Posted on December - 24 - 2010
In 2006, Benjamin Woods’ personal identification documents were stolen by fraudsters. Using Woods’ name and information, they obtained mortgages on houses in Concord and Oakland totaling $3.5 million. The fraudsters defaulted on the loans soon after the purchases were complete; months later the mortgage companies foreclosed.
The loans were held by Chase, Wells Fargo, GMAC Mortgage, Green Tree, American Home Mortgage and others and each reported to the credit reporting agencies that Woods was delinquent on the loans. After Woods discovering the problem, Woods sent letters to Experian, Trans Union, Equifax, and the mortgage companies explaining he did not take out the loans. Equifax deleted all but one of the inaccurate reports, but Experian, Trans Union and the mortgage companies refused to correct his credit reports.
In June 2010, we filed a complaint on Woods’ behalf in the federal district court alleging that the defendants had violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act and state law in failing to delete the accounts that were created by the identity thieves.
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Posted on December - 23 - 2010
Bankers, lawyers, and leasing agents work through lunch in the lobby of One Commerce Square to prepare the documents necessary for the sale of the building to investors who will refurbish it as the new headquarters for Pinnacle Airlines.
Downtown’s biggest office deal in 15 years closed Thursday as investors bought One Commerce Square and locked in Pinnacle Airlines Corp. headquarters as anchor tenant.
By next Nov. 1, about 650 employees of Pinnacle’s regional airlines will breathe new life into a building that had slipped to about 30 percent occupancy.
Fittingly, it was a deal that never would have happened without the involvement of AutoZone founder J.R.
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Posted on December - 23 - 2010
It’s been a busy year for site reviews, with several high profile e-commerce and mobile launches from the likes of H&M, Selfridges, M&S and John Lewis.
I’ve compiled the 33 website and mobile site reviews from 2010…
Websites
Best Buy’s UK launch
Rail aggregator Quno
Redesign by stationery retailer Paperchase
E-commerce launch by Jaeger.
Odd looking site from Uniqlo.
Review of The Conran Shop website.
Gap finally launched in the UK in September.
The British Cross released a redesigned website earlier this year.
A redesigned website from stationery retailer Ryman.
Matthew Curry reviews Selfridges first e-commerce site.
A review of the relaunched Ford Online website.
The Eurostar website wasn’t too impressive when I looked at in earlier this year. I found ten
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Posted on December - 21 - 2010
Emily Glazer, of the Wall Street Journal, featured MoneyAisle in her column surrounding auto loan refinance on Sunday.
Glazer explains the typical scenario of consumers receiving initial dealership financing for their car loan, but getting skimped when it comes to the low advertised rates. But, there is a way to get a second shot at that ideal financing she says:
“You may be able to get better terms on a car loan by refinancing, however.
MoneyAisle.com lets you compare various loan and rate offers from banks and credit unions. You’ll need to plug in your loan balance; monthly payment; your automobile’s make, year and mileage; your ZIP Code; and your credit score.
The site then gives you a list of loan offers from three to 20 financial institutions. After you select an option, the financial institution will verify your credit score and contact you to complete the transaction.”
If you received dealer financing for you car loan, try refinancing now, to see if you can lower your current monthly payment, or interest rate.
Posted on December - 18 - 2010
Dr. Edward Perez, director of orthopedic surgery at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, talks with patient Tim Brahm about his progress after recent surgery in The Med’s newly renovated orthopedic unit.
The competitive noise coming from the Regional Medical Center at Memphis can be heard in the laughter of Tim Brahm and his wife, Judy.
“He told his brother that in the other rooms you had to go outside to turn around,” Judy joked and laughed.
The Brahms are from Dumas, Miss., and have seen many rooms at The Med. Tim has had four surgeries there in two years after a car wreck left him with a compound femur fracture that won’t heal.
But this time, the Brahms were brought to The Med’s new orthopedic unit, which opened in November. There, orthopedic patients are grouped together, rather than being mixed with the general population, so they can be cared for by a medical staff with experience and expertise in orthopedics.
The 14-room unit has been completely renovated.
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Posted on December - 17 - 2010
The Advertising Standards Authority in the UK has a wide remit. In March 2011 this remit further expands, with backing from Google, to look at claims and sales practises on websites. It’s already possible for the ASA to investigate PPC campaigns.
Natural search results are exempt from the expanded remit as is user generated content provided it is not then used in marketing communications. It might be tempting to consider SEO outside the ASA’s area of interest but this is not the case.
In fact, it is the presentation of the natural search results that are exempt from the Committee of Advertising Practise not the methods by which these are achieved. For example, if Google’s search snippet suggests that Widget X is for sale from your site for £9.99 but you’ve recently increased the price to £11.99 then the CAP will not consider you at fault. They accept it’s up to Google to update the search snippet.
So, when would the ASA consider investigating brands, agencies and website owners for SEO tactics? One very po Read full post…
