Headline News Archive

2011

September

01

• Tougher rules for credit bureaus could be on the way. Borrowers may soon have more weapons to fight back against erroneous credit reports and credit scores. This includes uncovering discrepancies when a report or score

• Rebuilding after Irene? Watch for contractor scams. Homeowners who found themselves in the sights of Hurricane Irene may soon be targeted by scammers looking to profit from their pain. As attention turns

August

31

• What’s worse for credit score — foreclosure, short sale, deed in lieu?. You can’t really say that credit scores don’t matter. They do. People can just let the home go to foreclosure, and this will

30

• After Irene, what will insurance cover?. Thousands of East Coast residents whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Irene could find themselves stuck with bills that aren't covered by their homeowners insurance

25

• U.S. may back mortgage refinance plan. The Obama administration is considering further actions to strengthen the housing market, but the bar is high: plans must help a broad swath of homeowners,

23

• Foreclosure talks stall. An effort by state attorneys general to take big mortgage servicers to task over faulty foreclosure practices has stalled as financial institutions demand broad legal

18

• New rules would let consumers compare health insurance plans. What would your health insurance cover if you got pregnant? How much could you expect to pay out of pocket if you needed treatment for

16

• Inflated medical bills mask true cost. It's bad enough that her son has a chronic disease that can send him to the emergency room when the pain becomes unbearable. But Susan

• Proposal to keep government's big role with mortgage rates. President Obama has directed a small team of advisers to develop a proposal that would keep the government playing a major role in the nation’

15

• Taking on Medicare and Medicaid. Editor’s note: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released a plan in July that he said would achieve $9 trillion in deficit savings over the next decade.

09

• Stock market's silver lining for consumers. The stock market sell-off over the past week has created a surprising — albeit likely short-term — silver lining for consumers: ultra-low interest rates. The weekly average

04

• Loss of home equity downsizes retirement for many. Paul Trigili, an information technology professional in Las Vegas, is 65, has back problems and would like to retire at the end of the year. There's

• Burden of long-term care needs strain families. America is facing a crisis that will make the federal budget deficit look like a simple bank overdraft fee. If we don’t figure out

02

• EPA gas mileage ratings don't add up in real world. The government will require new cars and trucks to meet a fleetwide average fuel economy standard of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Fat chance. Many motorists

July

28

• Elizabeth Warren to step down from consumer agency. Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard law professor who has organized the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will step down from her administration advisor position Monday and

• Pet insurance: A good deal or rip off?. When it comes to our pets, my wife and I will spend whatever it takes to give them the best medical care possible. Like so

• Consumer agency pick faces battle. Richard Cordray is no stranger to defeat. A soft-spoken man who pads around in socks and admires the writings of Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis,

26

• Short sales, long waits: Frustrating process. Short sales are among the most arduous real estate transactions, often taking six months or more to close -- if they get done at all.

• Every credit score is not created the same. If you spend any time on the Internet, you've probably seen ads for "free" credit scores. They usually appear alongside ads promising to make your

20

• Your credit score may not be what you think. The credit score you get from an agency might be quite different from the credit score your lender gets, according to a new study released

• Consumer bureau fights to keep its fangs. President Barack Obama has brought in new leadership to the consumer agency created after the 2008 financial industry meltdown, a move widely seen as an effort

• App for reporting an emergency. Today, when a tornado leaves a path of destruction or a fire engulfs a home, you can be sure a citizen with a cellphone camera

19

• Obama erred in dropping Elizabeth Warren to head agency. President Obama shouldn't have backed down. In announcing Monday that he's nominating former Ohio Atty. Gen. Richard Cordray to run the new Consumer Financial Protection

• Medicare doesn’t cover many health-care expenses. Helen Johnson gave a welcoming smile to the group of older men and women who had assembled at the senior center in the Maryland Eastern

16

• What can you expect from Social Security. People are scared. As President Obama and congressional leaders continue to fight over how to reduce the federal deficit, people are rightly concerned about what