Consumer Affairs
Watching out for Chicago consumers and their money with product news, spending trends, and recall updates.
Some of the ways scammers have used QR codes are by placing fraudulent QR codes on parking meters or by posing as legitimate businesses.
They grab cellphones and demand pass codes to banking apps like Zelle and Venmo. A Chicago architect who lost more than $2,000 that way says: “Don’t have any banking apps on your phone.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says BMW is recalling 486 SUVs after the driver was seriously on Oct. 23. BMW blamed a welding defect and said it is limited to a small lot of inflators.
No need to panic, even though Medicare’s annual open enrollment period is about to end.
Accounts that haven’t been used in at least two years and deemed by the tech giant to be inactive could be deleted.
These highly profitable facilities often charge $5,000 a month or more and then layer on fees at every step.
The head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, says the economy appears headed to a “soft landing” in which inflation returns to the Fed’s 2% target without an economic crash.
A jury in California convicted two executives from Gree USA Inc. for not telling the government what it knew about the defects. The appliances were widely sold under well-known brand names.
The syndicated financial columnist wants to get Social Security to end its practice of halting benefits in overpayment disputes. And that’s just a start.
The Illinois Commerce Commission voted to slash the utility’s pipe replacement budget for 2024, paused the program and ordered an investigation into the spending that Chairman Doug Scott said ‘is not justified.’
Tom Bassett-Dilley sees his home as an experiment that other home and building owners could follow. No natural gas. An induction stove. “My monthly bill is $14.56 a month for the whole year. And that’s for all of my energy.”
Owners say they need the surcharges to stay in business and remain competitive. Critics say it’s a sneaky way to increase the tab without raising menu prices.
This time, Chicago’s north and northwest suburbs got hit particularly hard on property taxes.
“To get invited to the table, you have to have that piece of paper,” says Freddie Ramos, who took out $20,000 in loans to pay for one son’s degree and is cutting back on expenses as a three-year payment pause ends.
It runs through Dec. 7, with potentially dozens of options to choose from, including traditional Medicare and privately run Medicare Advantage plans.
The three-year pause is over for an estimated 43 million borrowers, including 1.5 million in Illinois. Here are some answers to questions borrowers wanted to know about repayments.
After a lifetime of service, seniors dealing with the onslaught of telephone scammers.
Thursday’s announcement follows this year’s 8.7% benefit increase, brought on by record 40-year-high inflation. With inflation easing, the next yearly increase is markedly smaller.
An administrative law judge has recommended the Illinois Commerce Commission approve rate increases totaling about $350 million.
The 50-page complaint against Residents Energy filed Sept. 29 alleges some customers had their energy costs tripled and claims average rates were nearly double those offered by ComEd in 2020.
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