Convenience Store Clerk’s Mistake Delivers $10M Lottery Jackpot To Lucky Customer

(Reuben Whitehouse)

Ah, luck! That elusive phenomenon that money can’t buy and no one can ever count on to stick around. It shows up where it wants to, like in a simple mistake a convenience store worker made when selling a customer a scratch-off lottery ticket. That slip brought a $10 million jackpot to the lucky store patron’s doorstep.

Buffalo News has the story of a 53-year-old man who stopped by his local day-off haunt to buy the New York Lottery scratch-off tickets he always buys. So far, so normal.

But then the clerk accidentally picked up a more expensive $20 Win for Life Spectacular ticket, until the customer corrected him, got the tickets he wanted and left.

And so it began. He got in his truck and started scratching his tickets, triggering a string of fortunate picks from the luck gods.

“I kept winning on the scratch-off tickets,” he said yesterday at a news conference outside the store. “I won like seven in a row. I just got lucky, until I hit the big one.”

The “big one” in that case was a $25 win, so he decided to see just how far he could stretch his luck. With that ticket in hand he went back inside and splurged on the more expensive ticket the clerk had almost handed him.

“Give me that ticket you almost gave me by accident,” he remembers saying (and I hope he added “please”).

He stood in the store to scratch off the ticket, matching one of the winning numbers on the top with one he scratched off on the bottom. That winning 10 had the word “Life” underneath it that meant he had won $10 million, or $10,000 a week for life. Bingo. Or lotto — you get the point.

“I just sat there and couldn’t believe it,” he said. “Shocked. I probably looked over the ticket half a dozen times.”

The family has opted to divvy up the winnings between the parents ($300,000 or so after taxes, paid out over 19 years) and the children (another 7%). The ticket is in his name, but the lucky man’s family members can keep collecting on the win beyond his lifetime.

His family thinks luck is always with him in a very ah, special way.

“We’ve always had a joke that he had a horseshoe … ,” his daughter said, before realizing she was being recorded by media outlets, “somewhere on his body.”

Mistake leads Lancaster man to splurge on lottery ticket worth $10 million [Buffalo News]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Target CEO Promises “Eye-Popping Irresistible Deals” After Profits Destroyed By Data Breach

(ErikG)

Earlier today, Target released the eagerly anticipated earnings info for the financial quarter ending Feb. 1. As expected, the massive data breach that saw some 110 million customers’ info stolen by hackers had a disastrous effect on the bottom line for the retailer.

In the last three months, Target’s net earnings were $520 million, down 46% from the $961 million earned by the company during the same time a year earlier. That quarterly dip accounts for nearly half of the $1.02 billion drop in profits for the entire year (from $2.99 billion to $1.97 billion, a decrease of 34.3%).

The total number of transactions in the last quarter were down 5.5%, reports the retailer. Much of that is being blamed on the data breach that lasted from Black Friday weekend in late November to the middle of December. That’s the largest such decline for the store in the six years that it’s been reporting that statistic.

Another problem for Target was its recent expansion into Canada, which hasn’t gone as rosily as the retailer might have hoped.

All of these things said, Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel is confident that the company can win consumers back and plans to do so by being “aggressive” with enticing offers.

We’ve definitely got to up our game on all fronts,” Steinhafel said. “We’re going to deliver… just some eye-popping irresistible deals.”

Target’s 4Q profit falls 46% after breach, Canada expansion [StarTribune.com]

Target Profit Declines on Data Breach Fallout [WSJ.com]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Chase Becomes First Bank To Implement New, Simpler Disclosure Box For Prepaid Cards

In 2012, nearly 12 million consumers loaded more than $64 million onto prepaid debit cards. With so many people turning to these cards, more companies are getting into the prepaid debit business. To assist consumers faced with a plethora of card options, Pew Charitable Trusts unveiled a new model disclosure box for easy comparison of prepaid card fees and terms and conditions.

JPMorgan Chase announced today that its Chase Liquid prepaid cards will be the first prepaid product to employ the new disclosure box, which fits on the inside flap of the existing card packaging.

“Our customers appreciate that we use clear language when we describe how our products work,” Barry Sommers, CEO of Chase Consumer Bank, said in a news release. “Chase Liquid was built on the premise of being simple and easy to understand, so the Pew disclosure form is perfectly aligned with this product.”

Uniform, concise, and easy-to-read disclosures will help consumers chose the best card for their needs while navigating through the many prepaid card of options offered by banks, credit union, wireless companies and even celebrities, Pew reports.

Pew presented the model disclosure box in a new study, “The Need for Improved Disclosures for General Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Cards” [PDF], detailing the lack of transparency in current card disclosures. Pew researchers found that nearly every one of the 66 cards included in the study failed to disclose at least one type of fee, service, or consumer protection.

“The disclosures for most prepaid cards are inconsistent and unclear,” Susan Weinstock, director of Pew’s safe checking research, said in a news release Wednesday. “Terms should be plainly stated so that consumers can choose the product that best meets their needs. This disclosure box should be required by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for all general purpose reloadable prepaid cards.”

To develop the disclosure box Pew hosted focus groups in Baltimore, Denver, and Austin. Participants reviews and commented on three disclosure box prototypes. The final disclosure model is based on Pew’s disclosure box for checking accounts, which has been adopted by 26 banks and credit unions.

Pew’s Model Disclosure Box for Prepaid Cards

Use of a disclosure box falls in line with Pew’s recent recommendations to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make cards safer. The recommendations were part of two reports released earlier this month by Pew highlighting increased consumer demand for prepaid cards and growing concerns over the lack of consumer protections.

Pew recommended six policies to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would ensure the protection of consumers using prepaid cards:

• Prepaid cards should not have overdraft or other automated or linked credit features.

• Prepaid cardholders should be protected against liability for unauthorized transactions that occur either when a card is lost or stolen or a charge is incorrectly applied.

• Prepaid cardholders should have access to account information and transaction history.

• Prepaid cards should be required to provide information about terms, conditions, and fees in a uniform, concise, and easy-to-read format. This information should be included with the card packaging so that it is accessible pre-purchase at retail outlets as well as online.

• Prepaid card funds should be federally insured against loss caused by the failure of an institution.

• Predispute binding arbitration clauses in cardholder agreements, which prevent cardholders from having the choice to challenge unfair and deceptive practices or other legal violations in court, should be prohibited.

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Couple Goes For A Hike, Finds $10 Million Cache Of Gold Coins

Imagine that you were hiking on your property and saw the rusty old can pictured at left. Me, I’d probably grumble about previous generations’ approach to trash disposal and pick the can up to throw it away. When a California couple saw a can sticking out of the ground, they checked it out…noticing that it had a lid. What could be inside? Not century-old creamed corn.

Nope: it was a hoard of gold coins. Experts believe, based on the age and condition of the coins, that the original coin-stasher must have built the hoard over a period of years during the 19th century, then left it behind. What were coins with a face value of $5, $10, or $20 are now much more valuable to collectors: one piece is valued at about $1 million by itself. The entire hoard could be worth about $10 million.

In a press release from Kagin’s, the company selling the coins on the family’s behalf, the staff senior numismatist is quoted saying, “Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine coins coming out of the ground in the kind of condition that I saw in front of me. Many pieces were finer than anything known in major collections or museums.”

The family decided to stay anonymous, allowing Kagin’s to publish an interview with them. According to Kagin’s, which refers to them as “John” and “Mary,” the couple are self-employed, around 40 years old, live somewhere in the Sierra Nevada, and really, really don’t want treasure-hunters swarming on their property.

California Family Discovers Buried Treasure – Hidden Cache of 19th Century U.S. Gold Coins May Be Most Valuable Hoard Unearthed in North America [Kagin's]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Segunda vuelta al mundo en 80 cuentos

Durante el otoño de 2010, una época que ya es pasado, EducaconTIC realizó su primera vuelta al mundo en ochenta cuentos. Pero muchos de los relatos de aquel primer viaje ya tienen enlaces inservibles. Pues a pesar de que las historias son perdurables y con una vida prolongada, las acciones humanas sobreviven menos tiempo, y en la Web 2.0 sucede algo semejante. Esta razón y la misma necesidad del viaje, aunque sea de forma virtual, bastarían para justificar este post.

read more

from Educa con TIC http://ift.tt/1khZsOQ

via Educa con TIC Posteado por www.bscformacion.com

CFPB Sues ITT Tech For Allegedly Exploiting Students, Pushing Predatory Loans

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a federal lawsuit against a well-known for-profit college chain, alleging the company exploited its students and pushed them into high-cost private student loans that were likely to end in default.

The complaint [PDF] charges that between 2009 and 2011 ITT Educational Services, Inc., pressured students into predatory loans and mislead students on future job prospects and salaries, CFPB director Richard Cordray announced during a news conference Wednesday.

The suit seeks restitution, a civil fine, and an injunction against the for-profit college chain.

“ITT marketed itself as improving consumers’ lives but it was really just improving its bottom line,” CFPB Director Richard Corday said in a news conference Wednesday. “We believe ITT used high-pressure tactics to push many consumers into expensive loans destined to default. Today’s action should serve as a warning to the for-profit college industry that we will be vigilant about protecting students against predatory lending tactics.”

The CFPB’s lawsuit alleges that between July 2009 and December 2011, ITT encouraged students to enroll by providing them with a zero-interest loan called “Temporary Credit.” The credit was used to close the tuition gap between a student’s federal aid and the school’s high tuition rate.

Typically, the Temporary Credit had to be paid in full at the end of the student’s first academic year. When students were unable to repay their first year Temporary Credit, ITT allegedly pushed high-cost private student loan programs to cover the costs of repayment and second-year tuition gap.

The suit alleges that ITT’s CEO revealed in investor calls that converting the temporary loans to long-term loans was the company’s “plan all along.”

The Indiana-based technical education school, which enrolls tens of thousands of student online and at its 150 institutions, has one of the highest tuition costs among the country’s for-profit colleges. Earning an associate’s degree at the school can cost more than $44,000, while a Bachelor’s degree program can cost $88,000.

The suit also alleges that ITT’s representations led students to think they would land jobs with enough salary to repay their private student loans.

“This is truly an American tragedy,” Cordray said. “Students may think they are climbing a ladder to success when instead they are getting knocked down, crushed by student debt that does not help them gain a better job or a better life.”

Attorneys general from Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, and New Mexico are conducting investigations into major for-profit colleges, including ITT.

“Some of these colleges are thriving on selling a dream to someone…once the ink is dried on the financial aid paperwork the nightmare begins,” Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said during the conference. “We will be working tirelessly to be certain that the industry as a whole understand their business is education and not just flattering the bottom line.”

Wednesday’s complaint is the first action the CFPB has taken against a company in the for-profit college industry. However, for-profit colleges have come under greater scrutiny in the last several years. The Government Accountability Office has conducted investigations into a number of schools that use high-pressure enrollment tactics and misleading promises to attract students.

Earlier this month, Consumerist reported on a federal lawsuit filed by former employees of accusing the Harris School and its parent company, Premier Education Group, of misleading students — who paid more than $10,000 a year for various programs — about career prospects, and falsifying records to enroll students and keep them enrolled in order to continue receiving government grant and loan dollars.

Last October, the California Attorney General filed suit against Corinthian Colleges, Inc., the operators of 111 North American campuses and three online programs, claiming that it lied to students about the prospect of job-placement and to investors about the success rate of graduates.

In December, a court ordered a for-profit school in Kentucky to pay $1,000/day for avoiding a subpoena related to the state’s investigation into for-profit National College schools.

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

NYC Brunch Crowd Shocked, Simply Shocked, That Bottomless Drink Specials Are Illegal

(ChrisGoldNY)

Listen very carefully with your ear turned toward the Big Apple and you will likely hear the combined keening of brunch fans mourning the fact that those bottomless drink specials offered on weekends are actually against the law in New York City. Everything must have a bottom, it turns out, even a Bloody Mary.

It isn’t news to the New York City Hospitality Alliance, which is pointing out this week that any kind of deal where you get unlimited alcoholic beverages for a fixed price are now, and always have been, illegal, points out Eater NY.

According to the law on the books from the State Liquor Authority in New York (which I first spelled, “Liquority Authority” and kinda liked it that way), restaurants are prohibited “from selling, serving, delivering or offering to patrons an unlimited number of drinks during any set period of time for a fixed price.”

It’s also against the law to let party promoters or organizers holding an event at such a restaurant to do something similar. You’re totally fine to take advantage of a private event’s open bar, like a wedding or Fun Uncle Ted’s 65th Birthday Jam.

The only drink deals that don’t run afoul of this law are two-for-one specials and any discounts that aren’t larger than half off the original price.

And while no one from the SLA is going to come slap your fourth mimosa from your hands at 1 p.m. on a Saturday, don’t be surprised if you start to see your favorite watering holes quietly pulling those bottomless deals from the menu in the face of a likely crackdown.

Look on the bright side, New Yorkers — you’ve still got Happy Hour, unlike your drinking counterparts in Boston. So it could be worse.

You can follow MBQ on Twitter as she tries to cope with the loss of bottomless specials, along with her band of merry brunchers: @marybethquirk

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Here Are The 20 Sony Stores That Will Be Closing

(pdxmac)

Sony, still trying to sort out its place in an electronics market in which it is no longer the biggest player, announced today that it will be closing 20 of its 31 retail stores in the U.S. Here’s the list of the locations that will be axed as part of the corporate “restructuring.”

According to Sony’s corporate office, the following locations are to be shuttered:

CALIFORNIA

Camarillo, CA (Camarillo Premium Outlets)

Gilroy, CA (Gilroy Premium Outlets)

Los Angeles, CA (Century City)

San Diego, CA (Las Americas Premium Outlets)

Santa Clara, CA (Valley Fair)

COLORADO

Cherry Creek, CO (Cherry Creek Shopping Center)

FLORIDA

Boca Raton, FL (Town Center at Boca Raton)

Miami, FL (Dolphin Mall)

ILLINOIS

Aurora, IL (Chicago Premium Outlets)

NEW JERSEY

Menlo Park, NJ (Menlo Park Mall)

MASSACHUSETTS

Wrentham, MA (Wrentham Village Premium Outlets)

PENNSYLVANIA

Philadelphia, PA (The Market at Comcast Center)

NEW YORK

Central Valley, NY (Woodbury Common Outlets)

NEVADA

Las Vegas, NV (Forum Shops at Caesar’s)

TEXAS

Dallas, TX (Galleria Dallas)

San Marcos, TX (San Marcos Prime Outlets)

VIRGINIA

Arlington, VA (Fashion Centre at Pentagon City)

McClean, VA (Tysons Corner)

WASHINGTON

Seattle, WA (University Village)

WISCONSIN

Pleasant Prairie, WI (Pleasant Prairie Prime Outlets)

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

9 Things We Learned About A Guy Who Claims He’s Only Eaten Pizza For The Past 25 Years

(Coyoty)

We’ve all got our culinary predilections — I will fight you if you touch my cheese curds — but there are favorite foods and then there are extreme acts of food devotion. To wit: A guy who’s claimed he’s only eaten pizza, and only pizza, every day for the last 25 years.

Vice’s Justin Levy interviews his friend Dan, a 38-year-old diabetic who hates vegetables and survives entirely on that beloved combination of carbs, cheese and sauce. Mmm, pizza. Anyway!

Here’s what we learned about Dan, the “I only eat pizza” Man:

1. He has only been eating pizza — just cheese, no other toppings — every day of his life for the past 25 years, after deciding to become a vegetarian. But he hates vegetables, so he chose pizza.

2. He usually eats an entire 14″ pizza in one day.

3. All pizzas are not the same: “If I go to one pizza shop or another brand, it’s like eating a completely different meal.”

4. His favorite pizza is a Rochester, N.Y.-based chain called Pontillo’s.

5. He sees a therapist for what he calls both his “food aversion” and his “pizza addiction.” But he still hasn’t tried any other foods… yet.

6. He has diabetes — but most doctors seem okay with it besides the endocrinologist he met with at first, he says: ” But all the other doctors have said, “Your cholesterol is fine. You seem healthy. Keep doing what you’re doing.”

7. Dan feels great, despite your expectations to the contrary: “I must say, even though I sound like a horribly unhealthy and fat person, I’m not. I’m thin. I have tons of energy, and I feel great every day, so there might be something to the exclusive pizza diet.”

8. It’s doubtful he’s eating a lot of homemade pizza, at least by his own hands, as he “never really understood cooking.”

9. He does want to someday eat something other than pizza, though he’ll never give up his “love and passion” for the pie. Mostly because it’d be nice to eat out at a non-pizza restaurant with his fiancée: “I would like to be able to go to a restaurant where they didn’t serve pizza and order off the menu, which I can’t really do right now. “

*Thanks for the tip, Friend of Consumerist Jim!

You can follow MBQ on Twitter where she will no doubt recount any fights she has over cheese: @marybethquirk

THIS MAN HAS SURVIVED ON PIZZA ALONE FOR 25 YEARS [Vice]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

House Passes Bill To Re-Legalize Cellphone Unlocking

(Consumerist)

A legislative effort to once again make it legal for consumers to unlock their cellphones without seeking their carriers’ permission is a step closer to reality after being passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

HR 1123, better known as the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, was introduced last summer by Congressman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia.

On Tuesday, the full House passed the bill by a vote of 295-114. It must now be considered by the Senate.

The legislation would reverse a 2012 decision by the Librarian of Congress, who has the sole authority to interpret the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The LOC decided that consumers no longer had the right to unlock cellphones on their own, even if the consumer owned the phone outright and was no longer bound by a contract with their carrier.

That rule change went into effect in early 2013, meaning any phone purchased after January 25, 2013, required permission from a wireless carrier to be unlocked.

This resulted in a backlash from consumer advocates, consumers, legislators, and even the White House, which called for regulators to figure out a way to give consumers back the right that had been taken away from them.

Under pressure from regulators, the wireless industry announced a voluntary set of unlocking standards in December. These guidelines stated that the carriers would make the unlocking process relatively pain-free for people who owned their phones or were out of contract. It also allows for deployed military personnel to have their phones unlocked.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist