Economic Glance
While he believed he had signed up for a free report, he had actually enrolled in a credit-monitoring service that cost $14.95 a month. He says he never expected that it would cost anything.
“It’s called FreeCreditReport.com,” he said. “It’s kind of easy to make that assumption. I didn’t see anything in the process of signing up that said, ‘Hey, if you don’t cancel in 30 days or whatever, you’re going to get charged.’ ”
Consumer groups have long objected to sites like FreeCreditReport.com. Consumers may obtain a free credit report each year from the three major agencies, as mandated by an act that Congress passed in 2003. The only authorized site for that is AnnualCreditReport.com.
The three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, are required to offer reports through the authorized AnnualCreditReport.com, but the bureaus also make money from their own credit reports.
The High Cost of a ‘Free Credit Report’
How Washington is Fooling You: Manipulated Employment Data
The government and related agencies are responsible for reporting the nation's economic data. Thus, they're in the driver's seat to manipulate this data, while dumping so much of it onto consumers that they can't possibly analyze what's really going on. Each day, “critical” economic numbers are released by one or more agencies connected to Washington . And consumers look to Wall Street and the media to make heads or tails of this data. Of course, Wall Street is always going to paint a rosier picture for its own benefit. Meanwhile, the mainstream media merely serves as a puppet for Wall Street.
Rent-back schemes 'rob thousands of homes'
Tens of thousands of vulnerable people are being forced to sell their homes at rock-bottom prices through controversial 'sale-and-rent-back' schemes to avoid repossession, according to a study by Shelter, the homeless charity.
The schemes are part of an unregulated industry worth £2.5bn a year. Homeowners are typically offered a lump sum for their properties - usually between 70 and 90 per cent of its value - and told they can stay in their homes providing they keep up payments. But Shelter said most firms only allowed tenants to remain for a matter of months before insisting on selling.
Taxpayers handing $33 bln to oil companies
Even though it is already experiencing record profits, the oil and gas industry is set to receive at least $33 billion in handouts from taxpayers over the next five years, according to a new analysis released today by Friends of the Earth.
Struggling College Students Turn to Food Banks
There's definitely been an increase in usage and demand. We're seeing more and more students that have never used the pantry before."
In the past year, the price of groceries has jumped nearly 5 percent, the highest increase in nearly two decades. The cost of some staples has shot up by more than 30 percent.
TVNL Comment: Another Bush legacy.
The moneychangers versus the U.S. Constitution
The most insidious enemy of the Constitution is the private moneychanger and its misuse of our security assets, military and police agencies. Never have we witnessed such blatant and relentless assaults on our Constitution, and the moneychangers are central to those assaults. The first major congressional assault was the secret Christmas holiday passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. These assaults are directed to serve private interests, not the common citizen.
The threat posed by Saddam Hussein was his intention to trade Iraq's oil, not in petrodollars, but in Eurodollars. This threat was the real justification to deploy our military. Sales pitches such as “spreading democracy” and the security of Israel were widely promoted by the private news media, but Saddam's Eurodollar threat was the clincher. Similarly, that same media is now claiming that Iran is working on WMDs and poses a threat to nuclear-armed Israel. But also not widely publicized is the Iranian oil trades in Eurodollars. Reduction of the hegemony of the Federal Reserve and petrodollars is regarded as the true threat. Is there a pattern here?
Make no mistake and your rate can still spike
You pay on time and stay within your limit, and your rate can still spike. How can that possibly happen?
Credit card companies are always coming up with new ways to make money. Slip up and they'll bump up your interest rate. But the latest gotcha takes the cake.
Make companies now put language in their contracts that gives them the right to change your interest rate whenever they feel like it.
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