Headline News Archive

2011

July

14

• Medicare age hike could save billions. A White House offer to increase the age of Medicare eligibility to 67 as a compromise to Republicans during budget talks would save about $125 billion over 10

12

• Denied a loan? Get a free credit score. As part of an effort to pull back the curtain on how creditors go about making their lending decisions, consumers are soon going to find

• Health officials ease requirements for insurance exchanges. he Obama administration moved Monday to ease some requirements on states to help them set up new insurance exchanges in 2014, a key feature of the

• Boomers who work longer get more from Social Security. Most of us aren't very good at delayed gratification, which is why so many pies mysteriously disappear before it's time for dessert. Social Security is

07

• GM offers free auto insurance to new-car buyers. Out in states like California, uninsured motorists remain a serious problem. So General Motors is involved in an experiment in two states that could help

• HUD to pay $62 million to Louisiana homeowners. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said Wednesday that it will pay as much as $62 million to 1,300 Louisiana homeowners to settle a

05

• Agency builder, not yet its leader. It is conventional wisdom in this town that the first director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be anyone but Elizabeth Warren. In

• Borrowers take banks to court after loan modification mishaps. It seemed Maria Campusano’s financial problems were behind her when the mortgage on her Victorian home in a Massachusetts mill town was chopped by

• HUD to give $1 billion to struggling homeowners. Sandra Allwine has been pleading with her bank for more than two years to modify the mortgage on her Arlington County home. Despite exhausting all

June

30

• Health care costs vary widely nearby. Patients pay as much as 683% more for the same medical procedures, such as MRIs or CT scans, in the same town, depending on which doctor

28

• Insurance claim denied? Appeal. Nobody wants to get into a fight with a health insurer, but it may be worth your while. A recent Government Accountability Office report found

• 401(k) plans with lifelong income options. The financial and emotional scars of the bear market still have many Baby Boomers in limbo, unsure if their savings will last their lifetime. Keying

23

• Dreaming of a bigger home. When Wyonnie and Kwame Flaherty bought their two-bedroom apartment in Queens, N.Y., in 2008, they thought it was the perfect stepping-stone. Putting down 20% of the $177,000

22

• Act fast for mortgage bail-out. Consumer advocates are famous for saying that if an offer seems too good to be true, it is and you should avoid it. Just this

21

• Wall Street’s newest cop ready for duty. Even as Congress squabbles over who will lead the new consumer watchdog, the fledgling agency is gearing up to police Wall Street. Over the last

• HUD program to aid distressed homeowners. The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the launch Monday of a $1 billion program to save delinquent homeowners in more than two dozen states

18

• AARP slammed for not fighting Social Security cuts. AARP, the powerful lobby for older Americans, was hammered Friday by fellow activists for refusing to oppose any and all cuts to Social Security benefits,

12

• Cómo prepararse para la jubilación: un plan a cinco años. La planificación de la jubilación, en el mejor de los casos, tiene que ver con mucho más que el tamaño de

02

• Advocates and bankers join to fight loan rules. The weight of the mortgage crisis fell heavily on lower-income and minority communities, where first-time home buyers often fell victim to the predatory lending practices

May

31

• Breaches lead to push to protect medical data. Federal health officials call it the Wall of Shame. It’s a government Web page that lists nearly 300 hospitals, doctors and insurance companies that have

• Tempted to speed? Consider your auto insurance. Steep prices at the gasoline pump aren’t the only thing drivers need to worry about this summer travel season. Speeding tickets and other moving

• Will your homeowners insurance cover you if disaster hits?. Most people don't give much thought to their homeowners insurance policy unless a tree punches a hole in their roof or they come home from

26

• Big battle brews for consumer protection agency. Didn’t we learn anything from the financial meltdown? Individual consumers cannot protect themselves from lenders that are willing to use predatory practices to boost

• New gas mileage labels give more information. If that swanky new vehicle that has caught your fancy is a gas hog, you might want to avert your eyes starting next year, because

24

• Mortgage-only defaulters may be safe credit risks. People who default on their mortgages — but no other debts — are not as risky as expected, according to a new study from credit monitor TransUnion.