Some quick links to start your Tuesday. A fake payday loan scheme is running through Minnesota … A bill in the Senate wants to make it easier for you to leave a negative review online … Daily spending by Americans remained roughly the same for the sixth straight month … States with the most wide-open spaces tend to be the ones with the highest rates of car-related fatalities, according to a new study, largely because it’s difficult to die in a car wreck when you’re stuck in traffic … Boxes of gluten-free Cheerios are being recalled because they may contain wheat … What the Trans-Pacific Partnership means for business … Verizon is opening a new call center in Illinois and hiring 200 employees … Digital currency is gaining steam … Most Americans have less than $1,000 in savings … A trick to help you improve your memory.
NEWS
- I had a conversation with a debt buyer yesterday and during our chat, he asked, “Are data breaches getting worse or are we just hearing about them more?” It was my argument that a number of laws and regulations requiring companies disclose data breaches to warn consumers is what is causing us to think that they are happening more often. But maybe I was wrong (wouldn’t be the first time). Maybe data breaches are getting worse.
- A Florida woman received 218 calls from a mortgage servicing company … after she declared bankruptcy. A jury last month awarded her $1,500 for every phone call – $327,000 – in total. The conduct was so bad that the judge actually came out and said that the president and/or CEO of the company, Ocwen Financial, should call and personally apologize to the plaintiff.
- Three collection agencies – EGS Financial Care, formerly NCO Financial Systems; Systems and Services Technologies; and Transworld Systems – have to repay nearly $500,000 to North Carolina residents that they illegally charged convenience fees in addition to taking collection payments. In one case, one of the agencies withdrew a $12 convenience fee along with a $50 payment.
- Bankruptcy filings are down 11% through the first nine months of 2015, compared with the same period last year. Low interest rates and high filing costs were cited as the reasons for the continued lull in bankruptcy filings.
Flooding in South Carolina has claimed at least 12 lives
Companies are too complex. How to simplify
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