All posts by Barbara Nevins Taylor

Giving A Puppy As A Surprise Holiday Gift

December 21st, 2017

by Philip Raclyn, DVM

Maybe you’re thinking, “I can’t wait to see their expression when they see this adorable little puppy under the tree…” And it’s true: a puppy is bound to bring a smile to your child or loved one’s face. But as appealing as the idea may be, here are three important reasons why you should resist the impulse to give someone a puppy as a surprise holiday gift.

You’re Making an “Arranged Marriage”

You may have researched the breed, and think you know the kind of dog your child, spouse, or friend will enjoy, but all dogs, whether purebred or mutt, have individual personalities, quirks, and needs. You’re taking a big risk by choosing a “best friend” for someone else.

And while it’s hard to resist almost any puppy, not all adoptable pups are healthy, even-tempered, or properly socialized around people. It’s often hard to tell, particularly with shelter animals, if the puppy has physical or emotional issues that its new owner won’t be prepared for, or a temperament that doesn’t suit them.

You’re Making a Commitment for Someone Else

Adopting an animal is a huge commitment and caring for animals is an enormous responsibility. By “gifting” a pet, you are making that choice for someone else.

You are committing someone to both the time and the expense of caring for a pet. If it’s for your child, are you sure your child will be willing to walk and care for the pet? Or would they actually be happier with a toy puppy for the time being?

And if you’re gifting a puppy to a friend or a parent, are you sure they have the time and the financial ability to provide proper care for the dog and pay for food, training, vet visits, pet sitters, equipment, and dental care?

Animal shelters are filled beyond capacity with homeless animals, many of which were former “pets”—all because a child lost interest and no one else stepped in or because an adult owner discovered that they were unable to continue to care for their new dog.

You May Support Inhumane Puppy Mills

A shocking percentage of the puppies in both pet stores and shelters come from unscrupulous breeders who force dogs to continually breed in cramped, inhumane conditions.

This overbreeding and inbreeding produces puppies that are unhealthy, genetically flawed, and poorly socialized.

By purchasing one of their carelessly bred pups, or agreeing to adopt one of their rejects from a shelter, you are allowing unethical puppy mills and unlicensed breeders to continue to thrive.

What’s A Safe – and Ethical – Way to Gift a Puppy?

A life-long companion shouldn’t be a spur-of-the-moment decision, nor should it be a “blind date.”

The very best way to gift a “best friend” is to let your loved one choose their own puppy by visiting or calling a responsible, certified breeder who can tell you about the personalities and temperaments of the individual puppies he or she has carefully bred. And who can guarantee that the puppies are healthy and properly socialized. That’s why we’ve created The Puppy Project: to create a way to find responsible, humane, and expert breeders who are certified by The Veterinary Council for Breed Stewardship.

Or, if you want to gift a shelter puppy, make sure it’s from a good facility that lets folks not only spend time playing with the potential pet, but also – like the Humane Society – provide new pet adopters with 30 days to test the relationship.

If you think a new puppy is exactly what will bring a giant smile to someone special this holiday season, and that they are ready for the responsibility, by all means offer to make it happen.

A great way to do that is to find a wonderful dog toy or adorable dog sweater and put that under the tree with a gift certificate for a great breeder or well-run shelter. That way you can offer to help them choose the puppy that they want, one that will put a smile on their face, and the puppy’s, way longer than just the holiday season.

*This post first appeared on LinkedIn

Featured Stories, Latest News, Medicare, News

Senate Tax Bill Forces Medicare Cuts

November 29th, 2017

Brace yourself. The proposed Senate tax bill would force $25 billion in Medicare cuts in 2018 and maybe more in the future because it would trigger a rule called Pay-As-You-Go or PAYGO. The rule requires mandatory Medicare cuts and cuts to other programs when new legislation raises the deficit. The Senate plan adds $1.5 trillion to the deficit and so if it becomes law, Medicare will suffer.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) lays out the gory details in a letter to Democratic House Whip Steny Hoyer. The CBO points out that the PAYGO limits Medicare cuts to four percent, but that’s still a $25 billion cut.

Social Security, Medicaid and Food Stamps are exempt from PAYGO. But other programs are not. And raising the deficit with the tax bill means other programs, including student loans and farm subsidies, will also suffer.

While Congress pushes ahead with a tax cut plan that will benefit rich people, even conservative think tanks and some rich people urge against it. Deficit hawks like those at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation say, “Tax reform should grow the economy, not the debt.”

The Economic Policy Institute, which studies policy aimed at helping low and middle income workers, points out that the top 1 percent will benefit with a $32,500 tax cut but the bottom 20 percent will pay $10 more. Its report says that while 20 percent of people in the middle will get a tax cut, 66 percent of them will get a tax increase in 2027.

More than 400 millionaires and billionaires wrote to Congress to ask lawmakers not to cut their taxes. Under the umbrella of the Center for Responsible Wealth, the signers said, “We believe the key to creating more good jobs and a strong economy is not tax breaks for those of us who have plenty, but investing in the American people. Our civic institutions that help people meet basic living standards and protect the climate are critical to supporting our prosperity as a nation.”

The signers of the letter include: Rockefeller Brothers Fund chair Steven Rockefeller, financier George Soros, filmmaker Abigail Disney, former American Airlines CEO Robert L. Crandall, Seventh Generation founder Jeffrey Hollender, Hanna Andersson founder Gun Denhart, former Stride Rite CEO Arnold Hiatt, film producer Sarah Pillsbury, clothing retailer Eileen Fisher, and former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich.

If you don’t like what Congress is doing, let your Senators and Representatives know. Here’s how:

Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121and ask for them. You can find your U.S. Representative here.

And your U.S. Senators here.

Who Protects Your Money?

November 26th, 2017

Who protects your money? You do, of course. But your personal finances also got help in the past five years from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). It has protected all of us from missteps and worse by big financial institutions like J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, credit reporting companies and other pillars of our economy. It also went after less well-known financial predators including payday lenders, debt collectors and college loan servicing companies.

That’s why, whether you voted for Donald Trump and whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, you should worry that Trump installed Mick Mulvaney to lead the bureau that protects consumers.

Mulvaney, Trump’s budget director, called the CFPB a “joke…in a sick, sad way,” in a 2014 video interview with the Credit Union Times. The bureau came about as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms after the economy nearly collapsed because of bad banking practices in 2008.

Now, in case you haven’t followed what the CFPB has done — and who follows everything? — here’s a quick reminder of a few of its standout actions.

The CFPB fined Wells Fargo $185 million for opening phony accounts for customers who didn’t know they were paying for extra services. The CFPB refunded more than $100 million to Wells Fargo customers. And the CFPB has gone after Wells Fargo to successfully retrieve money for other violations.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has fined Chase repeatedly. In one instance, 2.1 million consumers received refunds from a CFPB imposed fine of $309 million because customers were charged for so-called credit monitoring that they didn’t receive. In another instance, Chase had to refund at least $50 million to consumers and pay a fine of $136 million to the CFPB and 47 state governments for illegally assigning credit card debt to debt collectors when customers didn’t owe money. These are just two examples of cases involving Chase.

In 2016, thanks to the CFPB, Citi refunded $5 million to individual consumers because Citibank sold credit card debt to debt collectors and inflated the interest rates. In another case, CitiMortgage and CitiFinancial Services paid a $28.8 million settlement because of mortgage loan servicing practices.

The CFPB went to bat for students who took out loans to attend for-profit colleges and received worthless or questionable education. It sued Corinthian Colleges for predatory lending

In total, companies have paid $11.9 billion to consumers because of illegal practices and 29 million consumers have benefited. The CFPB motto is clear: “We protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices and take action against companies that break the law.”

So if any of this is important to you, call your senators and congresspeople. Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121and ask for them. You can find your U.S. Representative here.

And your U.S. Senators here.

Tax Cut Winners And Losers

November 17th, 2017

by Barbara Nevins Taylor

Do you lose with the tax cut? It depends how rich you are. Both the House and Senate plans have tax cut winners and losers. The rich do better under both the House and Senate tax plans, according to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Its report says, “The largest cuts in dollars and as a percentage of after-tax income would accrue to higher income people.” Researchers also found “. . . not all taxpayers would receive a tax cut under this proposal — at least 7 percent of taxpayers would pay higher taxes under the proposal in 2018, and at least 24 percent of taxpayers would pay more in 2027.”

So who wins and who loses under the plan the House of Representatives passed and the proposals under consideration by the Senate?

Losers

You stand to lose if you deduct student loan interest, or tuition and fees. The proposed House plan eliminates those deductions. The Senate plan leaves things the same.

You lose, under the House tax plan, if you deduct out-of-pocket medical expenses. The Senate proposal, for now, leaves things the same.

You lose if you itemize deductions now. Both the House and Senate proposals repeal many itemized deductions.

If you deduct state and local taxes, you may find a big change. Under the House plan you could deduct up to $10,000 of your real estate taxes. But under the Senate plan you couldn’t deduct anything, not your property taxes not state and local income taxes. Nor could you deduct medical expenses or charitable donations.

If you deduct your mortgage interest, the Senate proposal would let you deduct interest on a house loan of up to $1 million. Under the House plan it’s $500,000 for a principle residence. So this hits many people who live in California, New York and New Jersey where real estate prices and taxes are high and many have second homes.

Winners

Corporations win as the tax rate would go down from 35 percent to 20 percent under both the House and Senate plans.

You also win if you have an estate valued over over $5.6 million, or twice that for a couple. The top estate tax rate of 40 percent wouldn’t kick in under the House and Senate plans unless your estate is valued at $22.4 million for couples and $11.2 million for individuals.

Featured Stories, Healthcare, Insurance News, Money News, News

7 Things About Health Insurance For 2018

November 6th, 2017

You need to know 7 things about health insurance for 2018. The first is that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, still offers health insurance for people who buy their own. Republicans in Congress tried and failed to do away with the ACA this year, and although Donald Trump has worked to undermine the system, it is still there and ready to use.

That means if your employer does not provide health insurance, you can sign up through the ACA.

However, a few things have changed.

1. The Affordable Care Act still exists and you can buy health insurance through Healthcare.gov, or your state healthcare exchange. Plans cover:

a. Pre-existing conditions

b. Essential health benefits and preventive services
Doctor visits
In-patient and out-patient hospital care
Prescription drugs
Pregnancy care and childbirth
Mental health services
(Some plans cover more)

c. Preventive Services
Shots
Screening

2. You have less time to make a decision about the type of health plan you want. That’s because the Trump Administration reduced the time period for registration by six weeks. The enrollment period runs from November 1 to December 15, 2017 for the federal exchange. And the Healthcare.gov website will shut down for maintenance every Sunday from midnight until noon, except December 10. The plan you buy before the deadline will begin on January 1, 2018.

3. Automatic re-enrollment kicks in if you have a plan under the ACA and update or review it to make sure it’s still right for you. That’s why it’s important to go back to your exchange and compare plans. You have until December 15, 2017 to do that. You also need to update your income and household information to make sure that you get the savings and the premium tax credit you deserve.

4. If your insurer wrote to tell you it is not offering a plan in your state this year, Healthcare.gov or your state exchange will match you with another insurer.

5. Penalties still exist. If you earn enough to pay federal income tax, you have to have insurance or you will pay a fine at tax time. That fine is 2.5 percent of your income, or $695, whichever is greater.

6. Shop around. Prices went up in large part because President Trump cut subsidies to insurers and they raised premiums to offset their losses. The premiums are higher on silver-level plans in some states. And Kaiser Health News reports that the highest-level gold plans, which cover 80 percent of costs, may have in some cases lower premiums than silver plans. So you really have to pay attention and make sure that you get the best deal.

7. Beware of insurance sold outside of the marketplaces. Apparently, some insurers began selling plans with limited benefits outside of the marketplace. These do not cover everything and may not cover pre-existing conditions. If you buy one of these cheaper plans that offers less you may still have to pay the fine because it doesn’t meet the federal requirements.

West Side Highway Terror Attack Hits Home

October 31st, 2017

Maddening, infuriating, awful, thoughts, words pile up and out when you hear about a terror attack. For us the West Side Highway terror attack hits home. We walk from our house in the Village to a beautiful path along the Hudson River down to the Battery and the beginning of Manhattan island. When we ride our bikes south, we ride on the portion the terrorist targeted.

Crumpled bicycles lay on the path just below Houston Street where, say news reports, Sayfullo Saipov from Uzbekistan drove his truck aimed at bikers heading toward him. Sally had dismounted her bicycle and stood near the police tape upset and bewildered. “My daughter is locked down in Stuyvesant High School. I hope she’s okay. I hope everyone’s okay.” But all was not okay.

The 29-year-old killer, reported to have a Florida driver’s license and perhaps living in New Jersey, drove a rented Home Depot truck at high speed for about 15 blocks on the narrow path. He mowed down people in his way almost right to the door of Stuyvesant High School, where he rammed into a school bus injuring two two children and two adults.

The driver then came out of the truck shouting “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “God is great.” He brandished what appeared to be two handguns. A uniformed police officer shot him in the abdomen. Police recovered a pellet gun and a paint ball gun.

Sally didn’t know that the NYPD had reported eight people killed and at least a dozen injured and I didn’t have the heart to tell her.

At a late afternoon news conference Mayor Bill de Blasio, Governor Andrew Cuomo and NYPD Commissioner James O’Neal stood side by side grim faced. Mayor de Blasio said, “A very painful day in our city….This was an act of terror, a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians.” He said, “We know that this action was intended to break our spirit. But we also know New Yorkers are strong. New Yorkers are resilient and our spirit will never be moved by an act of violence an action to intimidate us.”

The killing spree ended within a few blocks of the site of the World Trade Tower and the memorial to those killed on September 11, 2001.

Commissioner O’Neal called it a, “A tragedy of the greatest magnitude.”

The wounded suspect was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive.

Immigrant Population Reaches Record Number

October 19th, 2017

Photo by Rhododentrites, Creative Commons License

The new wave of immigration sweeping into the U.S. brought the immigrant population to a record number of 43.7 million in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That includes legal and illegal immigrants and shows an increase of half a million since 2015 and 12.6 million since 2000.

While the country debates immigration and President Trump has moved to overturn the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that gave 800,000 young people legal status, the Census Bureau points out that immigrants represented one out of eight residents in the U.S. or 13.5 percent. That’s the highest percentage in 106 years.

People from Mexico represented the largest number of immigrants coming into the country, but because many return to Mexico, the number of Mexican immigrants hasn’t grown in the last six years, the Census Bureau reports.

The increase in the number of people coming into the U.S. came from Caribbean countries, Central America, South America, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia.

A look at the individual countries reveals that the number of people from Saudi Arabia has risen 122 percent since 2010. More than 654,000 came from India and more than 550,000 from China in the same period.

Many immigrants chose the Sunbelt states as destinations. Texas gained nearly 588,000 immigrants, Florida close to 578,500, and California 527,000. New York, by contrast, gained over 238,500 and New Jersey a little more than 171,500.

The Census Bureau did find that number of immigrants overall from Mexico, Canada and Europe declined.

The data comes from the American Community Survey (ACS), and Homeland Security had previously estimated that the survey missed about 1.9 million immigrants. So the Census Bureau pushed the unofficial estimate of immigrants up to a likely 45.6 million, illegal arrivals as well as legal ones.

Statista, the data-gathering group took the information and created an info-graphic that shows the increase and the pattern of immigration in the U.S. since 1900.

You will find more statistics at Statista

Consumer News, Featured Stories, Latest News, News

Equifax Hack Affects Millions More

October 7th, 2017

by Barbara Nevins Taylor

The Equifax hack may affect you because the company’s latest audit shows that the first count was off by 2.5 million people. Forensic investigators hired by Equifax now say thieves stole personal information, including Social Security numbers, of 145.5 million people, not 143 million in the U.S., as the company originally reported on September 7, 2017.

So what you do?

Go to the website Equifax set up to try to provide answers to people the hack affects.

crisis: https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/

They changed their policy and will now let you know immediately whether the hack may affect you. A screen will come up that tells you.

Then, if the hack affects you, they ask you to enroll in the Equifax TrustedID Premier program. That provides:

Automatic alerts if someone inquires about your credit report at Equifax, or the two other major credit reporting companies, TransUnion and Experian.
A copy of your Equifax credit report
Equifax Credit Report lock, which allows you to lock your credit report so that no one can enquire about it, “with certain exceptions,” they say.
$1 million in identity theft protection in the event someone steals your identity. They say this helps pay for “out-of-pocket” expenses.
Social Security number scanning that searches suspicious websites for mention of your Social Security number.

In the meantime, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group has called for Congress to pass a law to would make sure all consumers in every state have the ability to freeze their credit reports for free.

You can get free credit freezes only in Indiana, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina. In some states, victims of identity theft can get free credit freezes.

U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s Consumer Advocate Mike Litt says, “Free freezes are important because you need to pay fees to all three credit bureaus to be sure all the doors to your credit report are closed to identity theft.”

Two bills in the Senate and one in the House contain provisions to offer free credit freezes in every state. But those in Congress need to hear from consumers who want the protection, especially now.

Here’s how to get in touch with your U.S. Senator.

Here’s how to get in touch with your U.S. Representative.

Watch Kosciuszko Bridge Blow

October 1st, 2017

Boom! You can watch the old Kosciuszko Bridge blow up. Anyone who endured decades of traffic jams on this span over Newtown Creek linking Brooklyn and Queens will enjoy seeing the 78-year-old bridge come down. And anyone who never had the pleasure will still enjoy the two-and-a-half minute plus video, spectacularly shot by a drone camera.

Demolition workers with Controlled Demolition set 944 linear-shaped explosives on the old bridge. They had weakened it by making 1600 cuts in the steel at strategic points. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the explosives manufacturer “confirmed” the blasts would not spew hazardous bi-products into the air.

The old hulking metal Kosciuszko Bridge rose 110 feet above the creek and was built for 10,000 cars a day. In recent years, more than 180,000 vehicles a day passed over it, mostly very slowly or at a crawl.

Photo by New York State Department of Transportation

A new, delicate, cable-stay bridge replaced the old truss bridge in April 2017. A twin span, still under construction, will complete the replacement project. Ultimately, it will provide provide twelve much-needed lanes for traffic on Interstate 278, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, known to us locals as the BQE. The new, like the old, directly links Maspeth, Queens to Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

The first bridge to span the creek went up in 1803 and for a long while it cost a penny to cross it. In 1939, it was replaced by the one that just came down at a cost of $6 million. Originally, it was called the Meeker Avenue Bridge. A year later, Mayor Fiorella La Guardia led a ceremony to rename it in honor of Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a Polish volunteer and general in the U.S. Revolutionary War.

Whether it’s the old or the new, we should point out that the often maddeningly slow ride across the Kosciuszko Bridge and the BQE offers a spectacular view of the New York skyline that always thrills those of us who love the city.

Consumer News, Featured Stories, Latest News, Money News, News, Scam News

You Can Blame Equifax For Data Breach

September 14th, 2017

You can blame Equifax for the data breach that affects 143 million of us. It apparently did not fix a security flaw that it knew about and had received a fix for. “The Equifax data compromise was due to their failure to install the security updates provided in a timely manner,” the Apache Software Foundation wrote on its September 14, 2017 blog.

Apache provides open-source software called Apache Struts for Equifax and major financial institutions and government agencies. The website zdnet quotes Fintan Ryan, an analyst at Redmonk, saying that 65 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Apache Struts.

On its blog, Apache says it issued an update alert on March 07, 2017 and recommended that companies, or anyone using Apache Struts, install a security update.

Apparently, Equifax did not do that. Instead, it says it became vulnerable to a hack from mid-May to July 29. Equifax did not make this public until September 7, 2017.

The problem with the software allowed hackers to use file uploads to launch a bug that let them communicate with the servers and steal information including Social Security numbers, drivers license numbers, credit card numbers and other personal financial information.

But in the community of people involved with this type of software and cybersecurity, the word was out and they issued alert warnings. They may not directly blame Equifax, but the facts point in that direction.

In a March 8, 2017 blog, Nick Biasini with the Cisco Talos, a threat intelligence group, wrote, “Talos began investigating for exploitation attempts and found a high number of exploitation events.”

On March 9 another expert, Akamai SIRT, wrote on a blog titled Vulnerability Found In Apache Struts, “If you are currently running an affected version of the software, malicious users could execute code on the system remotely by using a maliciously crafted Content-Type header. Successful exploitation does not require the user to be authenticated. Apache has classified the vulnerability as a “possible remote code execution;” however, the vulnerability is easy to exploit and allows code to be executed using the user context of the account running the Tomcat server. At least two working exploits have been seen in the wild already.”

He also told users,”Upgrading Apache Struts to version 2.3.32 or 2.5.10.1 will fix the current vulnerability.”

So that leaves us with the question about why Equifax didn’t fix the flaw that led to the breach and what happens to us and all of that stolen data now.

So consumer advocates say you can blame Equifax for the giant mess the credit reporting company made for consumers. That’s why its a good idea to put a freeze on your credit report, as the U.S. Public Interest Group warns in a news release.

“We’re recommending that consumers get credit freezes with all three credit bureaus. We’ve called on Equifax to pay for all those freezes, but consumers shouldn’t wait for that. Credit freezes are currently only free in seven states (about to be eight in October).

“We are working to make them free in other places like Illinois and Massachusetts, where state bills have been introduced. But Congress should lead and make credit freezes free for everyone in the country.”

Consumer News, Featured Stories, Latest News, Money News, News, Scam News

What Should You Do About Equifax Data Hack?

September 8th, 2017

updated October 7, 2017

by Barbara Nevins Taylor

You heard and read about the data hack. Now what should you do to protect yourself after the Equifax breach? The theft affects millions of us in a bad way. We have no clue exactly how yet but you can find out if hackers got your personal information. I went on to the Equifax site and discovered hackers got mine. And we’ll explain how you can find out about whether the hack affects you and what to do.

It could. Hackers gained access to the accounts of 143 million people, that’s what Equifax said at first. After an investigation by outside forensic experts, the company upped the number affected to 145.5 million people in the United States.

The data hack makes three-quarters of consumers with credit reports prime targets for identity theft.

In a news release, Equifax said it discovered the hack on July 29, 2017 and we and other consumer advocates wonder why they waited so long to let us know.

The company acknowledged the information stolen includes “. . . names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers. In addition, credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers, were accessed. As part of its investigation of this application vulnerability, Equifax also identified unauthorized access to limited personal information for certain UK and Canadian residents.”

Next Step

Go to the website Equifax set up for this crisis: https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/

They ask for your name and the last six digits of your social security number. Based on that, you’ll learn immediately whether hackers may have stolen your information.

Then push the “Enroll” button that takes you to the page for the “TrustedID Premier” program.”

Once you register, Equifax will offer free services for an unlimited time. Initially they promised a year, but consumer outrage forced the change.

Credit monitoring of Equifax, Experian and TransUnion credit reports
Copies of Equifax credit reports
Give you the ability to lock and unlock Equifax credit reports
Identity theft insurance up to $1 million.
Internet scanning for Social Security numbers

But the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) says Equifax doesn’t go far enough: “Consumers need the ability to “lock down” or freeze their credit reports at all three major credit bureaus, and for more than one year, because the stolen information could still be used to fraudulently apply for credit using a report from Experian or TransUnion as well.”

The NCLC, the U.S. Public Interest Group (USPIRG) and other advocates also demanded Equifax change its forced arbitration plan, which prevented consumers affected by the hack to sue, or join a class action lawsuit.

What should you do about the Equifax data hack now?

But both consumer groups suggest strongly that anyone harmed by the Equifax breach get security freezes immediately at Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.

This means that no loans, credit or services will get approved in your name without your approval. Depending upon your state and age, the credit bureaus offer it free, or charge $5 – $10.

If you don’t want to do that, put a 90-day “initial fraud alert” in your credit report that tells businesses they should verify your identity before they issue credit. You have to renew an “initial fraud alert” every 90 days.

Featured Stories, Immigrant News, Latest News, News, Student News

DACA Supporters Sue

September 6th, 2017

photo by Daniel Ramirez

DACA supporters promised to sue on behalf of Dreamers and they delivered. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court to block President Trump’s plan to end DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that gave 800,000 undocumented young people temporary legal status.

The lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of New York asked the court to prevent Trump’s order eliminating the program from going into effect. The lawsuit charges that the president issued an unconstitutional order that deprives people of their rights. It said the White House action reflects “a culmination of President Trump’s oft-stated commitments . . . to punish and disparage people with Mexican roots.”

President Obama established DACA in 2012 to help young immigrants make a good life for themselves in the United States. Obama’s executive order took the pressure off many of those brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents before they turned sixteen and allowed them to apply for legal status and work permits. Even with DACA, they needed to renew their application every two years. Under the Trump order, which goes into effect in six months, no one will get a renewal. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service will no longer accept first-time applications for DACA.

After he eliminated DACA, Trump called on Congress to draft legislation to help these young people. But it’s not clear what will happen.

The lawsuits could help.

Trump’s plan is “cruel, shortsighted, inhumane and driven by a personal bias against Mexicans and Latinos,” New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said.

States in the lawsuit include: New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

California, with largest DACA population of about 220,000, plans to file a separate lawsuit, according to Bethany Lesser, a spokeswoman for California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

Featured Stories, Immigrant News, Latest News, News

Lawsuits To Keep DACA And Protect Dreamers

September 5th, 2017

The serious game of lawsuits, to protect 800,000 young immigrants, began within hours after the Trump administration announced an end to DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. And President Obama, who created the program in 2012, took to Facebook where he called Trump’s action unnecessary, political and wrong.

Obama said, “Ultimately, this is about basic decency. This is about whether we are a people who kick hopeful young strivers out of America, or whether we treat them the way we’d want our own kids to be treated. It’s about who we are as a people – and who we want to be.

“This is about young people who grew up in America – kids who study in our schools, young adults who are starting careers, patriots who pledge allegiance to our flag. These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper., To target these young people is wrong – because they have done nothing wrong.”

Obama called on members of Congress, “to protect these young people.”

But action in the courts may make a difference. Martín Battala Vidal, a young immigrant, and the advocacy group Make The Road New York (MRNY) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. They argue that President Trump’s elimination of DACA violates federal law and the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee.

They asked the court to allow them to amend a 2016 lawsuit that challenged the Texas case that blocked Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA). The National Immigration Law Center and the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School helped draft the suit.

In California, where the largest number of DACA young people live, more than 220,000 according to the Public Policy Institute of California, California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra promised legal action to challenge Trump’s decision. He said ending the program was unconstitutional because the young immigrants followed the rules and Trump’s decision undermines their right to due process.

In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo

and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said they will sue to protect the Dreamers.

Nearly 40,000 DACA recipients live in New York State. “We should not and cannot sit on the sidelines and watch the lives of these young people ruined.” Cuomo said.

President Obama created DACA with an executive order and it gave undocumented immigrants, brought here by their parents before their sixteenth birthdays, the opportunity to apply for legal status and work permits. It put an end to hiding and worrying about the possibility of deportation and it gave them hope.

President Trump said those with DACA status now will have a six month grace period and asked Congress to come up with a permanent program.

In a written statement he said. “I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. But we must also recognize that we are nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws.”

Featured Stories, Immigrant News, Latest News, News, Student News

Worry For DACA Dreamers

September 3rd, 2017

by Barbara Nevins Taylor

Everything changed for Carolina when President Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012. Until then, she worried about what would happen to her when she graduated from Hunter College. Could she get a job? Would immigration officials kick her out? “I barely remember living in Mexico. I was seven when we came her and I consider myself an American. This is the only home I know,” she told ConsumerMojo.

Carolina, her mom, and her then-five-year-old sister entered the country legally from Mexico, but overstayed their visas. Her mom worked two jobs as a cleaner, and while Carolina took classes at Hunter, she and her sister cleaned restaurants at night. But DACA meant that the girls, like others in the same boat, could apply for work papers. It gave this generation of immigrants, “Dreamers,” legal status, although they had to renew every two years.

It also meant that Carolina, an aspiring photographer, could get a job in a well-known photo supply store and take more courses toward her college degree.

President Trump’s pledge to crackdown on immigrants, and his recent threats to do away with DACA, jeopardizes Carolina’s status and that of almost 800,000 other young people brought here by their parents before they they turned 16. Most identify as Americans.

We stand with the National Immigration Law Center others trying to communicate with the White House and members of Congress about the importance of these young immigrants.

ConsumerMojo.com championed the DACA program when President Obama issued his executive order. We published videos

Ride the 7 Train With Young Immigrants

and guides to applying for the program and encouraged young people to come out of the shadows.

That’s why we felt encouraged when we heard House Speaker Paul Ryan say he doesn’t think the program should end.

When Ryan was asked on WCLO in Janesville, Wisconsin, about the possibility that Trump would end DACA, he said, “I don’t think he should do that.” And he went on to say, “I believe that is something Congress has to fix.”

Republican Senator Orin Hatch,

from Utah, in a statement said, “I’ve urged the President not to rescind DACA, an action that would further complicate a system in serious need of a permanent, legislative solution. Like the President, I’ve long advocated for tougher enforcement of our existing immigration laws. But we also need a workable, permanent solution for individuals who entered our country unlawfully as children through no fault of their own and who have built their lives here. And that solution must come from Congress.”

White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Trump would announce his decision on Tuesday. We hope he makes the right one.

Featured Stories, Latest News, Scam News

Thinking About Donating To Hurricane Harvey Victims?

August 31st, 2017

by Nick Taylor

The heartbreaking scenes of Texas underwater and the long recovery people face prompt us to reach for our checkbooks to do what we can to help. National and local charities will have their hands full for months as rescue shifts to recovery

But how do you know that your money will go where it’s needed?

Even the American Red Cross, the go-to charity when disasters like Hurricane Harvey strike and displace thousands, was called out in an editorial in Wednesday’s New York Times.

The Times questioned the Red Cross for a lack of transparency about how it spends donations: how much goes to public relations, for example, and how much to assist the homeless stuck in shelters.

The American Red Cross does good work and we want to encourage people to donate. But like the Times, we think they need to tell us more about where the money goes. Sandra Bullock put her money and faith in the American Red Cross with a $1 million donation.

Pop-up “charities” present thornier problems and a lot of us fall into that briar patch and get ripped off. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman encouraged New Yorkers to support relief efforts along the Texas coast, but he also cautioned about scammers: “Unfortunately, there are always some who attempt to take advantage of a tragedy to line their own pockets . . .”

So how do we know?

Beware of robocallers and telemarketers

First of all, watch out for robocallers and telemarketers. Professional money raisers make these calls and you need to ask them some questions before you do anything else.

1. Most states require charities to register to make sure they do legitimate fundraising.

a. Ask if the charity is registered with your state’s charities bureau. This takes you to New York’s charities bureau.

b. Ask how much of the money goes to the charity.

c. Ask how much the caller, or the caller’s organization, gets paid.

This does seem like a lot of trouble to do something good. But taking a few precautions can help to make the most of your contribution.

Ignore spam emails
Legitimate charities don’t usually send unsolicited spam emails,
Use your good common-sense judgment that helps you avoid other scams.
Don’t give cash.
Don’t give credit or debit card information
Don’t give personal information over the telephone or by text message.

But People And Legitimate Charities Need Help

We made a list of charities with good reputations.

The AARP Foundation created the Help Victims of Hurricane Harvey Fund will match donations up to $1 million.

The Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund set up by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and administered by the Greater Houston Community Foundation helps out in a lot of ways.

Houston Rockets point guard James Harden stood with Mayor Turner and announced that he would donate $1 million to relief charities. His boss, Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander pledged $10 million to Mayor Turner’s fund.

The United Way of Houston received $1 million from Leonardo DiCaprio, but it needs more money to help people in the recovery.

The L.G.B.T.Q. Disaster Relief Fund run by the Montrose Center also needs help.

Americares provides medicine and supplies to survivors.

Catholic Charities provides food, clothing, shelter and support services to those from all religious backgrounds.

If you live in Texas, the City of Houston Emergency Operations Center posted a list of places where you can drop off donations.

Houston Food Bank and the Food Bank of Corpus Christi need donations. The South Texas Blood and Tissue Center reports a critical shortage. It extended hours in all of its San Antonio-area donor rooms.

The Texas Diaper Bank in San Antonio needs diapers and wipes. You can drop them off or mail them to 5415 Bandera Road, Suite 504, San Antonio, Tex., 78238.

To help animals:

Houston Humane Society

San Antonio Humane Society

Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

How to check to find a legitimate charity:

Look at the charity’s website and check:

Charity Navigator

CharityWatch

Wise Giving Alliance of the Better Business Bureau

If a fake charity tries to rip you off, let your state authorities know. In New York, the attorney general’s office wants to investigate these complaints.

Consumer News, Featured Stories, News, Scam News

Should You Switch To An Energy Service Provider?

August 30th, 2017

by Barbara Nevins Taylor

When our friend Judith asked us about quitting her utility, Con-Ed, to switch to an energy service provider that promised to lower her gas and electric bills, we suggested she wait awhile. We knew that class action lawsuits and investigations alleged that some of these energy resellers, or ESCOs, didn’t deliver what they advertised.

ESCOs sprang up as a result of deregulation in the 1990s. They don’t own or operate the distribution and transmission systems, but they buy energy and theoretically may offer discounts or lower rates if you sign on with them as a supplier. They have used aggressive telemarketing and online campaigns to lure customers.

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s most recent investigation resulted in a settlement with Energy Plus Holdings LLC and Energy Plus Natural Gas LLC “Energy Plus.” The company will pay $800,000 for false advertising and charging people more than it promised.

The attorney general said that Energy Plus charged its customers much higher prices than they would have paid if they purchased energy from their utilities. In many instances, consumers who received services from Energy Plus paid hundreds more per year than they would have with their local utility company.

As a result of the settlement, consumers who signed on with Energy Plus will get refunds. So far, more than $5 million has gone back to New York State consumers because of Schneiderman’s investigation, including nearly $2 million to customers of Columbia Utilities Power LLC and more than $1 million to customers of HIKO Energy, LLC.

In 2013, Energy Plus settled a class action suit based, in part, on Energy Plus’s claims that consumers would pay less with Energy Plus than with their utilities. It provided $1.1 million in refunds and stopped some deceptive practices.

But the attorney general charged that Energy Plus continued to fail to adequately disclose that its rates might be higher than utilities’ rates and failed to disclose that cancellations could take months to process and could result in early termination fees.

Attorney General Schneiderman said, “Thousands of New Yorkers were lured by Energy Plus’s false promises of savings, only to be stuck with more expensive energy bills Energy service companies should be put on notice: we won’t allow them to exploit New Yorkers looking to save on their energy bills.”