| Volume 142 Number 86 |
Subscribe to the Newsletter
Forward this news alert to your family and friends
Helpful Links
Texas Consumer Complaint Center
Credit Reports and Identity Theft
Your Guide to Small Claims Court
Contact Us
1-713-743-2168
The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
November 11 is Veterans Day. More than 18 million people are U.S. military veterans. It’s a fitting time to thank military veterans for their sacrifice and service in protecting the United States. It’s also a good time to help protect our veterans from fraud. Click here for more.
AT&T settles claim that it throttled ‘unlimited’ data plans
AT&T has agreed to pay $60 million to settle a five-year-old complaint by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which took issue with the company’s use of the word “unlimited” to describe data plans that reduced data speeds. In 2014, the FTC alleged that AT&T did not adequately inform consumers who signed up for “unlimited” data plans that their speeds were subject to throttling once they exceed a certain amount of data usage. As for the $60 million AT&T is paying in the settlement, the FTC says the money will be used to provide partial refunds to current and former customers who signed up for unlimited plans before 2011. Affected consumers will not be required to submit a claim for the refunds. Click here for more.
Your Money
Retirement savers will be able to defer paying income tax on up to $6,000 in an individual retirement account in 2020. Workers with slightly higher incomes will also be eligible to save for retirement in traditional and Roth IRAs and qualify for the saver's tax credit. Here are the IRA limits for 2020: Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Split Ninth Circuit says bank must face FDCPA class action. A split Ninth Circuit panel revived a putative class action claiming that Capital One checked credit histories without a valid reason under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. One judge dissented, saying the lead plaintiff hadn't laid out a sufficiently plausible case. Capital One argued that Nayab didn't suffer any injury from the financial giant's allegedly unauthorized inquiries about her credit. But the panel said the allegation of unauthorized access alone gives Nayab standing to bring the case, "regardless whether the credit report is published or otherwise used by that third-party." Freshta Nayab v. Capital One Bank NA, case number 17-55944, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Click here for more.