student debt and people who may not yet have

20

• Wells Fargo to pay $3.7 Billion over consumer banking violations. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said Wells Fargo did not record customer payments on home and auto loans properly, wrongfully repossessed some borrowers’ cars and homes and charged overdraft fees even when customers

19

• Epic games to pay $520 million over children’s privacy and trickery charges. The Federal Trade Commission announced a $520 million settlement with Epic Games, the developer of popular video games like Fortnite and Fall Guys, over charges that the company illegally collected information from children and, separately, tricked

• Victims of wire-transfer fraud reveal how they lost thousands to scammers. According to the FBI, about $2 billion is lost annually to wire-transfer fraud. Some cases involve newfangled payment apps, such as Zelle, while others rely on traditional fund transfers from bank accounts. “Unfortunately, it&rsquo

• How Medicare Advantage plans overcharged taxpayers by millions. Medicare reimburses Medicare Advantage plans using a complex formula called a risk score that computes higher rates for sicker patients and lower ones for healthier people. When auditors came calling, the previously hidden Center for

13

• 3 ways student borrowers were protected in 2022. The Biden administration’s new Borrower Defense to Repayment rule protects students from repaying their federal student loans if those loans “were taken out as a result of a school’s fraudulent,

• The age of free online returns is ending. Retailers have subtly discouraged multi-size ordering — a process known as bracketing — and returns in general by omitting shipping labels from delivery packages even as they continue to give full refunds when customers brought

November

23

• Student loan debt repayment pause extended. The Biden administration is extending its student loan repayment pause — which was set to expire at the end of the year — into 2023 while its promise of federal relief remains hung up in court.

17

• Stop digital-only coupon discrimination (Particularly during times of high inflation, supermarket shoppers should not be shut out of digital-only discounts). A coalition of national consumer groups is urging leading supermarket chains to stop discriminating against senior citizens and low-income shoppers who cannot take advantage of a new wave of advertised digital-only discounts because millions of

• Consumer groups want grocers to ditch digital-only deals. A coalition of consumer groups is asking grocery chains to rethink their digital-only coupons, saying the deals discriminate against people who don’t have smartphones or reliable internet access. Digital-only deals __ advertised online or

14

• U.S. fines airlines $7.5 m and they must refund customers for cancelled flights. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced that the department is assessing fines totaling $7.5 million against six airlines, and the DOT is ordering those airlines to pay $600 million in refunds to hundreds of thousands of customers

02

• Americans fed up with tiny airline seats flood FAA with complaints. Fed up with being crammed in alongside other unhappy customers, passengers flooded the agency with nearly 25,000 comments.  While many stuck to the FAA’s request to address whether the