Fake Money Rip Off
February 15, 2010
By Chad Soriano:
Small businesses are having a hard enough time these days, and as if the recession wasn’t enough, imagine getting stuck with counterfeit cash after providing a service or product to a consumer. It’s happening more and more. Click here to check out this report on the problem of businesses getting stuck with fake money, by Greensboro NBC affiliate WXII.
Ordering Flowers: How the Different Services Compare
February 11, 2010
By Angie Moreschi:
If you’re sending flowers this Valentine’s Day, it’s time to find out what kind of quality you get for your cash. We put several different vendors to the test, from a local florist, to online services that ship from a warehouse, to well known services that use member florists like FTD and teleflora. Click on the video to watch Angie Moreschi’s report on how they compared and read the story to learn more.
Getting Quality Flowers On Valentine’s Day
February 9, 2010
By Angie Moreschi:
There’s nothing like getting a beautiful bouquet of flowers, especially on Valentine’s Day. But let’s face it. If you’re the one sending the flowers and dishing out the dollars, there’s always a little anxiety involved. How do you know you’re getting quality? What makes one dozen roses last for a week or more, while another lasts for only a few days? We went to a floral expert to find out. Click here to watch Angie Moreschi’s report. Read more
Toyota Puts Brake on Sales to Address Safety Issues
January 27, 2010
By Angie Moreschi:
Drivers who own Toyota vehicles are confused and concerned, as the car company struggles to deal with growing safety concerns over sticking gas pedals. In his first public comment since the latest recalls, Toyota’s President apologized for the situation. Read more
Fun Facts About Your Income Taxes
January 26, 2010
By John Newcomer:
By now you are starting to get those 1099i’s in the mail. Yes, those pesky, little forms that let you know you earned a whopping $12.92 interest on your meager savings account. Just as daffodils signal that Spring is around the corner; your soon to arrive 2009 W-2 means that tax return preparation season is almost upon us.
How complicated is the U.S. Tax code? The first tax code (1913) was 400 pages. It is now 70,320 pages long! If you placed the pages end to end, the code is more than a 13 mile journey. It is so complicated that more than 60% of all filers have to use the services of professional tax preparers to fill out their return.
How about this for Irony?
Back in 1952, when the tax code was a mere 20,000 pages, Joseph Nunan was convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to 5 years in prison. Joseph Nunan’s previous job was Commissioner of the IRS! If he could not figure out the income tax code, then what chance does the average citizen have?
Really, come on? 70,000 pages!!!
Existing Home Sales Drop
January 25, 2010
Another blow to the housing recovery. Existing home sales fell in December by 16.7%. The drop was much larger than anticipated. It was expected that sales would decline somewhat from November to December, because November was slated to be the last month for the federal government’s $8,000 tax credit for new homebuyers. But lawmakers extended that deadline through April 30th and added a new credit of up to $6,500 for some existing home owners who move.
Positive Note
The median price of homes sold in December was $178,300, a 1.5% gain over December 2008. That was the first year-over-year gain in the median price since August 2007. Distressed properties made up 32% of the houses sold during the month.
Click here to read more at CNNMoney.com.
Consumer Fun Fact
January 22, 2010
Which of the original Dow Jones companies is still in business today? Read on to find out.
The Dow Jones Average is a widely watched stock index. It is the weighted average stock price of 30 of the largest and strongest companies in America. When the Dow was created in 1896, it only averaged the stock price of 12 of the largest and strongest corporations in America.
Of the original 12 companies in the Dow only, one is still in business today. All the others have either been broken up by anti trust laws, been purchased by larger companies, or just gone out of business. The only remaining original member of the Dow Jones Average is General Electric.
The lesson to be learned— Things Change.
How to Help in Haiti and Not Get Scammed
January 20, 2010
By Nicole Mayer:
The devastation in Haiti has many of us thinking: what can I do to help? Ambassadors leading the aid efforts say the best thing to do is donate money. But how do you know the money you donate is going to the right place? The best advice is to do your research. Click here for more information on how to avoid scams and to watch a CNN story on giving aid to Haiti.
How Quickly We Forget
January 16, 2010
By John Newcomer:
Remember when gasoline cost $3.00 a gallon? It was not that long ago. Yes, in the summer of 2006 prices at the pump started to hit $3.00 a gallon, and the price stayed there for some time.
We screamed and whined when it cost us more than $100 to fill up our gas tank. We vowed to change and sell that gas hog. Next time I will buy a fuel efficient car more fitting with the new world economy.
New Way To Hide Outrageous Credit Card Interest Rates
January 13, 2010
By Terry Smiljanich:
Credit card companies are engaged in a binge of interest rate hikes on their credit cards, thanks to the lack of any usury protections or limitations on how high they can hike such rates. Interest rates of 24%, 36%, and even 79.9% are more and more common. These abuses have been the focus of several Consumer Warning Network stories, as you can see here, here, and here,
In the face of the continued exposure of their practices and public shaming due to the taxpayer bail-outs they received, these institutions apparently are looking for new ways to hide their hideous, historically high charges. Case in point: Macy’s, which seems to have found a nifty way of doing so.
Take a look at one of its “Platinum Star Rewards” account statements. There at the top of the front page the annual percentage rate for the account is shown as 24.5%. That’s pretty steep, but there’s more.
Also included on the first page is a $2.00 “Interest Charge,” with the following explanation: “If you pay your New Purchase Balance of “x” dollars by “y” date, your Initial Interest Charge of $2.00 on your Revolving Account will be refunded on your next statement.”
So, in addition to the 24.5% interest charge, Macy’s is also taking out $2.00 up front and keeping your money for a month. It will refund it next month, if you pay off your new purchases.
You might wonder what effect this fancy footwork has on the actual interest rate you are being charged. Well, if you go to the bottom of the second page you will find this statement:
Yes, you saw it right. 47.04% interest!! “As a result of the Minimum INTEREST CHARGE of $2.00 being applied to your Revolving Account, the actual ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE charged on that account is 47.04%.”
So, as it turns out, the “Annual Percentage Rate” of 24.5%, shown on the front page of the statement, is not the “actual” percentage rate, which is really 47%. What does that make the percentage rate shown on the front, the “pretend” percentage rate?
Not only does Macy’s misrepresent the “actual” percentage rate, but it also gets to hold onto your $2.00 for a month, even if you eventually pay off your balance. Granted, $2 bucks is not a lot of money, but adding up the total number of revolving accounts Macy’s has, it could add up to a nice little source of extra income.
Credit card companies should be ashamed of the interest rates being charged in today’s market. They, at the very least, be honest about their usurious rates.
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