Day: August 7, 2013

Categories
Education News

Uncle Sam Wants YOU to Report Deceptive Debt Collectors

American consumers now have not one, but two federal agencies they can call upon for help dealing with abusive debt collectors.

The Federal Trade Commission has brought several cases against problem debt collectors over the past couple of years. And the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has started publishing rules debt collectors have to follow to conduct business fairly.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB was set up to be the first federal agency solely focused on making consumers get a fair shake from financial firms. The agency has pulled many non-traditional financial providers into its purview, such as debt collectors. Recently the CFPB created five form letters consumers can use when dealing with debt collectors to make sure they are treated fairly.

 Click here to read about the CFPB’s jurisdiction over debt collectors.

 Click here to submit a debt collector complaint to the CFPB.

 Click here for downloadable form letters that help you instruct a debt collector not to contact you anymore, to request proof that a debt is really yours and more.

h/t – abcnews

Categories
Entertainment Music

Jazz Icon George Duke Dies at 67

He pioneered the funk and R&B genres during his career of more than four decades.

Jazz musician George Duke died Monday in Los Angeles at age 67.

A pioneer in the funk and R&B genres, he had been battling chronic lymphocytic leukemia, according to his label Concord Music Group, which confirmed his death.

“The outpouring of love and support that we have received from my father’s friends, fans and the entire music community has been overwhelming,” said his son, Rashid Duke, in a statement. “Thank you all for your concern, prayers and support.”

Born in San Rafael, Calif., Duke aspired to a music career from an early age, after his mother took him to a Duke Ellington concert.

h/t – usatoday

Categories
News

President Obama Formally Cancels Visit With Putin

President Barack Obama formally canceled a much-discussed visit to Moscow next month for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing a lack of progress in bilateral relations since Putin regained the presidency a year ago.

Obama will still attend a G-20 summit in St. Petersburg in early September, but now will go to Sweden beforehand instead of stopping in Moscow to meet with Putin, the White House announced.

“Following a careful review begun in July, we have reached the conclusion that there is not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda with Russia to hold a U.S.-Russia Summit in early September,” a White House statement said.

It noted progress in relations with Russia during Obama’s first term, much of it when Dmitry Medvedev was president and Putin was prime minister. Putin regained the presidency in May 2012.

“Given our lack of progress on issues such as missile defense and arms control, trade and commercial relations, global security issues, and human rights and civil society in the last 12 months, we have informed the Russian government that we believe it would be more constructive to postpone the summit until we have more results from our shared agenda,” the White House said.

Categories
News

Ariel Castro’s House of Horrors Demolished

The notorious Cleveland house of horrors where Ariel Castro held three women captive for more than a decade was left in a pile of rubble after demolition crews knocked it down on Wednesday.

The wooden-framed house was razed as part of a deal that spared the convicted monster the death penalty when he was sentenced last week to life in prison, plus a millennium.

One of his victims, Michelle Knight, arrived at the Seymour Ave. home just before a track hoe began ripping the home to shreds about 7 a.m..

Knight — who was 22 when Castro kidnapped and imprisoned her — released several yellow balloons at the site, saying they represented children who were never found after they were abducted.

“Nobody was there for me when I was missing, and I want the people to know, including the mothers, that they can have strength, they can have hope, and their child will come back,” Knight told reporters, according to NBC News.

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