Progressive Insurance, and its TV personality “Flo,” have for years been urging consumers to install a small electronic device called Snapshot into their cars that allows the insurer to gather safety data on drivers. Supporters say the device, sometimes called a dongle, lets Progressive offer discounts based on the way customers [Keep reading]
Each time Uber angers customers with another surge pricing incident, or angers a city by ignoring its laws, an army of fans jump to its defense (as if Uber needs the help) and cry “free market.” Then, self-congratulatory insults at stupid consumers or old fart city leaders are hurled, along [Keep reading]
Being late on one bill can’t hurt your credit score that much, right? Wrong! Not only can a single, small late payment slice 100 points off your credit score, it can take three years to recover from the damage. Look here if you’re trying on improving your credit score after [Keep reading]
It’s hard enough to make good financial decisions when you are young without finding out that your college is out to get you. Or at least is encouraging bad decisions through unseemly agreement with banks. Not long ago, credit card issuers crowded American’s college campuses, offering free pizza in exchange [Keep reading]
Great news! Soon, the majority of Americans will have free access to their credit score. This is a major victory for consumers, a decade or more in the making. It means that they will be able to take action to improve it in readiness for something important like applying for [Keep reading]
A text-message spam campaign that flooded mobile phones and irritated perhaps millions of iPhone users last summer reared its ugly head again towards the end of 2014. The messages offer recipients a cheap way to order designer products like handbags and sunglasses, which can be done more easily and affordably [Keep reading]
Hey parents, stop letting your kids sleep with a smartphone or tablet. A new study says kids who sleep near a small screen get, on average, 20 minutes less sleep and are about one-third more likely to suffer restless sleep. I know, that sounds obvious, but apparently it’s not. More [Keep reading]
It’s lovely that the now-famous British couple who made the mistake of having their preemie baby born in the U.S. won’t have to pay their potential $200,000 in medical bills. If they were in Europe though, having a European Health Insurance Card for their baby could have made such a difference. [Keep reading]
Everything old is new again…that applies to computer virus attacks, too. Remember the good old days when booby-trapped emails contacting macro-infected Word documents and spreadsheets were the biggest threat to computer users? Well, they are back. Microsoft issued a pretty specific warning this week at its Malware Protection Center, saying [Keep reading]
Losing your iPhone isn’t as bad as losing a limb, but it can feel that way, suggests new research from the University of Missouri published this week. In a paper titled “The Extended iSelf,” researchers built on the theory that people see their cell phones as part of themselves. Phone [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan