Jun 18, 2009
A federal court has ordered a payment processor that debited consumers’ bank accounts without their authorization to pay $1,779,000 in consumer redress and to end the illegal practice. Payment processors serve as middlemen between merchants and banks or credit card companies. In 2006, the Federal Trade Commission charged the defendants with unfairly debiting thousands of consumer accounts for a merchant’s nonexistent “discount pharmacy cards,” despite indications that the pharmacy card operation was bogus.
According to the FTC’s complaint, the payment processor did not ... Read More
May 15, 2009
Eliot Spitzer says - if it's too big to fail, it's too big.
Spitzer now believes that the federal government ought to focus more of its attention on structural changes to the financial services industry.
And they should start by busting up the big banks that are deemed too big to fail.
"Some prosecutors will think structural reform is more fundamentally important than just getting a scalp and just prosecuting the individual - who may or may not be a cog in the wheel," Spitzer ... Read More
Apr 30, 2009
WASHINGTON — A Dutch citizen and executive of Martinair Holland N.V. (Martinair) has agreed to plead guilty, serve time in jail and pay a criminal fine for participating in a conspiracy to fix cargo rates for international air shipments, the Department of Justice announced today.
Including today’s charge, a total of 15 airlines and four executives have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into price fixing in the air transportation industry. Collectively, the companies have paid ... Read More
Apr 19, 2009
It's time for an official government inquiry into MediaSentry and the RIAA. A Chicago student said she was planning on killing herself because the RIAA promised her she'd land in court unless she paid almost $10,000 to 'settle'. She, "couldn't sleep, couldn't study, couldn't live a normal life because of the worry". RIAA 'evidence' came from MediaSentry, for which SafeNet paid $20 million in 2005 but which it virtually gave away only three years later for $136,000 cash with a promise of ... Read More
Apr 6, 2009
The victories just keep pouring in. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) the sponsor behind H.R. 627, has got her bill through the sub-committe which provides the U.S. consumer one more tool towards protection from greedy credit card companies that have been running rampant with abuse for so long. The “Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights,” provides crucial protections against unfair, but unfortunately common, credit card practices.
Here is the summary of this bill, and what it will do for the consumer.
Ends Unfair, Arbitrary Interest ... Read More
