| Volume 72 Number 2 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
A good way to protect yourself when you move out of your apartment is to tell the landlord to keep the security deposit as the last month's rent, right? Wrong! Under Texas law, withholding your last month's rent could result in a penalty of twice the rent plus an additional $100. Click here for more.
Unpaid Medical Bills Can Ruin Your Credit
Medical bills can be very expensive. However, if unpaid, they can become an even bigger burden. If a doctor or hospital sends an unpaid medical bill to a debt collector, your credit may suffer greatly. In 2010, 30 million patients were contacted by debt collectors about unpaid medical bills. In some instances, consumers owing as little as $200 saw their credit scores dive by 100 points after their bills were sent to collections. If a you owe a medical bill and it goes to collections, you might have trouble financing a home, buying a car, or getting a credit card. What can you do about it? Click here for more.
Throttling: Consumers Furious With AT&T
In a followup to a story from last week, AT&T consumers are becoming increasingly angry after the company took steps to start throttling data usage for consumers on the "unlimited" plan. AT&T responded by announcing that data usage will only be slowed for the top 5% of users. According to AT&T, that includes consumers with over three gigabytes of data usage per month. Coincidentally, three gigabytes is also the allotted usage for consumers on the $30 tiered plan. Despite AT&T's claims, a consumer in California won a small claims court case against AT&T after it throttled his usage when he was using less than two gigabytes per month. Is AT&T just trying to push its unlimited data users to more expensive tiered plans? Click here for more.
Your Money
What is your personal net worth? Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Voluntary payment rule does not prevent suit against a telephone company for craming. The Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the voluntary payment doctrine did not bar telephone customers from suing their service providers under a state statute for engaging in deceptive billing practices. Click here for more.