| Volume 138 Number 2 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Prepaid debit cards are a good way to avoid the interest and fees associated with credit cards, right? Wrong! Many prepaid cards include fees to activate them up, review your account, use an ATM or reload the card. Be sure to shop around and read the terms before signing up for any prepaid card. Click here for more.
Avoiding Amazon-related phishing scams
Joseph Steinberg recently got an email that appeared to be from Amazon, thanking him for making a purchase on Prime Day. The email promised him a $50 bonus if he would click a link and post a review about the item. This is one of the countless phishing schemes using Amazon's name and logo. Amazon says other scams use a variety of reasons to ask for your user name and password or will tell you it’s necessary to update your payment information. The company would like you to send the email as an attachment to stop-spoofing@amazon.com. Make sure you don't open any attachments or click on any links in the email.
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Your Money
5 ways you're losing money without even realizing it. We all work hard for our money, so the last thing we want to do is throw any of it away. Yet a surprising number of us are kissing countless dollars goodbye due to ignorance or poor spending habits. Here are a few common sources of wasted money many of us inevitably fall victim to: (1) unused gym memberships; (2) wasted food; (3) overspending on restaurant meals; (4) retirement-plan fees; and (5) sluggish investment growth. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Court not arbitrator decides if arbitration agreement permits class arbitration. The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit joined the majority of appellate courts (including the Third, Fourth, and Sixth Circuits) in holding that the question of whether an arbitration agreement authorizes class arbitration is for a court, not an arbitrator, to decide, unless the agreement expressly delegates that issue to the arbitrator. Catamaran Corp. v. Towncrest Pharmacy, (8th Cir. 2017). Click here for more.