Headline News Archive

2012

February

09

• States negotiate $26 billion deal for homeowners. After months of painstaking talks, government authorities and five of the nation’s biggest banks have agreed to a $26 billion settlement that could provide relief…

08

• Government assistance expands. More than one in three Americans lived in households that received Medicaid, food stamps or other means-based government assistance in mid-2010, according to a new…

07

• Get more from a second doctor's opinion. If you're like most people, you're inclined to trust your doctor's advice. According to Gallup, 70% of Americans say they don't feel the need for…

• For many, affordable healthcare hinges on Supreme Court. t remains anyone's guess how the Supreme Court will vote this year on whether Congress can require people to buy insurance as part of President…

02

• Sen. Feinstein backs health insurance rate controls. A high-stakes ballot measure to give state regulators the power to approve health insurance rates in California has landed a heavyweight supporter: U.S. Sen. Dianne…

• Obama announces home refinancing plan. President Obama on Wednesday made his latest pitch to lift the nation’s beleaguered housing market, unveiling a series of proposals to help struggling borrowers reduce…

January

31

• Japanese auto parts makers admit to price-fixing scheme. For more than a decade, executives at several major Japanese auto parts makers met in secret, sometimes speaking in code, to fix prices on wiring…

27

• Healthcare system woes clearly seen in cataract patient's case. Karen Fairbank has cataracts and is scheduled for surgery in March at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute. With her high-deductible Blue Shield of California policy,…

26

• Obama initiatives to address foreclosure crisis face hurdles. Two new initiatives from President Obama to address the foreclosure crisis — more help for struggling homeowners and aggressive investigations of financial firms — face…

23

• All 2011 unemployment insurance benefits taxable. The jobless rate is dipping, but millions of people are still out of work. And that could have implications when they file their income tax…

21

• Coping with high-priced insurance that lenders make you buy. Force-placed insurance. Most homeowners never hear about it until their mortgage lender sends them a letter saying that they must have flood or some other…

20

• Lack of dental coverage sends patients to ER for pain. When a man recently visited an emergency room here with a toothache, consulting physician Alan Sorkey quickly diagnosed the dental infection was serious and even…

19

• Mortgage settlement deal "very close". The federal government is "very close" to a settlement with mortgage servicers that could help a million homeowners by reducing what they owe on their…

• NHTSA ill-equipped to assess cars' high-tech systems. The nation's top auto safety regulator is ill-equipped to detect problems with high-tech electronics that are increasingly commonplace in today's cars, a new government study…

13

• Credit score zealots pursue fool’s errand over 800. eff Rose, a 33-year-old financial planner, is trying to improve his credit score even though it’s 780, which is 69 points above the median score.…

• Foreclosure reviews to take longer than expected. Reviews of hundreds of thousands of foreclosure cases ordered by regulators last year will take months longer to complete than first expected, according to documents…

11

• Big banks face inquiry over home insurance. A New York State financial services agency is investigating several large banks to see whether they fraudulently steered homeowners into overpriced insurance policies. The investigation…

10

• Obama needs to find his backbone on healthcare reform. It's wrong to call the president of the United States a weenie. So I'll just say instead that perhaps President Obama could show a little…

• Bill would regulate Buy Here Pay Here used-car lots. Used-car dealers known as Buy Here Pay Here lots would be regulated by the state as lenders under new legislation aimed at curbing what some…

• Some doctors charge your credit card number upfront. After a year abroad, my daughter came home last summer, unusually fatigued and with more severe asthma symptoms than when she left. After a thorough…

06

• Collaborating reduces costs of health care. Peter Cady, who works 12-hour shifts on his feet at Intel's plant here, occasionally suffers severe lower back spasms. But he nearly gave up seeking…

05

• Protect your money: How to research a broker. Q: How can one research the reputation of a brokerage firm using online tools? Please use Edward Jones as an example. A: Gone are the…

• Obama appoints Cordray to head consumer watchdog bureau. In a bold act of political defiance, President Obama installed Richard Cordray as head of a new consumer watchdog agency Wednesday, bypassing Republican opposition in…

03

• Better not to claim Social Security benefits early. The U.S. economy has made modest gains recently. Consumer confidence rose during the fall, and the stock market has stabilized. Meanwhile, employment appears poised to…

01

• Consumer protection made big gains in 2011. The last year was a remarkable one for consumer protection. Among the wins: A new watchdog agency opened for business, regulators cracked down on a…