New car loans continue to set all kinds of records — average monthly payments are now essentially $500 — and a long-feared subprime lending bubble has yet to show signs of popping. But suddenly slumping auto sales raise plenty of questions about the overall health of the car sales market. [Keep reading]
Whenever I get in a dispute with a customer service agent, I try to humanize the dialog. “Do you think this is fair?” I’ll ask. And if I can pierce the corporate-speak at all, I usually saying something like, “Look, you are I have way more in common than you and [Keep reading]
One of the saddest chapters of U.S. higher education closed on Monday, as ITT Technical Institute suddenly announced it was shutting down. ITT has been hit with numerous legal actions, and just last week it finally received what amounted to a death penalty from the Department of Education — which [Keep reading]
Young folks have found a new use for “gift” cards. They are buying them for themselves. A new report issued this week by analyst firm Mercator Advisory Group found a big jump in purchase of “retailer-specific” gift cards among millennials. “Nearly 3 in 5 young adult respondents indicated they bought [Keep reading]
Frustration among Starbucks workers who say their hours and pay have been slashed took an ugly turn this week as it spilled awkwardly onto forums at Reddit used by employees to “venti” about the coffee giant. You might recall this summer’s controversy, as workers complained that labor cutbacks left many scrambling for hours. Some baristas said shifts [Keep reading]
Across America, workers are sharing the most intimate details of their lives with employers through gadgets like Fitbits — all to save a little money on life or health insurance. It’s junk science meets Orwell meets Lenin. And we are going down a crazy, creepy path. “Take 10,000 steps and [Keep reading]
How persistent and brazen are phantom debt collectors? Last month, when I emailed a firm named Advance Cash Services asking for comment on collection harassment allegations, the firm replied by saying I owed them $935.76 for an unpaid payday loan. A few days later, I wrote about Susan Marquardt of Chicago, who [Keep reading]
Another day, another reminder that companies don’t really have to abide by promises to NOT share your personal information. They have a big “but” in their contracts. Last week, it was WhatsApp and Facebook. We’ll get to that in a moment. This week, millions of Sports Authority customers began receiving notices [Keep reading]
The FBI has issued a warning that state board of election websites are being targeted by hackers, and in at least one case, voter data has been stolen. Yahoo News Michael Isikoff first reported the attack and posted the FBI warning online (against the FBI’s wishes). It’s very serious. Clearly the FBI [Keep reading]
This might be the most sophisticated job scam I’ve ever seen. Thanks to a near-victim, you’ll get a rare chance to see a real pro almost pull off a nearly perfect digital caper. You do things when you are job hunting that you wouldn’t normally do. You meet strangers. You [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan