Netflix Wal-Mart Class Action Lawsuit

Nov 18, 2011 Posted Under: Credit Cards Info

A few years ago, Netflix and Wal-Mart allegedly entered an agreement where Wal-Mart agreed to exist the DVD rental business and promote Netflix’s service and Netflix would not sell new DVDs to compete with Wal-Mart. A group of Netflix customers have banded together to enter a class action anti-trust lawsuit against the two companies for this practice, which allegedly allowed Netflix to gain dominance and raise customers’ fees.

Wal-Mart has agreed to settle the lawsuit. The company will pay a settlement fee of $27,250,000, with some of the proceeds going to affected customers. Netflix, on the other hand, has not yet stopped fighting the lawsuit.

You are included in the Wal-Mart settlement class if you live in the United States or Puerto Rico and you paid a subscription fee to Netflix to rent DVDs online anytime from May 19, 2005 through September 2, 2011. Any

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Credit Card Traps 2.0: What You Need to Know

Nov 15, 2011 Posted Under: Credit Cards Articles
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Most consumers would agree that the Credit CARD Act of 2009 made life easier for credit card users.

However, despite the new protections, card issuers have been quick to come up with new traps for unsuspecting consumers. Here are some of the sneakiest tricks to watch out for when applying for or using your card.

Ambiguous disclosures: Uncertain terms take on a new face Previously, when consumers applied for a credit card, the most important terms of the new credit account were typically buried deep in pages of fine print.

However, the Credit CARD Act of 2009 requires card issuers to clearly disclose the terms and conditions for new and existing credit card accounts, making it easier for consumers to know exactly what they’re on the hook for if they apply for a new card.

But despite the more transparent disclosures, consumers still face significant hurdles trying to figure out exactly what interest rate they will have to pay after they receive a new credit card.

Most card applications these days disclose a range of possible APRs on new cards, making it tough to figure out exactly what youll be charged. F

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Banks top investment pile as Lloyds leads the way

Nov 8, 2011 Posted Under: Credit Cards Articles

Investor attention has been focusing on banks as the fallout from the Eurozone crisis continued to wreak havoc with the markets.

The fortunes of Lloyds Banking Group were uppermost in investors’ thoughts in the week ending 8 November, according to TD Waterhouse, with the banking giant being both the most bought and most sold stock of the week.

Almost half the top ten buys were accounted for by Lloyds, with investors seemingly sensing an opportunity.

Having announced losses of £3.8 billion for the first nine months of the year, and seen its chief executive officer be signed off for sick leave, Lloyds saw its shares fall to a low of 27 pence during the week, having closed the previous week at nearly 31 pence.

Meanwhile, other financial heavyweights also caught the eye of investors.

Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland occupied second and third place respectively in both the most bought and most sold charts for the week.

RSA Insurance Group entered the buys table in seventh place after announcing positive interim results for the third quarter of the year.

Investors took the plunge after the company revealed it had written £6.1 billion worth of insurance premiums in the first nine months of 2011, around 11% higher than in the same period in 2010.

At the same time, fellow insurer Aviva retained fifth place in the buys table, and also dropped to ninth place from fourth in terms of being sold.

Also enjoying considerable interest were the oil and gas explorer Afren, the chip-maker ARM Holdings, and the world’s second largest mining company, Rio Tinto.

“Afren was this week’s fourth most popular buy after announcing it had completed the acquisition of oil assets in the Kurdistan region of Iraq for nearly $600 million, using a $200 million loan to help fund the purchase,” explained Darren Hepworth, global trading and product director at TD Waterhouse.

Looking for the right investment? <

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Tax advice of the week: Throw a Christmas party

Nov 8, 2011 Posted Under: Credit Cards Info

If you don’t have any staff, or if there are just a handful of you, it’s still possible to qualify for a “tax-free knees-up” at Christmas, says Tax Tips & Advice. The important thing is to keep within the taxman’s £150 a head exemption, which extends to a guest (such as a spouse or partner). Exceeding it, even by just £1, will “trigger a tax and NI charge on the lot”.

Take a Christmas celebration for a sole director/employee and their partner. “The net cost is £240 (£300 less 20% corporation tax relief = £240).” But spend £301, and the “overall net cost to the company of providing a Christmas outing would be up to £558”. Of course, tipping your budget by a few pounds and ending up with a hefty tax and NI bill isn’t hard to do.

To avoid this trap, make sure that the hotel and/or restaurant is booked in the firm’s name, but a director is authorised to pay the bill personally. That way he can claim back up to

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Stocks May Benefit From Data, Reports Of ECB Bond Buying

Nov 7, 2011 Posted Under: Credit Cards Tips

– The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Thursday, with sentiment getting a lift from central bank actions and some positive domestic data. After German and Spanish bonds surged higher, the European Central Bank reportedly began buying Italian bonds to release the pressure on them. Domestically, the weekly jobless claims thawed below the key 400,000 level in the recent reporting week, while the trade deficit for September unexpectedly declined.

U.S. stocks tumbled on Wednesday after advancing in the previous two sessions, as sovereign debt fears accentuated by a surge in Italian bond yields generated negative sentiment, leading to an across the board sell-off.

The major averages opened notably lower and languished in negative territory throughout the session, with the selling accelerating in late afternoon trading.

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Why I Paid $450 to Get The Platinum Card® from American Express

Nov 6, 2011 Posted Under: Credit Cards Tips

This is one of the most embarrassing posts Ive ever written here at the Dough Roller. Im a bit ashamed to admit it, but I just signed up for The Platinum Card® from American Express at an annual cost of $450. In my defense, it was all Selinas fault. Heres what happened.

Ive been a member of American Express for 16 years. At first I carried the Green Card, and then I upgraded to the American Express® Gold Card. I liked the Gold Card because of its travel benefits, and it was a perfect way to charge business travel expenses and keep them separate from my personal expenses. Over the last few years, however, my job hasnt required me to travel much. But that recently changed.

Ive gone back to the private practice of law, which will require more travel. So I called American Express to see if I could convert my Gold Card to the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express. An

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Your Take: Unbundling & A La Carte Pricing

Nov 4, 2011 Posted Under: Credit Cards Info

I call it a la carte pricing, various industries all it unbundling, but more and more industries are breaking out how much you pay for what services when you do business with them. It was the subject of Art Pines article in Kiplingers and he goes into detail about the logic of bundling and unbundling your pricing.

Personally, I like unbundling as long as I have control over what I can buy. When a hotel breaks out the price of everything on the folio, especially on things I have no input on, I find it as unnecessarily complex. Its as if they broke out the housecleaning charges, the linen charges, the water bill, the little soaps and shampoos, and the electricity bill as if I had a choice in how much I consumed of each. I like that airlines are charging for baggage because in theory the baggage-less people arent paying for the baggage-laden travelers.

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Norton Security Spans All Your Connected Devices for Full Armor Protection

Nov 2, 2011 Posted Under: Credit Cards Articles

Have you ever wondered what would it be like if we didn’t have internet now?  If PCs were still around, how useful would they be without connectivity to the web?

Connecting to the internet has mad a big impact on the PC era.  It has contributed to the growth and development of the world that we are all enjoying now.  Businesses have utilized the technology in their operations, and the internet has been used even for our personal needs.  However, being connected to the internet also means higher risk of getting virus and other threats which could possibly damage our units, files and even our identity.

Today, the PC is not just the only way to connect.  We can now connect through the wide variety of connected devices such as smartphones, notebooks, tablets, gaming consoles, TVs, and others.  As previously reported, visiting porn sites or adult websites increases the risk of cyber attacks through virus and malware.

To address this growing problem on cyber attacks across multiple devices, just this week, Norton by Symantec has announced their plans to deliver Norton One in the first half of 2012.   This is in addition to Symantec’s earlier announcement last month about their free mobile security for Android based devices.

Norton One is a personalized service that will protect all users and consumers across multiple devices.  This will allow the consumers to have an option to choose a combination of solutions which they think is the most effective for them and to ensure a more protected connected household.

“Norton continues to expand our business with our Norton Everywhere initiative, delivering solutions that are focused on the individual, wherever they go and regardless of the device they’re using,” said Janice Chaffin, group president, Consumer Business Unit, Symantec.  “Norton One is a one-of-a-kind, new model that will address the security and service challenges that consumers face today.”

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