Current Events in July 2024

Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, sent out emails to its subscribers this week, announcing a price hike.

“Thank you for being a Peacock subscriber. We want to let you know about an upcoming price increase to your subscription. We are changing the price of Peacock subscription plans as follows:

“If you're a current subscriber on a monthly plan, you'll receive one additional month at the current price. The new pricing will be effective for current subscribers on your next billing date on or after August 17, 2024.”

Want a way around this?

There’s almost always a way around these price increases and no sooner did Peacock announce its price increase but Verizon announced a deal that includes Peacock.

Combined Netflix Premium Plan and Peacock Premium access will be available for $79.99 to Verizon customers for the first time - a considerable $275 savings off the standalone subscription pricing.

MediaPlayNews’ Erik Gruenwedel said this is the first time Netflix and Peacock have been bundled together for an annual offer in which Verizon customers buy one year of Peacock Premium and get one year of Netflix’s Premium plan for free.

To get the Netflix and Peacock bundle, you have to do it through +play, Verizon’s hub for content subscriptions, something Verizon makes available to its mobile and home internet customers.

Slowly but surely, the average mortgage rate continues to lose altitude, giving a little more hope to people who have been waiting to purchase a home.

Freddie Mac reports the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to its lowest level since mid-March, dropping 12 basis points from last week, to 6.77%.

“Mortgage rates are headed in the right direction and the economy remains resilient, two positive incremental signs for the housing market,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “However, homebuyers have yet to respond to lower rates, as purchase application demand is still roughly 5% below spring when rates were approximately the same. 

Khater said that’s not uncommon, noting that sometimes as rates decline, demand weakens, and the apparent paradox is driven by buyers making sure rates don’t decline further before they decide to purchase.

Home prices are also a major factor. Real estate broker Redfin recently reported that on a national basis, the typical home is selling for 0.4% less than its list price. That’s significant because it’s the first time that has happened since July 2020, when the rapid escalation in home prices began.

While 6.77% is the average mortgage rate, terms will vary depending on a number of factors. ConsumerAffairs researchers show you how to look for a mortgage here.

Starbucks and Mercedes-Benz are working together to make it easier for consumers on the West Coast to charge their electric cars. 

The companies plan to install electric vehicle (EV) chargers at over 100 Starbucks locations along Interstate 5, which runs from Washington State through California. 

“At Starbucks, we have a long history of bringing renewable and clean energy projects to connect communities that lack the infrastructure,” said Michael Kobori, chief sustainability officer at Starbucks. “Partnering with Mercedes is the next step in expanding our EV charging network so our customers can refuel sustainably while they enjoy Starbucks.” 

“The collaboration between two leading brands like Mercedes-Benz and Starbucks will uplift the charging experience for all EV drivers,” said Andrew Cornelia, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging. “We envision a future where charging your vehicle is as easy as enjoying your favorite Starbucks.” 

Bringing chargers to area that need them

One of the primary goals of this project is to make EV charging more accessible for drivers in areas where there aren’t many options. The companies explained that they’ve targeted areas along I-5 that are “charging deserts” and “core urban areas” for this first round of installations. 

When installed, the Starbucks locations will feature the Alpitronic Hypercharger 400. These devices are capable of charging any kind of EV and will be able to handle a wide voltage range. 

Currently, 1,000 Starbucks locations have access to nearby EV charging. These efforts will make EV charging accessible to even more consumers. 

While this project is initially planned for the west coast, Starbucks said that future locations across the country will be explored. For now, west coast EV drivers and Starbucks lovers have something to look forward to! 

Is 2024 the year of the data breach? It certainly seems like it with what's happened to AT&T, Ticketmaster, and Advanced Auto Parts.

Now, less than a year after suffering through filing for bankruptcy and a spate of store closings, Rite Aid has gone public with its discovery of an “incident” that involved “certain consumers’ personal information," too.

In its disclosure, the company said that on June 6, 2024, an unknown third party compromised certain business systems by impersonating a Rite Aid employee. The company said it detected the incident within 12 hours and immediately launched an investigation to terminate the unauthorized access, remediate affected systems and ascertain if any customer data was impacted. 

Are you affected?

If you are a Rite Aid shopper or use its pharmacy to fill prescriptions, you no doubt are concerned about the safety of your personal data. To that end, the company admitted that the data included:

• Purchaser name

• Address

• Date of birth 

• Driver’s license number or other form of government-issued ID…

...“presented at the time of a purchase between June 6, 2017, and July 30, 2018.”

However, Rite Aid said no Social Security numbers, financial information or patient information was impacted by the incident. The company did not release the total number of records compromised in the breach.

The company said it is mailing letters to any potentially affected consumer who was associated with a mailing address in its systems.

“We regret that this incident occurred and are implementing additional security measures to prevent potentially similar attacks in the future," the company said in its announcement. 

"We are committed to protecting consumers’ information, and anyone with additional questions may call our dedicated assistance line toll-free at (866) 810-8094 from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Central Time, Monday – Friday, excluding holidays.”

“If you are a Rite Aid consumer who did not receive a letter regarding this incident, but you would like to know if you were affected, please call our dedicated assistance line."

In its report on the second quarter of 2024, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) found the number of publicly reported data breaches declined 12% over the second quarter of 2023. However, the number of people affected by those breaches surged, rising to 1,041,312,601, a 1,170% increase over the same period in 2023.