Delta And US Airways Will Refund "Taxes" Collected During FAA Shutdown

Delta And US Airways Will Refund "Taxes" Collected During FAA Shutdown: "

Delta was the first airline to start giving out refunds for the extra money they've been scalping from passengers while the FAA remains shut down. After the airline made the announcement Monday, US Airways on Tuesday said they would follow suit.

Until its mandate is re-extended, the FAA has no authority to collect federal taxes, which are assessed on each passenger's ticket. Most airlines opted to raise airfares the same amount as the tax amount, which is essentially a hidden fare increase.

Last week the IRS asked airlines to please give people refunds for the money and said that airlines can do so, just like when a refundable ticket is exchanged.

The refunds will apply to travelers who bought tickets on or before July 22 and flew between July 22 and whenever the FAA's lights go back on.

Delta has not said when the refunds are going to start coming, but a spokesperson told USA Today that, 'it should be relatively soon.' Yeah, when an airline tells you it should by any time now, it's time to break out a thick book.

Delta to refund taxes for travel during shutdown [The Dallas Morning News] (Thanks to Michael!)

US Airways joins Delta in refunding ticket taxes paid before FAA shutdown [Washington Post]

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Senators Blast Airlines For Profiteering During Tax Holiday

How To Get A Tax Refund From JetBlue

Airlines Not Passing On Savings Of Not Having To Pay FAA Taxes

Delta, Continental, Others Jack Up Fares After Federal Tax Takes Vacation

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Ticketmaster Makes Deal With Walmart, Devil Confused As To Whose Soul To Collect First

Ticketmaster Makes Deal With Walmart, Devil Confused As To Whose Soul To Collect First: "

Earlier today the nation's largest retailer, Walmart, announced a deal with the nation's least essential company, Ticketmaster, to sell overpriced tickets via in-store video screens at hundreds of Walmarts around the country.

'By integrating ticketing into Walmart stores, we are able to offer fans this very convenient way to learn about upcoming events, purchase and take home tickets without leaving their neighborhood,' said Nathan Hubbard, CEO of Ticketmaster about the unholy alliance between the two companies.

The ticket-vending displays will be popping up at various Walmarts in California, New York, New Jersey, Texas, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Florida.

Ticketmaster says it will be coming up with exclusive deals for tickets (no doubt promoted by its parent company Live Nation at Live Nation-owned venues) for Walmart shoppers.

Both companies are perennial entries in the Consumerist Worst Company In America tournament. Ticketmaster has made the competition's Final Four for several years in a row, an made a good showing in the 2010 Finals before losing out on the Golden Poo to Comcast.

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What If Food Labels Looked Like This?

What If Food Labels Looked Like This?: "

Maybe the real reason Americans are so fat is because our food labels are so ugly. If they were easier on the eye to read, maybe more people would read them and make better eating choices. That was the idea in mind behind a recent design contest at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Journalism aiming to give the standard government-mandated food label a much-needed makeover. The winning entry uses colored boxes for each ingredient that are sized in proportion to how much of each is inside the package.

The entry submitted by designer Renee Walker is a big improvement in terms of readability. The simple graphical approach makes it easier to understand what's inside. The question is whether it would be able to deal with products that have a more complicated series of ingredients. You can look through the juried selections yourself and vote for the best one by sharing it on Facebook. The winners will be forwarded onto the FDA for consideration.

Rethink the food label [News21]

Designing a Better Food Label [NYT]

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How Long Should Paid-Off Medical Debt Be Part Of Your Credit Report?

How Long Should Paid-Off Medical Debt Be Part Of Your Credit Report?: "

This is very good news because. I owe Group Death $$$ for a eye prescription that is High Way Robbery. The charge was just for the prescription not including eye glasses.

Right now, any medical debt that gets sent to a collections agency can remain on your credit report for up to seven years, even after it's been paid off. This ding on your credit score can be the difference between qualifying for a loan or being denied. That's why the House Committee on Financial Services is looking at a bill that would erase some paid medical debts from folks' credit reports.

The Medical Debt Responsibility Act, introduced earlier this summer by Congressman Heath Shuler of North Carolina, would require the three major credit bureaus -- Equifax, TransUnion and Experian -- to remove records of medical debt of up to $2,500 within 45 days of being paid off.

'Small amounts of medical debt cause huge credit problems for millions of responsible, hard-working Americans who have suffered an illness or accident,' said Shuler when the legislation was first introduced. 'By keeping cleared medical debt off of credit reports, this bill will allow more Americans to have the credit score they deserve and need to buy homes and stimulate economic growth in their communities.'

Says Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez of NY, a co-sponsor of the bill, 'Medical debt is not a reliable indicator of credit risk, yet nearly a quarter of Americans have seen their credit scores plummet because of small, routine medical bills.'

A rep for the American Bankers Association argues that lenders have a right to know about an applicant's entire payment history, saying that while the debt the bureaus would be required to be remove 'is not major medical debt, but still, there are exceptions that seem to undermine the purpose of credit reports even if well-intended.'

The credit bureaus worry that, by deleting this information from a credit report, borrowers might qualify for loans they are not prepared to pay. 'Expunging predictive information is not in the best interest of consumers or credit granters -- both of which benefit when credit reports and scores are as accurate and predictive as possible,' reads a statement from VantageScore, a credit-scoring company developed by Experian, TransUnion and Equifax.

Where do you come down on this issue -- Is seven years too long for a paid-off doctor's bill to remain on a credit report? Is erasing the debt record after 45 days too soon?

Bill seeks to erase medical debt from credit reports [CNN Money]

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Inmate Ran $1 Million Credit Card Scam Using Cell Phone & Secret Shoppers

Inmate Ran $1 Million Credit Card Scam Using Cell Phone & Secret Shoppers: "

Armed with only an illegal cellphone and a cadre of secret shoppers, an inmate at the nation's largest single federal prison was able to coordinate upwards of $1 million in credit card fraud in the outside world.

According to a rather exhaustive piece in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the inmate, already serving time in New Jersey for credit card fraud, would spend up to 17 hours a day on his phone, calling directory assistance to ask for the numbers of people with names that matched those of his cohorts on the outside.

He'd then call these people, posing as a staffer from a utility or cable provider, trying to wrest even a small portion of identifying info -- birth date, some digits from their Social Security Number -- from them. Then he'd call up the credit card companies, often pretending to be a fraud investigator at the same company, trying to turn that scrap of information into all the relevant details he would later need. If the employee became suspicious, he would hang up and try again until he found someone who he could sweet talk.

Once he had all the info to steal someone's identity, he would once again contact the credit card folks, this time to either add one of his shopper's as an approved user on the card or to have his shoppers' name and info swapped in for the real user.

With that nasty business out of the way, the inmate's secret shopper crew could now go about their business of running up huge credit card tabs on the heisted accounts. If stores checked with the credit card providers, these shoppers would show up as approved users, so they were able to go about their business unimpeded.

The shoppers would go into stores with detailed list of things to purchase, which would then be sold to pre-arranged buyers for around half of the retail value, all of it profit to the criminals.

It wasn't until a detective from Ohio began investigating an incident at a local Lowe's, where one of the shoppers had purchased over $14,000 of stuff with someone else's card, that the inmate's plot began to unravel. The investigation would eventually involve the U.S. Attorney's office, the federal prison system and a wiretap on the inmate's phone.

After investigators figured out how the inmate was directing his crew from behind bars, they identified a handful of stores that were to be visited by the secret shoppers. The stores were to allow the transactions to go through while investigators followed the shoppers and other crew members to find out how the goods were being distributed.

When police finally swooped in, the inmate was found to have three phones -- it's not known if they were used in the scam -- along with notebooks full of names, credit card and Social Security Numbers.

Even after he was taken to Ohio to face these new charges, the inmate still managed to use the prison pay phone to continue his scheming. A search of his new prison cell turned up a six-page spreadsheet containing credit card information, a packet of receipts, canceled checks, bank statements and credit-card images.

He even attempted to pass himself off as a member of the U.S. Marshal's service to get himself transferred to another prison.

The inmate eventually pleaded guilty to wire fraud and ID theft charges and was sentenced to an additional 14 years in prison. Authorities have asked that he be labeled 'a serious telephone abuser' so that his access to prison pay phones will be limited.

Inmate's huge credit-card scam unravels when Bath Township detective connects dots [Clevand Plain Dealer]

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