Finance Globe

When consumers have trouble with businesses, the Federal Trade Commission is often the go-to government agency for complaints. Each year, the FTC compiles a report on the complaints it received from the previous year. In 2012, the FTC’s biggest complaint category was identity theft. That makes the 13th year in a row that identity theft has topped the FTC’s list of complaints. Eighteen percent of all the FTC’s complaints were related to identity theft, similar to...

In this week’s State of the Union address, President Barack Obama recommended the minimum wage be incrementally increased to $9.00 per hour and be tied to the inflation rate after that. Having the Federal minimum wage indexed to inflation would help make sure that employees are paid a wage that keeps up with increased cost of living. All workers can benefit from increased minimum wage. Generally, other wages move up when the Federal minimum wage goes...

The U.S. Postal Service announced on Wednesday its plans to drop Saturday letter delivery to street addresses beginning in August. The move is expected to save the financially ailing agency an estimated $2 billion per year. “The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America’s changing mailing habits,” said Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General and CEO....

Americans who were able to get a mortgage and bought a home last year took advantage of the low prices and great mortgage rates in the most affordable housing year on record. Housing affordability set an annual record in 2012, the National Association of Realtors reported on Wednesday.In 2012, the NAR’s National Housing Affordability Index hit its record high at 194, topping the previous record of 186 in 2011. The index is based on the relationship...

Ten U.S. banks have agreed to pay $8.5 billion to settle charges that they wrongfully foreclosed on millions of homeowners in the aftermath of the housing bust, the Federal Reserve reported on Monday. Banks involved in the settlement are Aurora, Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, PNC, Sovereign, SunTrust, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. Four other banks - HSBC, Ally, EverBank and One West - are still in negotiations.The sum includes $3.3 billion in...

The number of adults living in shared housing and the number receiving food stamps increased since before the beginning of the recession through 2011, but the there was little change in the number receiving public assistance, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released on Wednesday.The Census Bureau defines shared housing as a home with an adult resident who is neither the householder or the householder’s spouse or cohabiting partner. Adult relatives, roommates, and other unrelated...

Hurricane Sandy slammed the Northeast on Tuesday and left devastation in its wake. Dozens of human lives were lost, millions more have been affected by flooding and power loss, and property has suffered billions of dollars in damage.But the losses don’t end there. After any major disaster, the climate is perfect for the lowest of the low to come out and prey on unsuspecting victims - fraudulent creeps who come up with a number of post-disaster...

Refunds will be sent this week to consumers who were swindled by a telemarketing scam that promised “free” goods and services such as gift cards, gas cards, and resort vacations, the Federal Trade Commission reported on Thursday.Consumers who were victimized by the alleged scam were misled into thinking the caller was from the consumers’ own credit card issuer or a major retailer, and then billed for goods and services they never agreed to. When consumers didn’t...

Americans continued to feel the pinch in a sputtering economy and saw their incomes decline for the second year in a row - but fewer people are going without health insurance, according to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Wednesday.The U.S. median household income fell 1.5 percentage points to $50,054 in 2011 - falling the most for blacks, who experienced a 2.7 percent decline in their incomes from 2010 to 2011, while the...

The national unemployment rate fell from 8.3 percent to 8.1 percent in August, according to Labor Department statistics released on Friday. The economy added 96,000 jobs last month - mostly in food services and drinking places, in professional and technical services, and in health care.The number of long-term unemployed (jobless for 27 weeks or more), 5 million, changed little in August and account for 40 percent of the unemployed.Of the major worker groups as defined by...