ATM fees are up, overdraft fees are up, and the availability of free checking accounts is down, according to a new survey. But the rate of bad news is slowly, according to the data collected by BankRate.com. At least that’s something. Consumers fork over an average of $4.13 to access [Keep reading]
When Mariano pitched his first game for the New York Yankees, in May 1995, I arrived in Seattle to start my internship at MSNBC.com. I ‘retired’ in August, my career there almost precisely parallel to his – at least in time. That’s why we love sports so much. Baseball seasons [Keep reading]
The economics of petty theft is an interesting chicken-and-egg game. That’s how New York City police officers recently ended up imploring consumers to download the new iPhone operating system, iOS 7. They want you to be the egg. Last week, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman was among leading law [Keep reading]
Everyone is online, right? Wrong. About one in seven U.S. adults don’t use email or the (not quite the whole) worldwide web, according to a poll published by Wednesday by the Pew Research Center. Many in the disconnected crowd are older and poor, as one might expect. But a large number [Keep reading]
When consumers try to sign up at just-launched health care exchanges next week, they might be surprised that credit bureau Experian and its telephone help desk may stand in the way. And those seeking a subsidy will be confronted by Equifax’s controversial The Work Number product, a massive database the [Keep reading]
The scary thing about large commercial data brokers, other than their collection of your personal information without your permission, is the possibility that their enormous hoards of data can be stolen. Despite all promises of care and security, hacks happens. Privacy advocates always warn about this when discussions about large-scale [Keep reading]
I was an early adpoter or Internet commenting, and reviews, and I still believe in their power. Writing consumers stories for MSNBC.com, it was incredible how quickly I would learn about the next gotcha or hidden fee when comments piled up lambasting corporations. To this day, I never buy any [Keep reading]
A California man tricked elderly Americans out of $11 million using phony sweepstakes award letters, the Federal Trade Commission alleged Monday while announcing it had sued to stop the “scam.” Liam I. Moran, of Ventura, Calif., allegedly sent out more than 3.7 million letters during the past two years, many [Keep reading]
Mo day at Yankee Stadium. A little hero worships once in a while is ok….if you pick the right heroes. I’ll have more thoughts on Mariano Rivera later this week, but for now, if you wanted to be at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, but couldn’t, here’s a flavor of it [Keep reading]
Buying bananas, milk and chicken online has little in common with adding shoes, a cellphone or books to an electronic shopping cart. Books can sit on the stoop for a few hours, cellphones don’t melt, and in all but extreme circumstances, no one waits at home for two hours hoping [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan