If you make money charging people for TV access, here’s the latest set of scary numbers. A new Pew Research Center report has found that one out of five young adults between 18 and 29 say they have “severed the ties they once had with cable or satellite service.” They’ve [Keep reading]
A short-term, high-cost lender that tried to collect debts by in-person visits at borrowers’ homes and workplaces has ceased dealing in payday loans, and about 200,000 consumers will get refunds or debt collection relief, federal regulators said Wednesday. Austin-based EZCORP is accused of potentially revealing details about consumers’ debts to third parties during [Keep reading]
As one of the first journalists to write about the identity theft phenomenon more than a decade ago, people often ask me if I think LifeLock is worth it. I’ve never been a fan of the company, which began its uneasy existence with a brazen advertising campaign that included plastering the founder’s [Keep reading]
While Comcast moves ahead with its plan to add cell-phone-like data usage fees to home Internet service, consumers like Kimberly Richardson are feeling the pain. And if you are a heavy user and part of Comcast’s new fee trial, expect your bills to go up in January. Richardson, who lives [Keep reading]
Ever since I started writing the Red Tape Chronicles, people (mostly journalists) have complained that I cover two very different topics: tech gone bad and consumer ripoffs. I’ll admit it: I don’t care. Often enough, these subjects overlap. You don’t care if a hacker is stealing your money or a [Keep reading]
If you are looking to start over, Raleigh is a pretty good place to start. This week, Danielle Bingham, 52, moved into a lovely 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house on a half-acre just outside Raleigh, N.C. — a step she couldn’t have imagined a decade ago. She paid $175,000 for the 2,000-square-foot [Keep reading]
Tis the season of panic shopping. It’s not quite “I’d better just buy an e-gift card” season yet, but almost. It’s the time where people start to resort to online shopping as its easier and faster, shopping online for mums is particularly popular as they always have so many to [Keep reading]
Read all the Cynja series
One out of three U.S. consumers has a debt in collections, but it often seems like three out of three have received a debt collection call recently. That suggests a lot of people are getting calls when they shouldn’t. What can you do if a debt collector is bothering you over a mistake? With 77 [Keep reading]
Some consumers are so annoyed by the new chip-enabled credit cards that they’ve begun avoiding stores that require them, a survey from Mercator Advisory Group, a payment industry research firm, claims. That’s an unwanted headache for small business owners, especially those fighting for shoppers during the busy holiday season. The “avoiders” group is small but [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan