Some quick links to start your Monday. The major flaw in self-driving cars … Dell is spending $67 billion to buy cloud computing company EMC … The best time to take a work break … People who post selfies on social media sites more likely to possess “dark triad” of personality traits … Four types of marketing to avoid … Low gas prices are making the average American family richer … Technical issues keeping people from checking in on Southwest flights … The financial habits Americans struggle with most … What makes Oprah Winfrey so successful … 75 incorrectly used words that can make you look dumb … Twitter is planning layoffs … Can you have work friends? … Ford is spending $2 billion to invest in R&D in China.
NEWS
- Congratulations to the debt collections industry! USA Today and the rest of the newspapers that are owned by Gannett finally realized that there is a regulatory agency called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and that it collects consumer complaint data! Yay! That’s the only reason I can figure out why the papers chose to publish an article yesterday, which included this excerpt: “The relatively young federal agency, created in 2011 in the aftermath of the recession and financial-market meltdown, has been compiling complaints for just over four years. Debt problems consistently dominate the list of gripes, though the mix is changing.”
- A debt collection scam in Nebraska that has phony debt collectors looking to collect on an old “payday” loan. The scammers refuse to send verification of the debt (I wonder why) and use aggressive language.
- A sound economy is keeping more consumers current on their loan payments, according to data released late last week by the American Bankers Association.
- A very comprehensive and, frankly scary, look at the data breach at a unit of Experian that exposed the personal information, including Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and birthdates of 15 million T-Mobile customers. A lesson in why every part of your business needs to be secured.
Homes of the presidential candidates
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving everyone!
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