Some quick links to start your Tuesday. Google is offering free use of its software as a means of luring customers away from Microsoft … The cities where your money goes the furthest … There’s a new leader in Canada … Oprah Winfrey’s investment in Weight Watchers netted her $70 million in one day … The cars that thieves steal the most … Amazon is hiring 100,000 temporary employees for the holiday season … How a teenager hacked the CIA director’s email account … Amazon is suing people for posting fake reviews … Your credit score will tell you whether you and your partner will stay together … A new scam is taking advantage of the new chip-and-pin technology … Santander runs war games to see if fintech start-ups will kill its business lines … How Isaac Newton remembered everything he read … When gas becomes cheaper, people buy more expensive gas.
NEWS
- A Tennessee county has hired Capital Recovery Systems to recover $160 million in unpaid court costs and fines, dating back 45 years in some cases. Capital Recovery will add a 25% fee to any amount collected and has a 30% average collection rate, according to the article. The national average is about 11%, according to the article.
- Residents of a town in Utah are upset at getting utility bills, in some cases years after they closed their accounts. The problem seems to be a number of collection agencies that were hired to work the accounts for the town, many of whom “couldn’t follow through,” and stopped collecting, according to the town’s administrator. The town is trying to collect on what it claims is $800,000 in unpaid bills.
- Hedge funds and other forms of institutional investors are coming to the student loan market looking to make money on the problems plaguing the industry. Many investors are betting on more problems for companies that service and collect on student loans, and others are continuing to look for ways to profit on the woes of students and lenders who are mired in trying to figure out how to get out from a crushing debt burden.
- Even though Operation Choke Point may not be officially in force anymore, the lingering effects of the operation are still evident and causing problems for a lot of organizations in the financial services industry.
Because I’m a “Star Wars” geek, here is the new trailer
How to beat a lie detector test
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