May 28th, 2008 joshua
A New York state judge ruled against consumer computer giant Dell Tuesday, ruling the company committed fraud when it duped consumers into high-interest loans.
The judge says Dell lured customers with a promise of no-interest financing only to get them into high-interest loans. He said this practice is deceptive. Dell is undecided whether it will appeal […]
May 27th, 2008 joshua
Rent-to-own mortgage plans offer a way to build equity through rent payments, supposedly applied to a mortgage payment.
But companies that come in to offer a budding homeowner a way of avoiding foreclosure often end up evicting their new clients.
A homeowner is convinced to sign over the title of their rent-to-own property to the rescue lender, […]
May 27th, 2008 amy
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has charged the Home Buyers’ Consulting Network (HBCN), a home-buying and credit repair business based in North Carolina, with illegally charging advance fees for its services, and falsely claiming it could remove negative information from customers’ credit reports, ConsumerAffairs.com reports.
According to the complaint, the company would advertise to prospective […]
May 23rd, 2008 joshua
Several New York HMOs are being accused of blocking patients from getting critical single-source drugs in order to boost profits.
The report is authored by N.Y. Senator Jeffrey Klein and will be released Sunday.
Single-source drugs have no generic competition and command top dollar. The HMOs accused of charging patients high co-pays or not covering the drugs […]
May 21st, 2008 amy
The FBI’s 2007 Mortgage Fraud Report revealed the agency investigated 1,200 cases in which individuals intentionally misrepresented information a lender used to fund a mortgage in the past year, Consumer Affairs reported today. This figure reflects a 47 percent increase of mortgage fraud investigations from 2006 — and a 176 percent jump in the past […]
May 21st, 2008 joshua
The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission told a Senate panel it will expand its monitoring of rising fuel prices.
According to The Houston Chronicle, Sen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois, said he and others have been asking for such an inquiry and into anticompetitive practices by oil companies.
Durbin said he’s pleased the FTC is stepping up […]
May 19th, 2008 amy
The Daily Herald reports that a Buffalo Grove-area couple is suing over fraudulent I-PASS fines and is hoping a federal judge will grant class action status for those similarly situated. The I-PASS lawsuit, filed by Marvin and Cheri Kushner, alleges the two were fined more than $200 on April 10 for violations over the last […]
May 15th, 2008 joshua
N.Y. Sen. Chuck Schumer is calling for the Federal Trade Commission to join other government agencies investigating Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest home mortgage lender.
Schumer, according to a story in USA Today, says there is an emerging pattern of apparent misconduct in the firm’s treatment of borrowers.
On May 6, borrowers of Countrywide and other […]
May 13th, 2008 joshua
The Federal Reserve and Federal Trade Commission have proposed new rules requiring lenders to notify consumers they are being offered certain loan terms because they have less-than-desirable credit.
The rule would require a “risk-based pricing” notice to consumers when they send out more expensive credit terms, according to a Reuters report.
“Under these rules, a risk-based pricing […]
May 12th, 2008 amy
Smart Documents Solutions, a medical records copying service, is being sued for deceptive practices for charging fees higher than allowed by Arkansas law. Arkansas laws limits the cost of copying medical records to $1 per page for the first five pages and 25 cents for each additional page, as well as allowing a $5 minimum […]
