Posts Tagged ‘ Cell Phones ’

Week Adjourned: 9.24.10

September 24th, 2010. By LucyC

Top Class Actions

Don’t Put that Mortgage in Reverse. If there’s any possible way to make a buck off consumers, you better believe the banks will figure it out. It seems there’s just no end to the stuff they get up to. Case in point, a Seattle mortgage lender, The Seattle Mortgage Co, a unit of Seattle Bank, is being sued in California over alleged illegal lending practices.

Here’s the deal, the suit focuses on fees paid to brokers and charges levelled against borrowers in reverse mortgage transactions.

FYI—a reverse mortgage, also known as a home equity conversion mortgage, is available only to people over the age of 62 years, and is heavily regulated by the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)—but maybe not heavily enough.

While it is the intent of the regulation to ensure that mortgage brokers provide their customers with the best financial advice based on the customer’s needs, it is possible that the brokers may have been influenced by the fees they receive from the banks selling the loan products. In other words, it may have been in the brokers’ and bank’s best interests for your grandmother to take out a reverse mortgage—but not necessarily hers.

The class is estimated to affect as many as 7,800 seniors, and if the court finds in favor of the plaintiffs, reimbursement of costs and damages may total as much as $56 million, the lead attorney representing the plaintiffs has said. And that’s just one state. Similar practices may be going in on other states… but that remains to be seen.

Top Settlements

Payday Loan Violations Get Settled. And then there’s the pay day cash advance market… Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Advance America, Cell Phones, mobile content, pay day loans, Seattle Mortgage Company, Week Adjourned
Posted in Emerging Issues, Week Adjourned | 5064No Comments »Week+Adjourned%3A+9.24.102010-09-24+20%3A36%3A53LucyC

Join Oprah’s No Phone Zone Day on Friday

April 27th, 2010. By AbiK

no phone zone Join Oprahs No Phone Zone Day on Friday Safe to say Oprah’s probably got more folks watching her every day than ants glomming onto a sticky lollipop, but still, I daresay there are some of you out there that are not aware of No Phone Zone Day.

And you should be.

Oprah’s channeling the Doobie Brothers and takin’ it to the streets this Friday, April 30th, to drive home the message that distracted driving—ie, driving while chatting on a cell phone or texting your BFF—causes accidents. Deadly ones.

So she’s asking all of us—you included—to take the No Phone Zone Pledge. You can fill out on online pledge at Oprah.com and join the close to 200,000 others who’ve done so as of when I’m writing this. The No Phone Zone Pledge is a pledge to make your car a No Phone Zone (intuitive, no?) and you’re given three options to choose from in order to make your pledge (there’s also a print out version—see pic at left):

I will not text while I am driving
I will not text while driving and will use only handsfree calling if I need to speak on the phone while I am driving.
I will not text or use my phone while I am driving. If I need to use my phone, I will pull over to a secure location.

For the record, I went with number 2. My heart and conscience wanted to go with number 3, but I know how things’ll most likely play out in reality. So 2 it is.

While you’re at Oprah.com, you can also take the “Your Brain on Texting Quiz“—I did, and scored a 4 out of 5. (Got question #4 wrong).

No Phone Zone Day is supported by the US Department of Transportation (DOT), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), National Organization of Youth Safety (NOYS), FocusDriven, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), RADD: the Entertainment Industry’s Voice for Road Safety, and the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA).

Tags: Accidents, Cell Phones, Distracted Driving, No Phone Zone Day, Oprah, Texting
Posted in Emerging Issues | 3453No Comments »2010-04-27+17%3A56%3A13AbiK

New Meaning to “Shut Up and Drive” Cell Phone Bumper Stickers

March 8th, 2010. By AbiK

shut up and drive1 New Meaning to Shut Up and Drive Cell Phone Bumper Stickers As Maine continues to debate a proposed bill that would require cell phone manufacturers to put warning labels on cell phones and packaging stating that they can cause brain cancer, particularly in children, it’s a good time to review some tips—some of which may surprise you—on how you can try to reduce your risk of radiation exposure from your cell phone.

The bill, by the way, is sponsored by Rep. Andrea Boland—and has strong supporters on both sides of the debate. Boland was quoted in an Associated Press article as saying that the US lags behind other countries that have either mandated similar warnings or endorsed policies warning the public about cell phone use. The article also quotes supporters of the bill as referring to continued unregulated cell phone use as “playing Russian roulette”, and that ”We can do nothing and wait for the body count.”—likening the situation to big tobacco. Meanwhile, those in opposition to the bill cite lack of conclusive scientific research.

The following list of tips for reducing cell phone radiation exposure is from the Environmental Working Group (EWG):

1. Buy a low-radiation phone. Do your research—EWG publishes lists of the highest and lowest cell phones Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cell Phone Radiation, Cell Phones
Posted in Emerging Issues | 29191 Comment »2010-03-08+19%3A44%3A27AbiK

Cell Phone Radiation: 10 Best, 10 Worst

September 14th, 2009. By LucyC

cellphonecostume Cell Phone Radiation: 10 Best, 10 Worst So, in case you missed it—and I very nearly did—the Environmental Working Group (EWG) put out 2 lists last week ranking radiation levels emitted from cell phones—the 10 least dangerous and the 10 most dangerous.

They EWG evaluated over 1000 different types of phones—who knew there where than many to choose from? How could any consumer possibly figure out the dirty on that many phones? Thank you EWG!

Bottom line, while the EWG boffins could not find conclusive proof that cell phones cause cancer —specifically brain cancer—they couldn’t give the devices a clean bill of health either.

But you may want to know, your kids are most at risk for cell phone radiation-related health problems because their skulls are thinner and softer-so they absorb radiation more easily.

So without further ado, here’s the EWG’s list of the 10 best phones in terms of radiation levels:

Listing is based on phones currently available from major carriers.

1. Samsung Impression (SGH-a877) [AT&T]

2. Motorola RAZR V8 [CellularONE]

3. Samsung SGH-t229 [T-Mobile]

4. Samsung Rugby (SGH-a837) [AT&T]

5. Samsung Propel Pro (SGH-i627) [AT&T]

6. Samsung Gravity (SGH-t459) [CellularONE, T-Mobile]

7. T-Mobile Sidekick [T-Mobile]

8. LG Xenon (GR500) [AT&T]

9. Motorola Karma QA1 [AT&T]

10. Sanyo Katana II [Kajeet]

For the top 10 worst cell phones for radiation emission, look here.

Tags: Cell Phone Radiation, Cell Phones
Posted in Defective Products, Emerging Issues | 13162 Comments »2009-09-14+20%3A53%3A01LucyC

Sprint ETF Settlement: Stuck with Sprint to avoid fees? Read on…

September 2nd, 2009. By AbiK

sprint phone Sprint ETF Settlement: Stuck with Sprint to avoid fees? Read on... The pending Final Approval Hearing for the Sprint Nextel Early Termination Fees (ETF) Settlement on October 21, 2009 should have folks racing to submit their claims for either a cash payout or a credit for future minutes. But many current Sprint customers probably aren’t submitting claims, simply because they haven’t paid any early termination fees—as of yet.

If that sounds like you, then you might want to go ahead and submit a claim anyway. Why? According to the explanation provided by the settlement administrators, the affected class may include individuals who stayed on with Sprint—for fear they would have to cough up the ETF if they quit their contract. The explanation of who is included in the class states the following: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cell Phones, ETF, Sprint
Posted in Settlement | 119015 Comments »2009-09-02+23%3A52%3A22AbiK