| Volume 99 Number 4 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Always use a credit card when shopping online or by mail. Federal law allows you to refuse to pay the credit card bill if the goods are never delivered.
For more general information about the law, check out my website.
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President Signs Order to Ease Student Loan
On Monday, President Obama signed an order capping student loan payments at 10% of income. According to the White House, the order is designed to alleviate the burden on the middle class. The new cap will be available by December 2015. Since the President can only go so far with an executive order, he urged Congress to take action to reform student loan law.
How will the executive order help college graduates?
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General Motors Issues Four New Recalls
On Friday, General Motors announced even more recalls following a scathing safety report. Of the four recalls, three involve airbags that may not deploy in the event of a crash. The most serious of the airbag recalls include nearly 32,000 year 2012 Buick Verano and Chevrolet Camaro, Cruze and Sonic compact cars.
For the year, General Motors is up to 34 recalls involving 13.9 million vehicles.
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Apple May Drop Regular Headphone Jack
According to industry insiders, Apple has modified it's MFi (made for iPhone) standard to include headphones that connect through the Lightning port instead of the traditional headphone jack. As a result, speculation is mounting that Apple will abandon 3.5mm headphones for its own custom design. Right now, consumers can use their Apple headphones on any other device, or use aftermarket headphones on their Apple devices. However, should Apple decide to limit the use of headphones on its devices to those that fit the Lightning port, it could dramatically change the way consumers listen to their Apple devices. Since Apple owns the intellectual property rights to the Lightning port, it would have to approve manufacturers who design headphones to use the specialized jack.
Will Apple do away with the traditional headphone port?
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Your Money
What will an auto lease actually cost?
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For the Lawyers
Company does not violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act when it obtains a “consumer report” in the name provided by an impostor in order to verify a consumer’s identity and eligibility.
The Sixth Circuit held that a company that attempts to verify a customer who is using a stolen identity is not liable to the true holder of the social security number provided by the thief. “We reject the contention that a company, dealing with an impostor purporting to be the consumer, should be held liable when the company attempts in good-faith to verify the consumer’s identity and eligibility for commercial services.”
As the court noted, “This is a case about identity theft and apparently reflects the axiom that no good deed should go unpunished.”
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