News

2011

October

07

• Panel says U.S. should weigh cost in deciding ‘essential health benefits’. The National Academy of Sciences said Thursday that the federal government should explicitly consider cost as a factor in deciding what health benefits must be provided by insurance plans under President Obama’s health care overhaul,…

06

• Freddie and Fannie reject debt relief. Home values have fallen so much in Arizona that almost half the people with mortgages there owe more than their homes are worth. So when federal money became available to help stem the tide of…

05

• BofA may face HUD fraud claims for defective Countrywide loans. Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender, should face fraud claims after its Countrywide unit submitted faulty borrower data for federally insured mortgages, according to an audit by a U.S. watchdog. Half of 14…

• Suit says banks, mortgage companies cheated veterans and taxpayers. Some of the nation’s biggest banks and mortgage companies have defrauded veterans and taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of dollars by disguising illegal fees in veterans’ home refinancing loans, according to a whistleblower suit…

04

• Wall Street protesters hope to plant seeds. New York’s budding anti-capitalism protest movement began last month with a vague sense of grievance over the widening gap between the rich and poor in America. But in three weeks, it has provided fuel for…

• Fannie Mae knew early of foreclosure abuses. Fannie Mae the mortgage finance giant, learned as early as 2003 of extensive foreclosure abuses among the law firms it had hired to remove troubled borrowers from their homes. But the company did little to…

September

29

• Supreme Court is asked to rule on health care. The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to hear a case concerning the 2010 health care overhaul law. The development, which came unexpectedly fast, makes it all but certain that the court will…

28

• GM's OnStar reverses course on tracking. General Motors' OnStar division announced Tuesday that it has changed course and decided not to collect driving data from customers who have canceled their OnStar subscriptions. OnStar provides a variety of services, including vehicle diagnostics,…

• Health insurance costs shifted to workers. Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance continued to escalate this year even as the share of workers getting less generous coverage reached a new high, according to survey data released Tuesday. In 2011, for the first…

27

• Freddie Mac loan deal defective, report says. Freddie Mac used a flawed analysis when it accepted $1.35 billion from Bank of America to settle claims that the bank misled it about loans purchased during the mortgage boom, according to an oversight report…

22

• Young adults gain health insurance. Nearly 1 million more young adults have obtained health insurance since the 2010 health-care law began requiring insurers to let adult children stay on their parents’ plans until age 26, according to government data released…

21

• Using plastic to pay Anthem bill? Prepare to lose your coverage. Andrea Kreuzhage is the kind of customer all health insurers dream of having. She's in excellent shape, never submits medical claims and pays all her bills on time. So, of course, Anthem Blue Cross canceled…

19

• What to do when a layoff occurs. No one likes to think about being laid off, but in today's shaky economy it can happen to employees even in fields that once seemed secure. If the bad news does come your way, resist…

15

• Buyer Beware: Flood-damaged vehicles will hit market soon. Diane Zielinski bought a used car for her 17-year-old son at a dealership in Quakertown, Pa., about a decade ago. She paid $3,500 for the maroon Pontiac Grand Am. Three weeks later, her son called…

• Foreclosures surge in hardest-hit markets. Significantly more properties entered the foreclosure process during August in the nation's hardest-hit markets, including battered parts of inland California and other areas in the West, as Bank of America Corp. stepped up its activity…

• Tight standards make mortgages tough to get. Home buyers such as Bob and Janet Zych have fueled the U.S. housing market for decades. They have excellent credit with scores that top 800, life-long careers and investment portfolios that have set them up…

13

• Consumer Action updates its 'How to Complain' guide. Consumer Action has updated its free and comprehensive publication, How to Complain.

• Student loan default rates jump. The number of borrowers defaulting on federal student loans has jumped sharply, the latest indication that rising college tuition costs, low graduation rates and poor job prospects are getting more and more students over their…

• Reverse mortgages don't always work. Trusted celebrity pitchmen such as Henry Winkler, Robert Wagner and James Garner do a good job telling older homeowners about the benefits of a reverse mortgage. Here's what they don't tell seniors: Reverse mortgages are…

• College graduates driving increase in bankruptcy. College graduates are the fastest-growing group of consumers who have filed for bankruptcy protection in the past five years, according to a new study by a financial nonprofit, which underscores the broad reach of the…