Current Events in March 2015

When Apple unveiled its new watch this week, the device had a lot of nifty features that may or may not prove to be crowd pleasers. But one function just might help improve your health.

A sensor in the watch will send a pulse to your wrist every hour, reminding you to stand up. Sitting, after all, has been declared the new smoking, with some studies claiming too much sitting will take years off your life.

It's just one example of how technology is enabling consumers to do more to manage their own health. A pilot program in New England is taking it a step farther.

Video house calls

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is partnering with American Well on a venture that enables patients to engage with their health care provider through online video, instead of showing up at the doctor's office.

It's not exactly new technology, since video chat has been around for some time. But the application is something new, keeping patient and provider connected.

Under the two-year pilot plan the patients and health care providers taking part will stay in touch, consulting on a select number of health conditions, using video visits. The conditions being monitored might include recovery from a concussion, following up on the use of medications, simple wellness coaching or to check in after a procedure or hospitalization.

"Blue Cross is giving its health care providers an innovative tool that provides patients with access to care outside an office setting - including in the convenience of their own homes,"said Ido Schoenberg, MD, Chairman and CEO of American Well.

Other innovations

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) points to 5 recent medical technology innovations that have improved health care.

A hand-held tool approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can tell whether a mole is cancerous, making a biopsy unnecessary.

A technology developed by Autonomic Technologies is a patient-powered tool that blocks nerve signals responsible for migraine and cluster headaches. The tool is still in clinical trials.

Echo Therapeutics is developing a new patient-powered tool for diabetics, allowing them to read blood analytes without needles and without breaking the skin. It looks like an electric toothbrush that removes just enough skin cells to put the patient's blood chemistry within signal range of a patch-borne biosensor.

In a number of U.S. hospitals medical robots continually patrol hospitals on more routine rounds, checking in on patients and managing their charts and vital signs without direct human intervention.

Finally, the Sapien transcatheter aortic valve, made by Edwards Life Sciences, is an alternative to open-heart surgery. It's guided through the femoral artery by catheter from a small incision near the rib cage, proving effective for frail patients unlikely to survive open-heart surgery.

From the U.S. Census Bureau, word that retail sales posted their third decline in as many months.

According to the government, sales were down 0.6% in February, or $437.0 billion, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences. Even with that decline, sales were up 1.7% from the same month last year.

Major factors in the month-over-month decline were sales at auto and parts dealers (-2.5%), building materials and garden supply stores (-2.3%) and department stores (-1.4%). These easily offset gains posted by sporting good stores (+2.3%), nonstore retailers (+2.2%) and gas stations (+1.5)

Stern Agee Chief Economist Lindsey M. Piegza calls the decline, “a reflection of sluggish wage growth and growing concerns surrounding financing today's spending with tomorrow's wages.” She notes that consumers have been socking money away for a rainy day.

The Commerce Department recently reported that in January, the personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income -- rose 0.5%, to 5.5%. The month before, the rate jumped 0.6%.

The full retail sales report is available on the Census Bureau website.

Initial claims

A big drop in the number of people filing first-time applications for state unemployment benefits.

The Labor Department (DOL) reports initial jobless claims plunged by 36,000 in the week ending March 7 to a seasonally adjusted initial claims was 289,000 – the first time in 3 weeks the total has been below 300,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 5,000 -- to 325,000.

Analysts at Briefing.com says claims have been very volatile over the last 4 weeks, making it difficult to get a handle on the labor market. DOL says there were no special factors affecting this week's initial claims.

The 4-week moving average, which is less volatile and considered a more accurate gauge of the labor market, dipped by 3,750 to 302,250.

There complete report may be found on the DOL website.  

Toyota Motor Sales is recalling of approximately 2,500 Model Year 2012-2014 RAV4 EV vehicles; and approximately 110,000 Model Year 2015 Camry, Camry Hybrid, Highlander, Highlander Hybrid, and 2014-2015 Model Year RAV4 vehicles.

In the RAV4 EV, components in the Electric Vehicle Traction Motor Assembly, which is part of the propulsion system, may cause the vehicle to shift to “neutral” due to a software issue. This condition will also trigger a “Check EV System” warning message on the instrument panel and turn on a malfunction indicator lamp. If the vehicle shifts to “neutral”, this will result in a complete loss of drive power, which can increase the risk of a crash.

Owners of the recalled vehicles will be mailed a notification. Toyota dealers will repair the electric vehicle traction motor assembly.

In the involved Camry, Camry Hybrid, Highlander, Highlander Hybrid and RAV 4 vehicles, a circuit board for the electric power steering (EPS) may have been damaged during its manufacturing process. This can result in the loss of power steering assist; an instrument panel warning lamp will also come on. Manual steering is maintained, but the loss of power steering assist results in increased steering effort at low vehicle speeds and increases the risk of a crash.

Owners of these vehicles will be notified by mail. Toyota dealers will inspect the steering column assembly and replace the power steering electronic control unit, if it falls within the affected range.

The automaker says it is not aware of any crashes, injuries or fatalities caused by either condition.

Consumers may call Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331.  

The Federal Trade Commission has charged DirecTV with deceptive advertising.

The FTC says that DirecTV's offer of a discounted 12-month subscription package constitutes deceptive advertising because it requires a two-year contract that increases by $45 per month in the second year, with early cancellation fees of up to $480 for anyone who tries canceling before the two-year term is up.

Furthermore, according to the FTC, DirecTV failed to mention that its offer of three months' free premium channels is a “negative option continuity plan” requiring customers to proactively cancel those subscriptions in order to avoid automatic charges on their debit or credit cards after the three months are over.

"I am tired of these companies raising rates while we are in 2-year agreements," said Kathy of Franklin, Ohio, in a ConsumerAffairs review posted just days before the FTC's action. "I cannot understand how I can be held to an agreement to keep a service at a price I agreed to but they are allowed to raise their rates in the middle."

The FTC is seeking a court order barring DirecTV from engaging in such actions, and also seeks a monetary judgment to issue partial refunds to customers.

Not enough disclosure

The FTC also charges that DirecTV violated the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA) by failing to “clearly and conspicuously disclose on its website all of the material terms of offers with a negative option component.” (In other words, it didn't clearly spell out that signing up for those “free” premium channels would eventually result in some costs for the consumer.)

“DirecTV misled consumers about the cost of its satellite television services and cancellation fees [and] sought to lock customers into longer and more expensive contracts and premium packages that were not adequately disclosed," FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said. "It’s a bedrock principle that the key terms of an offer to a consumer must be clear and conspicuous, not hidden in fine print.”

Joan from Moreno Valley, California, agreed:

When you sign up, DirecTv representative are not honest in how they represent this company .... You have to pay a hidden fee to link the equipment after paying lease fees on said equipment. I STRONGLY suggest you do not use DirecTV or Dish for that matter. Additionally, with Direct even if you sell your house and not buy again, there is no way to get rid of the early cancel fee.

The Great Recession was marked by a wave of home foreclosures. In fact, the recession was made worse by the collapse of the housing market and the financial crisis that event triggered.

The millions who lost their homes to foreclosure, or saw equity in their homes disappear, did in fact suffer a severe financial loss. But when you look at all Americans' loss of wealth since 2009, a different picture begins to emerge.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis analyzed Americans' loss of net worth in the aftermath of the Great Recession, separating them by whether they were renters or homeowners.

Renters had bigger losses

“The proportion of homeowners who lost net worth was larger than the proportion of renters who did so; however, renters were more likely than owners to lose at least 25% of their net worth during this time,” said lead author Michal Grinstein-Weiss. “Homeownership appears to not only expose households to loss but also to protect against severe loss.”

Going into the Great Recession most homeowners considered their home to be a financial asset and a way to build wealth. Home values were rising at a double digit rate. On paper, their wealth was also increasing.

When the market collapsed in 2009, that wealth began to evaporate. For some, the losses were just on paper. For others – those who had borrowed against the inflated equity in their homes – the losses were very real, since they had no way to repay what they had borrowed.

Role of housing

Now that 6 years have passed since the housing bubble popped and the housing market has recovered in most areas, the researchers wanted to find out how housing played into consumers' relative fortunes.

“The experience among homeowners was diverse, with some experiencing net gains while other suffered losses,” Grinstein-Weiss said. “Overall, most homeowners had only small shifts in their balance sheets. In 2007, the biggest asset for homeowners however, was their home. This was particularly true for the lowest-income homeowners, who had an average of 70 percent of their wealth in their homes in 2007.”

Renters, on the other hand, had no equity tied up in a house and therefore had no housing-related loss. However, as a result of a huge drop in home sales for several years, they faced higher and higher rents, taking more of their incomes that could have precluded other wealth-building investments.

Homeowners who were not underwater have seen much of their lost equity return since the market began to recover in 2012.

Previous research

The Washington University researchers are not the first to suggest that homeowners often find themselves in a stronger financial position than renters. As we reported last October, a study by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation concluded that renters are a “financially fragile” population compared to homeowners. The study found that renters tend to have more debt, less emergency savings and lack the financially literacy of their home-owning peers.

“Given their financial fragility and low levels of financial literacy, the findings suggest the renter population could have a difficult time responding to income shocks and the financial consequences associated with them,” the study concluded.

After years of policy initiatives pushing renewable sources of energy, not just for individuals but for utilities, wind and solar are becoming bigger players in keeping the lights on.

U.S. utility companies will rely even more on these alternatives sources in 2015, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

In a report this week, the EIA said it expects electric utilities to add more than 20 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale generating capacity to the grid this year, with the largest increase – 9.9 GW – provided by wind power. Natural gas is expected to increase by 6.3 gigawatts while solar should add another 2.2 GW.

At the same time, EIA says about 16 GW of capacity will be taken off-line in 2015, with nearly 13 GW of that made up of coal-fired plants. That leaves a net increase of only 4 GW in 2015.

Uneven

The alternative energy additions are not spread evenly across the country. Wind power plants tend to be clustered in the Great Plains, where wide open prairies are conducive to windmills.

Large solar additions of systems with at least one megawatt of capacity are dominated by just 2 states — California, with 1.2 GW, and North Carolina 0.4 GW, which combine for 73% of total solar additions. Both states have policies designed to increase renewable sources of energy.

The EIA figures do not include small-scale installations such as residential rooftop solar photovoltaic systems.

Meanwhile, new natural gas plants are spread more evenly throughout the country. As you might expect, Texas, where the fuel is plentiful, is adding more than double any other state. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland will also get expanded natural gas capacity.

While the increase in wind and solar capacity is noteworthy, it may be overshadowed by an older energy source. Later this year the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Watts Bar 2 nuclear facility in southeastern Tennessee will come on line, generating 1.1 GW of electricity. It will be the first new nuclear reactor in the U.S. in nearly 20 years.

Lost capacity

The nation's power grid is losing energy output from a number of coal plants that will go dark in 2015.

Most of the retiring coal capacity is found in the Appalachian region -- slightly more than 8 GW combined in Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Indiana. Most of the plants are small and operate at a lower capacity factor than average coal-fired units in the U.S.

They are being shut down in most cases to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS).

Bills aren't going down

The small net growth in electric generating capacity is unlikely to give consumers the same kind of break on utility bills that they have enjoyed at the gas pump over the last few months.

The EIA notes that even with falling natural gas prices, consumers haven't seen a corresponding drop in their utility bills. However, the EIA says those price declines will eventually work their way through the system.

“This short-term lag is largely due to the nature of utility regulation,” the agency said. “Over longer periods, changes in natural gas spot and residential prices are much more closely correlated.”

Flea season is just around the corner and there is nothing worse than watching your dog scratch uncontrollably to try and get those fleas off of them. There is also nothing worse than trying to get those fleas out of your carpet and your furniture. So it's a much better scenario to be proactive and get those pesky fleas before they get you and your animals.

Fleas thrive in warm, humid environments with temps around 65-80 degrees, and feed on the blood of their hosts. Dogs play host to the cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis), whose dark brown or black body is usually one to three millimeters in length.

Fleas can jump faster and better than Olympic athletes. They can jump 10,000 times in a row (the length of three football fields). Fleas typically have a life cycle of about 2 weeks to 3 months. Fleas can thrive anywhere on a dog’s body. Usually you will find them on the abdomen, the base of the tail or on the head.

What to look for

Signs of fleas in dogs include: 

• Droppings or “flea dirt” in a dog’s coat - Flea eggs on the dog or in the dog’s environment
• Allergic dermatitis
• Excessive scratching, licking or biting at skin
• Hair loss
• Scabs and hot spots
• Pale gums and
• Tapeworms

Many complications

There are many possible complications from fleas other than just itching. They are similar to vampires -- they love blood and can consume 15 times their own body weight in blood. The result can be anemia in your dog and significant blood loss.

When a dog has a heightened sensitivity to the saliva of fleas, just one bite of a flea can cause an allergic reaction. Sometimes you may see red spots on your dog where the skin is just raw. This condition is known as flea allergy dermatitis and if not treated can lead to infections.

Being proactive means talking to your vet and getting your cat or your dog on a flea medication. It is better to get the fleas before they get you and your pet because cleaning up after them is a real headache. You will have to have your carpets cleaned and your furniture as well as wash all of your bedding.

If your pet has fleas it is not enough to just put the medication on your pet and think your house is safe. It won't be. You will have to wash everything. So avoid the hassle and the headache and start with a flea prevention program now so your animal won't suffer and nether will you.

The Federal Trade Commission has sent more than $2.4 million in refund checks to just over 100 consumers harmed by the Premier Precious Metals scheme, which bilked millions of dollars from investors, including many senior citizens.

The FTC said the defendants conned consumers into buying precious metals on credit without clearly disclosing significant costs and risks, including the likelihood that consumers would subsequently have to pay more money or lose their investments.

In February 2014, the defendants were permanently banned from selling any investment opportunities under a settlement with the FTC. 

Affected consumers will recover nearly 70 percent of the amount they lost. Consumers who receive checks from the distribution should cash them within 60 days of the mailing date. The FTC never requires consumers to pay money or to provide information before refund checks can be cashed.

How would you like some help preparing your federal tax return? How about some FREE help?

You may qualify to get free tax help from Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-trained volunteers through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance or the Tax Counseling for the Elderly programs.

The tax agency partners with a network of community organizations to offer free tax services at thousands of sites around the country. These are generally located at community and neighborhood centers, libraries, schools, shopping malls and other convenient locations.

VITA and TCE

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA) offers free tax help and return preparation to people who generally make $53,000 or less, people with disabilities, the elderly and limited English-speaking taxpayers.

In addition to VITA, the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program offers free tax help and return preparation for all taxpayers, particularly those who are 60 years of age and older, specializing in questions about pensions and retirement-related issues unique to seniors.

The IRS-certified volunteers who provide tax counseling are often retired individuals associated with non-profit organizations that receive grants from the IRS.

At VITA and TCE tax preparation sites, individuals can receive:

• Free e-file - VITA and TCE provide free electronic filing. E-filing is the safest, most accurate way to file a tax return. Combining e-file with direct deposit is the fastest way to get a refund.
• Tax benefits - Using VITA and TCE can help get all the tax benefits for which a taxpayer is eligible. For example, taxpayers may qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit or the Credit for the Elderly. Taxpayers can also get help with the new Health Care Law tax provisions.
• Bilingual help - Some VITA and TCE sites provide bilingual help for people who speak limited English.
• Help for military - VITA offers free tax assistance to members of the military and their families. Volunteers help with many military tax issues. These may include the special rules and tax benefits that apply to those serving in combat zones.
• Self-preparation option - At some VITA sites, individuals can prepare their own federal and state tax returns using free web-based software. This is an option if a taxpayer doesn’t have a home computer or need much help. Volunteers are on site to guide. In most cases, this option offers free tax return preparation software and e-filing to people who earn $60,000 or less.

To find a VITA or TCE tax preparation site, visit IRS.gov, search the word “VITA” and click on “Free Tax Return Preparation for You by Volunteers.” You can also download IRS’s mobile app – IRS2Go. Go to “Free Tax Help,” enter the sought ZIP code and select a mileage range.

Site information is also available by calling the IRS at 800-906-9887. To locate the nearest AARP Tax-Aide site, or call 888-227-7669.  

We once heard of a would-be scam artist who tried to market powdered water. "Just add water!" his ad proclaimed. It might have been a prank. No one is quite sure.

But powdered alcohol? It sounds like a prank as well but it's not. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau -- a federal agency perhaps best known for approving viticultural, or wine-growing, regions -- has given its approval to a product called Palcohol.

But don't rush out to the corner liquor store just yet. For starters, the company says it has to gear up its production facility but hopes to have the powdery substance on the market by this summer.

The other hitch is that alcohol sales are regulated by the states as well as the feds and many states are less than enthused about the whole idea.

For their parts, the feds say their approval isn't based on whether powdered alcohol is a keen idea but simply on whether the label accurately describes the contents. By law, that's all it can consider.

Why would anybody think this is a good idea? Well, company founder Mark Phillips lists several reasons on the Palcohol website. 

• Outdoor Activity Applications: Palcohol is a boon to outdoors enthusiasts such as campers, hikers and others who wanted to enjoy adult beverages responsibly without having the undue burden of carrying heavy bottles of liquid.

• Travel Applications: Similarly, adult travelers journeying to destinations far from home could conveniently and lawfully carry their favorite cocktail in powder format. Moderate quantities of flavored Palcohol products carried in resealable pouches are a fraction of the weight and bulk associated with traditional liquor packaging.

• Hospitality Applications: Because powdered alcohol is so light, airlines can reduce the weight on an airplane by serving powdered vs. liquid alcohol and save millions on fuel costs. An ice cream manufacturer wants to add Palcohol to their ice cream to make an "adult" version. A hotel in Hawaii is interested in powdered alcohol because it would save them so much on shipping from the mainland. That savings in shipping costs would be attractive to many resorts who rely on imported alcohol.

In other words, Palcohol would make it easier and cheaper to drink. Whether this is a good thing isn't for us to say but Palcohol's opponents include the liquor industry and some state legislators, who say they fear an outbreak of abuse. 

Colorado, where marijuana is legal, last month passed a measure that temporarily outlaws powdered alcohol. Other states are considering similar easures.

"We moved to keep this potentially dangerous product out of Virginia because we knew that federal approval was pending and it would be difficult to address the problem after the fact," said Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring. "I'm glad the General Assembly agreed it was the right move to protect Virginians, especially young people, because the risk of abuse and misuse is just so high with this product."

The zig-zag pattern continues for mortgage applications.

After rising last week for the first time in 3 weeks, mortgage applications are down again.

Data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey shpws applications slipped 1.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ending March 6.

The Refinance Index tumbled 3% pushing the refinance share of mortgage activity down 2% to 60% of total applications. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 5.6% of total applications.

The average loan size for purchase applications increased to the highest level in the history of the survey at $294,900.

The FHA share of total applications dipped to 14.0% from 14.6%, the VA share of total applications jumped from 9.8% to 10.8% and the USDA share of total applications was unchanged from last week at 0.8%.

Contract interest rates

• The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) rose 5 basis points -- from 3.96% to 4.01% percent, the highest level since the week ending January 2, 2015. Points increased to 0.39 from 0.30 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
• The average contract interest rate for 30-year FRMs with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) edged up to 4.02% from 3.95%, with points unchanged at 0.27 (including the origination fee) for 80% loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
• The average contract interest rate for 30-year FRMs backed by the FHA was up 4 basis points to 3.80%, with points slipping to 0.20 from 0.21 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
• The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.29% -- the highest level since the week ending December 26, 2014 -- from 3.27%, with points steady at 0.30 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
• The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs jumped 13 basis points to 3.18%, with points decreasing to 0.40 from 0.50 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

The survey covers over 75% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.

UltraZx Labs is voluntarily recalling UltraZx weight loss supplements.

The product contains Sibutramine and Phenolphthalein, which are not listed on the label.

Sibutramine is a controlled substance that was removed for safety reasons, while Phenolphthalein is a chemical that is not an active ingredient in any approved drug in the United States.

The company says it has not received any reports of adverse events related to this recall.

UltraZx weight loss supplement is marketed as a dietary supplement used as a weight loss aid and is packaged in bottles of thirty (30) capsules of 300mg. The recalled includes all lots/bottles/packages, which were distributed from September 2014 until February 2015.

Consumers and distributors who have the recalled product should stop using it and return it to UltraZx Labs.

Consumers with questions regarding this recall may contact UltraZx Labs at (305) 904-9393, Monday through Friday from 9:00am – 5:00pm EST.  

Everybody's always looking for ways to save money, especially In this economy, and one common money-saving tip you'll often hear is to watch out for excessive “brand loyalty.”

Sometimes people let themselves get so accustomed to paying premium prices for Brand A, they overlook Brand X which works just as well for a considerably lower price.

Various types of brand loyalty which serve only to empty your wallet include paying extra for clothing just because it has a designer's name on the label, or overlooking store-brand foods which are often made by name-brand companies, only without the fancy packaging.

That said, while most flavors of brand loyalty are potential money-wasters, there are a few areas where it makes good economic sense and one where it's downright mandatory: power sources for electronic devices with rechargeable batteries, such as phones, laptops, tablets and even e-cigarettes.

No matter which manufacturer made your devices, you should always stick with manufacturer-approved batteries, chargers and other accessories, rather than buy third-party products which might prove dangerously incompatible with your device.

At best, third-party batteries will likely void your manufacturer's warranty. At worst, they can make your devices overheat, catch fire or even explode. It happened to Ginny in Thousand Oaks, California, who wrote to share her story with us so that others might learn from her family's dangerously close call:

I'm still recovering from an adrenaline rush after yesterday when my daughter's Toshiba laptop caught on fire and exploded! …. It *could have* blown up in my face but I ran fast enough to throw it out the front door first, and then my son's who threw it again away from the house. These are the things that keep going through my mind.

The only damage was the laptop and my nerves (and a scorched wall, burned comforter and dirty smoke) but I want to share my experience because I had NO idea this could happen!

Got too hot

Ginny's 13-year-old daughter was reclining on her bed doing homework on her laptop when “it got too hot and she smelled smoke.” She immediately unplugged the laptop and turned it off, but it was too late:

It was BAD; there was toxic smoke, flames, shrapnel and the fire doesn't go out no matter what you try; it was like a nuclear reactor meltdown sans radiation (I hope lol) that gets bigger instead of smaller until it blows up and doesn't stop for a long time.

When lithium-ion batteries catch on fire, they genuinely are very difficult to extinguish: they can reach temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and they also might explode (which are two reasons why bulk shipments of lithium-ion batteries have been banned on U.S. passenger flights for over a decade now, since 2004). Ginny understandably found herself badly shaken by the incident:

I am buying a "Class D" fire extinguisher or two today after watching a YouTube warning, but I am not sure that would stopped the exploding lithium batteries …. I had NO idea this was a possibility. The laptop always ran hot - it was old and we bought it used. We got a new fan, and recently replaced the battery.

Uh-oh. Replaced the battery? We asked Ginny if the new battery was Toshiba-approved, or made by a third party.

I'm afraid the batteries were 3rd party. My husband had just replaced them because the Toshiba battery died, but I didn't realize he had done that. I never use 3rd party batteries in my cameras and would have objected to them if I had known but he likes to save money (hah! House fires aren't cheap, nor is the burn center, worst case scenario).

Not unusual

Ginny's wasn't the only family to suffer a close call thanks to a third-party battery. Last July, a 13-year-old in Texas accidentally set her bed on fire with her smartphone, which was not only powered by a third-party battery, but ended up under her pillow one night, so that the heat generated by the battery had no place to dissipate and made the pillow start smoldering.

The next month, an airplane about to take off from a runway in Tel Aviv instead had to be evacuated, after the battery in a passenger's iPhone caught fire.

Not that such fires are anything new. Back in 2004, a California teenager suffered second-degree burns when her cell phone caught fire without warning. A local fire investigator said the phone suddenly burst into “fist-sized flames,” and suspected an overheating lithium battery was to blame.

By 2005, the feds were warning consumers about the fire hazards and related dangers posed by rechargeable batteries. That March, for example, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a list of “cell phone safety tips” and the first item was this: never use incompatible cell phone batteries and chargers. Whichever brand of phone you have, you must stick with manufacturer-approved batteries rather than buy from third-party sources, as the manufacturers can't guarantee that third-party devices are compatible with their devices.

To protect yourself and keep your house safe from such fire hazards, the three most important pieces of advice are:

• always use manufacturer-approved batteries and chargers for your smartphone, laptop, tablet or any other device;
• never leave the devices plugged in overnight or while you're away from home; and,
• especially while the devices are turned on, do not cover them with blankets, pillows or anything else capable of restricting airflow and preventing heat from dissipating.

As Ginny ruefully noted: “I knew that third-party batteries might hurt my camera, but I didn't know they might hurt me.” 

There are some things everyone already knows. One of them is that forced arbitration agreements are great for big companies, bad for consumers. 

For one thing, consumers almost never prevail when they enter into an arbitration under the rules laid down by whatever gargantuan entity they've dared to challenge. For another, forced arbitration clauses block consumers from filing the class action lawsuits that can bring them relief and also dissuade big companies from riding roughshod over consumers.

But don't take our word for it. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has just released a study that confirms it.

“Tens of millions of consumers are covered by arbitration clauses, but few know about them or understand their impact,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Our study found that these arbitration clauses restrict consumer relief in disputes with financial companies by limiting class actions that provide millions of dollars in redress each year. Now that our study has been completed, we will consider what next steps are appropriate.”

The study found that more than 75% of consumers surveyed did not know whether they were subject to an arbitration clause in their agreements with their financial service providers, and fewer than 7% of those covered by arbitration clauses realized that the clauses restricted their ability to sue in court.

Study findings

The CFPB studied arbitration clauses in a number of different consumer finance markets including credit cards and checking accounts, which have the largest numbers of consumers. The report results indicate that:

Tens of millions of consumers are covered by arbitration clauses. For example, in the credit card market, card issuers representing more than half of all credit card debt have arbitration clauses – impacting as many as 80 million consumers. In the checking account market, banks representing 44% of insured deposits have arbitration clauses.

Consumers filed roughly 600 arbitration cases and 1,200 individual federal lawsuits per year on average in the markets studied. More than 20% of these cases may have been filed by companies, rather than consumers.

In the 1,060 cases that were filed in 2010 and 2011, arbitrators awarded consumers a combined total of less than $175,000 in damages and less than $190,000 in debt forbearance. Arbitrators also ordered consumers to pay $2.8 million to companies, predominantly for debts that were disputed.

Between 2010 and 2012, consumers filed 3,462 individual lawsuits in federal court about consumer finance disputes in five of these markets. The Bureau found that of the relatively few cases that were decided by a judge, consumers were awarded just under $1 million.

Roughly 32 million consumers on average are eligible for relief through consumer finance class action settlements each year. Across substantially all consumer finance markets, at least 160 million class members were eligible for relief over the five-year period studied. The settlements totaled $2.7 billion in cash, in-kind relief, and attorney’s fees and expenses – with roughly 18% of that going to expenses and attorneys’ fees.

These figures do not include the potential value to consumers of class action settlements requiring companies to change their behavior. Based on available data, the Bureau estimates that the cash payments to class members alone were at least $1.1 billion and cover at least 34 million consumers.

Arbitration clauses can act as a barrier to class actions. By design, arbitration clauses can be used to block class actions in court. The CFPB found that it is rare for a company to try to force an individual lawsuit into arbitration but common for arbitration clauses to be invoked to block class actions.

For example, in cases where credit card issuers with an arbitration clause were sued in a class action, companies invoked the arbitration clause to block class actions 65% of the time.

No evidence of arbitration clauses leading to lower prices for consumers. The CFPB looked at whether companies that include arbitration clauses in their contracts offer lower prices because they are not subject to class action lawsuits. It found no statistically significant evidence that the companies that eliminated their arbitration clauses increased their prices or reduced access to credit relative to those that made no change in their use of arbitration clauses.

The complete report on arbitration is available online.

Coenzyme Q10 is a highly popular supplement marketed as an antioxidant to slow the aging process. The active ingredient is ubiquinone, a lipid-like substance found naturally in the body's cells.

But Canadian scientists at McGill University are questioning its effectiveness. They say ubiquinone is not a crucial antioxidant and that consuming it is unlikely to provide the user with any benefit.

“Our findings show that one of the major anti-aging antioxidant supplements used by people can’t possibly act as previously believed,” said Siegfried Hekimi, a McGill biology professor who led the research team. “Dietary supplements cost a lot of money to patients throughout the world – money that would be better spent on healthy food. What’s more, the hope for a quick fix makes people less motivated to undertake appropriate lifestyle changes.”

Not cheap

Coenzyme Q10 is, in fact, pretty expensive. A bottle of 40 tablets can cost around $50. And despite the price, it remains a popular supplement.

Because ubiquinone has been categorized as an antioxidant, Coenzyme Q10 has been recommended for a number of conditions and as an anti-aging supplement. World-wide sales are estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

To reach their conclusions, the McGill researchers created a strain of mice in which they were able to gradually eliminate ubiquinone. After that, they restored it to normal levels.

Because ubiquinone has such a prominent role in producing energy for the body, the results were fairly predictable. The mice got sick and many died.

Surprise

But the researchers were looking for something else – damage to cells from free radicals, the sometimes-harmful molecules created by the oxygen chemistry during metabolism. To their surprise, they didn't find it. The researchers also concluded that this lack of damage didn’t stem from deployment of some other antioxidant strategy by the mice.

As a supplement Coensyme Q10 is not regulated as a drug by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In fact, it is considered a food. But it still might have some important medical uses.

What it's good for

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has concluded that the supplement is likely effective for Coenzyme Q10 deficiency. But the agency notes that this is a very rare condition.

It is also considered effective for inherited or acquired disorders that limit energy production in the cells of the body, known as mitochondrial disorders. The McGill researchers don't dispute that.

“Many patients are sick because their mitochondria don’t work properly, including because they don’t contain enough ubiquinone,” Hekimi said.

He said the research team will used its findings to devise ways, and possibly new drugs, to boost ubiquinone levels in the body.

NIH, meanwhile, has long concluded that Coenzyme Q10 is probably not effective for a long list of conditions for which it has been marketed, including to counter the effects of Alzheimer's disease, asthma and high cholesterol.

Premium-cable channel Home Box Office announced that it will introduce big changes to its delivery model, changes which ultimately might prove the beginning of the end of “cable TV” as we know it.

HBO's CEO Richard Plepler announced yesterday that, starting in April, the channel would offer an online streaming service called HBO Now, which subscribers will be able to buy on its own, without paying for an ordinary cable or satellite TV subscription first. (This is not to be mistaken with the pre-existing streaming program HBO Go, which made streaming HBO available alongside a regular premium-cable HBO subscription.)

HBO Now subscriptions will cost $14.99 per month. By contrast, the traditional method of getting HBO – paying for a basic cable subscription, and occasionally extra tiers of channels, before being allowed to subscribe to additional “premium” channels such as HBO – often cost well over $100 per month, after HBO plus all the lower tiers of channels were paid for.

Initially, HBO Now will only be available through Apple-branded iPhones, iPads and Apple TV, but this Apple-exclusive period is only supposed to last three months before HBO Now will also be available for PCs and Android devices.

When Google Glass debuted, it was widely derided as looking unbearably geeky. Also, some called it a privacy nightmare. When the Apple Watch debuted yesterday, it was given the worshipful treatment reserved for motherhood, the flag and Apple.

Just why this should be so is not quite clear. Both gadgets are basically luxury items -- something no one really needs and probably won't use very often, merely status symbols for those who are into such things.

After all, for $25 you can buy a Timex watch that will tell time just as well as the Apple Watch. Whether it's better looking is a matter of taste. The Timex won't remind you of meetings and won't automatically change time zones when you get off the plane.

On the other hand, the Timex will work even if you don't have an iPhone 6, something you can't say about the Apple Watch, which will sell for $349 to $1,099 (or $10,000 if you want it in gold). Also, the Timex will run for a year or more on a single battery. The Apple Watch? Maybe 6 or 7 hours.

The Apple Watch will do things the Timex won't, of course. It will place calls, send texts and maybe let you know if you're approaching a Starbucks or other temple of modern marketing. 

In other words, matters of status aside, the Apple Watch will save you the trouble of taking your iPhone out of your pocket to send a text. You'll still have to look at your wrist to see what time it is though. 

If that's worth $1,099 to you, grab your iPhone 6 and order one now. It will ship April 24. 

Both the foreclosure inventory and completed foreclosures posted declines in January.

According to CoreLogic's National Foreclosure Report, inventory dropped 33.2% and completed foreclosures were down 22.5% from January 2014. The report also shows there were 43,000 completed foreclosures nationwide in January 2015, compared with 55,000 a year earlier -- representing a decrease of 63% from the peak of completed foreclosures in September 2010. Completed foreclosures have declined every month for the past 37 consecutive months.

On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures were up 14.7% from the 37,000 reported in December 2014. As a basis of comparison, before the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006.

Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. Since the financial meltdown began in September 2008, there have been approximately 5.5 million completed foreclosures across the country, and since home ownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been approximately 7 million homes lost to foreclosure.

Falling delinquency rates

“Job growth and home-value appreciation have worked to push the serious delinquency rate to the lowest since mid-2008 and foreclosures down by one-third from a year ago,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “With economic growth in 2015 expected to be better than last year, further declines in both delinquencies and foreclosures are projected for this year.”

As of January 2015,approximately 549,000 homes were in some stage of foreclosure compared with 822,000 homes in January 2014, representing 39 consecutive months of year-over-year declines. The foreclosure inventory as of January 2015 made up 1.4% of all homes with a mortgage, versus 2.0% the year before. On a month-over-month basis, the foreclosure inventory was down 2.7% from December 2014. The current foreclosure rate of 1.4% is back to March 2008 levels.

“The foreclosure inventory continues to shrink with declines in all 50 states over the past 12 months,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Florida, one of the hardest hit states during the foreclosure crisis, experienced a decline of almost 50% year over year which is outstanding news.”

Report highlights

• The number of mortgages in serious delinquency declined 23.8 percent from January 2014 to January 2015 with 1.5 million mortgages, or 4 %, in serious delinquency (defined as 90 days or more past due, including those loans in foreclosure or REO). This was the lowest delinquency rate since June 2008.
• The foreclosure inventory has experienced 39 months of continuous declines and year-over-year double-digit declines for 28 consecutive months
• The 5 states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in January 2015 were: Florida (111,000), Michigan (51,000), Texas (34,000), California (30,000) and Georgia (28,000). These 5 accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
• Four states and the District of Columbia experienced the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in January 2015: South Dakota (22), the District of Columbia (66), North Dakota (336), West Virginia (511) and Wyoming (532).
• Four states and the District of Columbia experienced the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes: New Jersey (5.2%), New York (4.0%), Florida (3.5%), Hawaii (2.7%) and the District of Columbia (2.5%).
• The 5 states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were Alaska (0.3%), Nebraska (0.4%), North Dakota (0.4%), Arizona (0.5%) and Montana (0.5%).

General Motors is recalling 1,733 model year 2015 Chevrolet Cruze vehicles manufactured February 4, 2015, to February 9, 2015.

The left-rear or right-rear parking brake cable brackets may not have been fastened properly during the assembly process. As a result, the fastening bolts may back out completely, causing the parking brake bracket to separate and the parking brake to not hold the vehicle in place. If the parking brake bracket separates, the parking brake may not hold the vehicle, increasing the risk of a vehicle roll away and a crash.

GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the left-rear and right-rear parking brake brackets bolts, tightening them as necessary, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in March 2015.

Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 15135.