Headline News Archive

2012

February

23

• California health insurers to raise rates 8% to 14%. California's largest health insurers are raising average rates by about 8% to 14% for hundreds of thousands of consumers with individual coverage, outpacing the costs of overall

• Voluntary guidelines for Web privacy. The Obama administration on Thursday plans to announce voluntary guidelines for Web companies to protect consumers’ privacy online, a win for Google, Facebook and other

21

• Hertz agrees to government oversight of recalled cars. In the face of an industrywide safety investigation, the nation's second-biggest rental car company has taken the rare step of asking for government regulation to

• Some doubt settlement will end mortgage ills. Even as government officials prepare to unveil new standards this week for how banks treat millions of Americans facing foreclosure, housing advocates and homeowners are

16

• Citigroup will pay $158 million to settle mortgage fraud claims. Citigroup Inc. agreed to pay $158 million to settle a whistle-blower’s claims that a unit of the third-biggest U.S. lender deliberately reduced oversight of

09

• States negotiate $26 billion deal for homeowners. After months of painstaking talks, government authorities and five of the nation’s biggest banks have agreed to a $26 billion settlement that could provide relief

07

• Get more from a second doctor's opinion. If you're like most people, you're inclined to trust your doctor's advice. According to Gallup, 70% of Americans say they don't feel the need for a

• For many, affordable healthcare hinges on Supreme Court. t remains anyone's guess how the Supreme Court will vote this year on whether Congress can require people to buy insurance as part of President

05

• ¿Me retiro o no me retiro?. Llegar a los 62 años es un rompecabezas para quienes quieren dejar de trabajar Muchas personas que trabajan y se están acercando a sus 62

02

• Sen. Feinstein backs health insurance rate controls. A high-stakes ballot measure to give state regulators the power to approve health insurance rates in California has landed a heavyweight supporter: U.S. Sen.

• Obama announces home refinancing plan. President Obama on Wednesday made his latest pitch to lift the nation’s beleaguered housing market, unveiling a series of proposals to help struggling borrowers

January

31

• Japanese auto parts makers admit to price-fixing scheme. For more than a decade, executives at several major Japanese auto parts makers met in secret, sometimes speaking in code, to fix prices on wiring

27

• Healthcare system woes clearly seen in cataract patient's case. Karen Fairbank has cataracts and is scheduled for surgery in March at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute. With her high-deductible Blue Shield of California policy,

26

• Obama initiatives to address foreclosure crisis face hurdles. Two new initiatives from President Obama to address the foreclosure crisis — more help for struggling homeowners and aggressive investigations of financial firms — face significant hurdles

23

• All 2011 unemployment insurance benefits taxable. The jobless rate is dipping, but millions of people are still out of work. And that could have implications when they file their income tax

21

• Coping with high-priced insurance that lenders make you buy. Force-placed insurance. Most homeowners never hear about it until their mortgage lender sends them a letter saying that they must have flood or some other

19

• Mortgage settlement deal "very close". The federal government is "very close" to a settlement with mortgage servicers that could help a million homeowners by reducing what they owe on their

• NHTSA ill-equipped to assess cars' high-tech systems. The nation's top auto safety regulator is ill-equipped to detect problems with high-tech electronics that are increasingly commonplace in today's cars, a new government study

13

• Credit score zealots pursue fool’s errand over 800. eff Rose, a 33-year-old financial planner, is trying to improve his credit score even though it’s 780, which is 69 points above the median score. Rose,

• Foreclosure reviews to take longer than expected. Reviews of hundreds of thousands of foreclosure cases ordered by regulators last year will take months longer to complete than first expected, according to documents

10

• Obama needs to find his backbone on healthcare reform. It's wrong to call the president of the United States a weenie. So I'll just say instead that perhaps President Obama could show a little

• Bill would regulate Buy Here Pay Here used-car lots. Used-car dealers known as Buy Here Pay Here lots would be regulated by the state as lenders under new legislation aimed at curbing what some

• Some doctors charge your credit card number upfront. After a year abroad, my daughter came home last summer, unusually fatigued and with more severe asthma symptoms than when she left. After a thorough

05

• Protect your money: How to research a broker. Q: How can one research the reputation of a brokerage firm using online tools? Please use Edward Jones as an example. A: Gone are the

• Obama appoints Cordray to head consumer watchdog bureau. In a bold act of political defiance, President Obama installed Richard Cordray as head of a new consumer watchdog agency Wednesday, bypassing Republican opposition in