We already have Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Presidents Day Sales, July 4th Promotions and about every “car sales event” you can think of. So it only makes sense that someone finally came up with the idea of Back-to-School Saturday.
With retailers working hard to grow the ranks of their Twitter followers, consumers are increasingly using the service to get basic customer service and even to try to resolve disputes. But a new study, released Wednesday by STELLAService, shows their success rates vary widely.
Planning to switch banks? Hope you have a bottle of aspirin handy because, odds are, the bank is going to do everything it can to keep you around, and that adds up to a major migraine for you. A new report documents all the roadblocks banks throw up to keep their customers from leaving, from charging you money to generating as much hassle factor as possible. It’s like that line from the Eagles’ “Hotel California:” You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.
In this week’s TIME Magazine cover story, columnist Joe Klein tells his story of caring for, and eventually losing, his elderly parents. The article is powerful in part because it deals with an issue that — if we’re lucky — most of us will face.
What do prices at the pump have to do with prices at the used car lot? They actually tend to mimic each other. Higher gas prices tend to cause drivers to want to spend less out of pocket on their automobiles. That means rising demand, as well as rising prices, for used cars—fuel-efficient used cars especially. Used car prices spiked last summer as gas prices soared, and then spiked again earlier this year as the national average neared $4 a gallon. Now that gas prices are retreating, relief is also in sight for consumers in the market for used cars.
The best argument for going green is that it’ll help conserve natural resources and money at the same time. The new breed of “green” supercars led by Ferrari and Porsche doesn’t really do either.
Thought the student loan crisis was bad as it is? Now add hefty fees into that mix. Providers say students can avoid the fees that pile up when they elect to receive their financial aid on a debit card, but new research from a consumer advocacy group finds that these companies throw up roadblocks to keep the fee revenue rolling in, even as colleges make big bucks off their affiliations with these institutions.
In a purely business sense, it’s easy to understand why airlines are more or less forcing passengers to pay fees for seat reservations on planes: more fees equal more profits. But the scheme is hated by families — and is likely to be hated even more by passengers who wind up sitting next to nervous, whiny kids who are rows away from their parents. That’s not good for business at all.
Right now, the theme park with the most expensive basic admission ticket in the U.S. is located, unsurprisingly, in Orlando. What may be surprising is that it’s not a Disney park.
A bankruptcy judge has ruled in favor of a Maryland resident who claimed she could not repay her student loans because her Asperger’s syndrome prevents her from holding a job.
With student debt at $1 trillion and counting, and tuition rising 8% a year, it seems impossible that anyone would not know about the smartest college savings tool out there: the 529 plan. Alas, stunning numbers of Americans are in the dark.
Americans are increasingly dependent on credit cards just to put food on the table and keep the lights on, a new study shows. Although we’re doing a better job overall paying our bills on time these days, many people are relying on more easily attainable credit just to keep their heads above water. With no home equity left to tap, skimpier health insurance coverage and jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed vanishing, even middle class Americans are once again at risk of tumbling down the rabbit hole of debt.
