Oct 8, 2009
Two bogus credit repair companies and their principals settled Federal Trade Commission charges that they falsely claimed they could clean up consumers’ credit reports and collected up-front fees for their services, in violation of federal law. In one case, the FTC alleged that the defendants marketed their services via Web sites and real estate investment seminars and falsely claimed that their special relationships with creditors, collection companies, public records providers and credit bureaus enabled them to remove derogatory information from consumers’ credit ... Read More
Sep 25, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO -Cheryl Hernandez Camus was sentenced to 63 months in prison, and ordered to pay $1,457,255 in restitution for mail and wire fraud in connection with a real estate investment scheme, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced.
Ms. Camus pleaded guilty on December 12, 2008 to five counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud. In pleading guilty, Camus admitted to devising a short-term money lending investment scheme in which she promised fixed returns and the return of the ... Read More
Sep 10, 2009
Debit card overdraft fees are helping to pay banks’ bills in the recession—and they're hitting customers hard, the New York Times reports. “Banks will let you overspend on your debit card in a way that is much, much more expensive than almost any credit card,” says an analyst. Spending money you don’t have can result in massive fees—the Times calls out one shopper who was slapped with seven $34 fees in one day: Banks are set to make $27 billion this year ... Read More
Sep 4, 2009
Many credit cardholders find their interest rates rising, minimum payments spiking and credit limits plummeting, says Consumer Action, which today releases its 2009 Credit Card Survey.
The results of the new Credit Card Survey confirm widespread cardholder complaints that even excellent customers who carry a balance are subject to costly, unilateral increases in their credit card bills.
Consumers are seeing increases in purchase rates, cash advance rates and in some cases default rates. Some issuers are using the new credit card law coming next ... Read More
Jul 23, 2009
BOSTON—A former resident of Somerville, Mass. who has been living in South Korea was arrested today after arriving at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
An indictment, originally returned on March 1, 2007, was unsealed today charging Buford George Peterson and Oussama Abdul Ziade, both former officers of Ptech, Inc., a computer software company that was principally located in Quincy, Mass., with making false statements to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in connection with a loan application in the amount of ... Read More
