uWells Fargo Reportedly Under Federal Investigation Related To Student Loan Servicingr

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  According to a new report, Wells Fargo is the latest big-name bank to be scrutinized as part of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ongoing investigation into student loan servicing practices.
  

  The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reports that the CFPB has been investigating the second largest private student-loan originator in the country since at least late last year.

  While the sources didn’t specify what part of Wells Fargo’s servicing the Bureau is investigating, past probes have focused on payment processing and policies related to borrowers who have a difficult time making payments.

  News of the Bureau’s investigation into the bank – which hasn’t serviced federal loans since 2011 – comes two months after Citigroup announced through a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that federal regulators had opened a probe into its student loan servicing practices.

  According to Citi’s filing, the company is cooperating with the unnamed regulators, noting that similar serving practices have been the subject of an enforcement action against at least one other institution.

  “In light of that action and the current regulatory focus on student loans, regulators may order that Citibank, N.A. remediate customers and/or impose penalties or other relief,” the filing states.

  Before that, in July, the CFPB took its first student loan servicing action ever against Discover Bank.

  According to the July enforcement action, Discover engaged in illegal student loan servicing and debt collection practices since at least 2010, when it acquired the more than 800,000 private student loans accounts from Citibank. Among other things, the bank was found to have overstated amounts due on student loans and failed to notify borrowers of their rights.

  Just last week, the Bureau released the results of a public probe into potentially anti-consumer practices of the student loan servicing industry that received more than 30,000 consumer responses.

  The report highlighted the key issues that concern many borrowers and included recommendations on how those problems can be handled such as creating industry-wide standards and providing clear and holding servicers accountable for their actions.

  Wells Fargo Investigated by CFPB over Student Loan Servicing [The Wall Street Journal]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uResults Of First Large-Scale 5G Wireless Test: Faster Than Google Fiberr

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  While Verizon and other U.S. carriers are prepping to test next-generation 5G wireless service, Chinese electronics biggie Huawei says it has just completed its first “large-scale field trial” of 5G and saw download speeds that were up to several times that of current high-speed fiberoptic networks.

  Huawei partnered with Japanese telecom giant NTT DOCOMO to launch the test in Chengdu, China. The companies streamed the results to the Huawei booth at the CEATEC JAPAN 2015 in the Japanese city of Chiba.

  The test involves the concurrent use of 24 devices on the 5G network. According to Huawei, the average download speed was 1.34Gbps and peaked at 3.6Gbps. That’s nearly four times the speed of Google Fiber, and almost twice the speed of Comcast’s new, incredibly expensive, fiber service.

  “Results like these show we are making rapid progress and are on the right path,” said Dr. Wen Tong, Huawei Fellow and CTO of Huawei Wireless Networks, in a statement. “I am confident that what we have learned here will be reflected in even more innovative technological advances as we continue working on 5G research.”

  As BGR points out, early heavily controlled tests of 5G have demonstrated even faster speeds of 10Gbps, but those trials were done under circumstances that won’t be found in the real world when 5G eventually rolls out.

  Speaking yesterday at the Code/Mobile conference in California, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel says the Commission is preparing to lay the groundwork for next-gen networks.

  While 5G wireless data will likely outperform current cable and fiber service, Internet providers are working on technology that should vastly improve connection speeds.

  Comcast is in the process of testing DOCSIS 3.1 tech that uses existing cable lines but can provide speeds several times that of today’s fiber networks. It hopes to have that service rolling out in 2018.

  Verizon recently completed a field test of new NG-PON2 technology that speeds up service on its FiOS fiber lines without having to replace them. Verizon believes it may ultimately be possible to deliver download speeds of anywhere from 40-80Gbps over these lines.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uThe Pumpkin Harvest Is Over And The Shortage Is Realr

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  You might think that lots of rain would be good news for agricultural products, but it doesn’t really work that way, This year, high rainfall in Illinois, the area where most of our pie pumpkins are grown, means that pumpkin harvests are way, way down, and we might have to limit ourselves to only one slice of pie this Thanksgiving.

  That is, unless someone in your family likes to stockpile canned goods (Hi, Mom!) and you have pie filling from last year lurking in a cabinet. It’s too early to know how the jack o’lantern harvest will turn out, but canned vegetable company Libby’s says that their canning pumpkin harvest is over, and the yield was about half as much as usual.

  Pumpkins that end up in cans and in pies are smaller and less round than the kind we decorate for holidays, and record high rainfall in pumpkin country hit harvests badly. It also affected havests of, say, corn and soybeans, but have you ever seen a soybean pie?

  While there probably won’t be black-market pumpkin swap activity or illegal pie dens, a Libby’s spokesperson told Bloomberg that they’re expecting about half the normal quantity of pumpkins to use for pies. We’ll just have to make do with less pie, she went on to explain.

  While Americans are still going cinnamon bananas over pumpkin spice-flavored things, items that actually have some pumpkin in them are less popular. It’s almost as if a vegetable with a weird texture is less imteresting to Americans than snack-sized bombs of cinnamon and sugar.

  A Pumpkin-Pie Shortage Is Looming Thanks to Heavy Summer Rains [Bloomberg]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uWhole Foods Recalls Organic Cheese Over Possible Listeria Contaminationr

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  Here at Consumerist it’s no secret that we love our cheese: cheddar, Swiss, Gruyere, Brie… there’s really no end to that list. So we hate to bring news that might sour anyone on cheese, but we have some bad news: Whole Foods has issued a recall of Papillon Organic Roquefort cheese over concerns it may be contaminated with listeria. 

  Whole Foods initiated the voluntary recall of the cut, wrapped and weighed Papillion cheese after a routine sampling conducted by the Food & Drug Administration found Listeria Monocytogenes in a whole, uncut wheel of the organic cheese.

  The recall covers all sell dates for the cheese, which can be identified by the scale label that begins with PLU 029536.

  Whole Foods says it is unaware of any illnesses or infections related to the possible contamination. The company has posted signage on retail store shelves to notify customers of the recall, and all affected product has been removed.

  Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uPepsi “Not At All Concerned” By Negative Initial Reaction To New Diet Pepsir

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  After decades of using aspartame as the sweetener for its Diet Pepsi cola, PepsiCo made the switch to sucralose (aka Splenda) in August. Early feedback has not been positive on social media and sales have not turned around, but the company says to remain calm and keep drinking.

  Overall soda sales are on the decline, and before Pepsi rolled out the reformulated diet drink, its low-cal cola sales were down 6.5% over the previous year.

  The Wall Street Journal reports that this trend has not yet reversed with the introduction of the sucralose-sweetened soda, even though packaging for the newer version is being marketed and labeled as “Now Aspartame Free.”

  Additionally, the social media backlash to the new Diet Pepsi has been less than stellar, with negative mentions of sucralose outnumbering positive mentions by six-to-one.

  But Pepsi points out that there’s almost always a backlash when you change a product after this long. Additionally, unhappy consumers are much more likely to go online to complain than happy customers are to share their enjoyment.

  The company acknowledged that it’s received some 3,000 complaints about the new formula — compared to the 317 compliments — but that this is significantly fewer than the 9,000 gripes it had expected to get.

  “Our belief is that you’ve got to wait a few cycles to see what the purchase repeat adoption cycle is,” CEO Indra Nooyi said earlier this week.

  “We’re not at all concerned,” said the company’s chief marketing officer, whose job it is to say such things.

  To appease aspartame stalwarts, Nooyi has previously promised that the company isn’t going to completely abandon the old formula, explaining that “we’ll figure out how to make [aspartame-sweetened Diet Pepsi] available online.”

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uAmtrak Allowing Pets On Busy Northeast Regional Trains For $25r

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  Nearly a year and a half after launching a pilot program in Illinois that allowed train travelers for the first time to bring along their small pets – much like they do when traveling by plane – Amtrak will expand this option to one of its busiest routes.

  Amtrak announced this week that passengers on two additional routes can take a cat or small dog in an enclosed a pet carrier on trips up to seven hours long, as long as they’re willing to pay a $25 fee.

  The expanded pet program, which will run from Oct. 12 to Feb. 15, 2016, will be available on the heavily traveled Northeast Regional route that connects Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, D.C., and extends into Virginia. If you want to take your pet north of Boston, travelers can go as far as Brunswick, ME, on the Downeaster.

  “We have listened to our passengers looking for other transportation options while traveling with their pets,” said Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman. “We are pleased to bring this pilot program to the region.”

  Under the program, both pet and carrier must be a combined weight of 20 pounds or less and placed under each pet owner’s seat. Pets must be at least eight weeks old with current vaccination records.

  Passengers bringing along their pets must arrive 30 minutes prior to departure in order to sign a pet waiver.

  The expansion of the pet travel program isn’t exactly surprising, an Amtrak funding bill introduced earlier this year included a provision that included allowing pets on trains.

  Behind this part of the bill was California Rep. Jeff Denham, who has been trying to get pets on trains since he was barred from bringing his French bulldog on an Amtrak in the past.

  Denham said on Thursday that the newly expanded program is a “victory for American pet owners and for Amtrak.”

  “This change will increase ridership and revenue for Amtrak while building on the success of the pilot program, paving the way for the future of pets on trains nationwide,” he said in a statement.

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uBeauty Products Sold In California To Be Microbead-Free By 2020r

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• While a bill that would have prohibited the use of tiny microbeads in face wash and other personal products nationwide died in Congress last year, California didn’t give up its fight to keep the microscopic plastic spheres from entering its waterways and turning up inside the stomach of consumers’ seafood, passing legislation that bans the use of the products in the state by 2020. 

  The Associated Press reports that California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Thursday that would phase out the use of microscopic exfoliating beards in personal care products sold in the state.

  The bill, known as AB888, seeks to restrict all use of the non-biodegradable beads that can contain various toxins, said Assemblyman Richard Bloom, who introduced the legislation earlier this year.

  “AB888 was carefully crafted to avoid any loopholes that would allow for use of potentially harmful substitutes,” Bloom said in a statement to the AP on Thursday. “This legislation ensures that personal care products will be formulated with environmentally safe alternatives to protect our waterways and oceans.”

  California lawmakers previously attempted to ban the use of the beads, but those measures fell short, in part because of opposition from personal-care product companies.

  The newly signed law was successful after several amendments promoted business critics to drop their opposition, the AP reports.

  The small bits of plastic, often found in face washes, soaps and toothpaste, have become a hot topic for lawmakers and environmentalists in recent years, with many states acting to end the use of microbeads.

  Last year, Illinois became the first state to pass an ordinance that would gradually fade out the use of microbeads beginning in 2017 and ending in 2019.

  The state bill even had the cooperation of product manufacturers. An official with the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois said at the time that the quick deal resulted from unique circumstances, and the availability of substitute ingredients, such as oatmeal and sea salt.

  New York has often been in the forefront of the fight to ban microbeads for commonly used products. Officials with the state estimate that 19 tons of the tiny beads enter the states waterways each year.

  Last year, a report issued by the New York Environmental Protection Bureau outlined just how unsafe the small plastic pieces can be.

  According to the report, after microbeads are washed from our bathrooms, they easily travel through wastewater treatment plants and enter our waterways. The tiny beads then act as sponges for toxic chemical pollutants and become an attractive snack for marine wildlife. And because we humans often like to eat seafood, that means there’s a pretty good chance the shperes could end up in your stomach.

  Despite the findings, legislation to phase out the use of microbeads state-wide has passed the New York Assembly twice in the last two years, but has stalled in the Senate both times.

  The issue hasn’t just been on the minds of activists, either. Several major manufacturers, such as Proctor & Gamble, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive, have pledged to phase out use of plastic microbeads.

  In February 2014, L’Oréal said it would begin phasing out the materials this year in their Biotherm products and continue with Body Shop products in 2015. All of the company’s products are expected to be microbead-free by 2017.

  California to phase out microbeads used in soaps, toothpaste [The Associated Press]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist