Author: Brian Lund
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Amazon Flex drivers who never cashed a tip-refund check are being paid again by Zelle
Refund programs almost always leave money behind. Checks go to old addresses, land in a stack of mail that looks like junk, or arrive for someone who has long since stopped thinking about the job in question. Federal agencies usually let those uncashed checks expire. In this case the Federal Trade Commission is trying a…
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The small-business ownership filing millions were told was mandatory has been permanently scrapped
Anyone who set up an LLC for a rental property, a consulting practice or a side business in the past few years likely encountered a federal filing described as compulsory, backed by penalties, and carrying a hard deadline. A great deal of money was spent on services offering to handle it. That requirement no longer…
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A wage judgment against Leo’s Coney Island returns $515,000 to 143 Michigan workers
Federal wage investigators keep finding the same arrangement in restaurants: one set of timecards for the payroll system and another that records the hours actually worked. A Michigan case resolved this summer describes exactly that, with a detail that turns an ordinary overtime case into something harder to explain away. The second set of records…
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A Medicare Advantage plan that drops you opens a 63-day window to buy Medigap without health questions
Medigap policies are normally sold with health questions attached. Outside a few protected windows, an insurer can ask about a person’s medical history, charge more because of it, or decline to sell at all. That is why a Medicare Advantage member who develops a serious condition often finds the door back to Original Medicare with…
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Claiming Social Security early while still working costs $1 of every $2 earned above $24,480
The most misunderstood rule in Social Security is the one that applies to people who claim a benefit and keep working. It is called the retirement earnings test, and it withholds part of a benefit when earnings run past a set line. It is also, in a way almost nothing else in the program is,…
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Two waiting periods that slowed Medicare sales pitches are gone this enrollment season
For the past several years, a Medicare beneficiary who signed a form at an informational seminar had two days of quiet before an agent could legally pitch them a plan. That gap was built into federal regulation on the theory that a decision worth thousands of dollars a year should not be made in the…
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Kroger will pay $17 million over inflated prescription copays, and most claims need no receipts
The copay a pharmacy collects at the counter is supposed to be calculated off the price the pharmacy actually charges the public. A long-running lawsuit against Kroger says the company reported something different to insurers — and that insured customers paid more at the register as a result. Kroger has agreed to put $17 million…
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Starting with 2027 contributions, the government will match up to $1,000 a year into a retirement account
A tax break that most eligible workers never claimed is being converted into something harder to miss: cash deposited straight into a retirement account. Treasury and the IRS have begun writing the rules for the Saver’s Match, a federal contribution worth as much as $1,000 a year to low- and moderate-income savers. It applies to…
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Doxim data-breach victims can claim about $100 with no proof through October 13
If your bank or credit union sent you a data-breach notice a couple of years ago, there may be a check with your name on it — and claiming it takes minutes, not paperwork. A $5.5 million settlement over a Doxim data breach is paying class members an estimated $100 flat, with no documentation required,…
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About 18 states have won federal approval to bar SNAP from buying soda and candy
For families that use SNAP benefits, what the card can buy is starting to depend on the state. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved a wave of state waivers that bar SNAP dollars from purchasing soda, candy, and similar items, and after a court paused several of them, roughly 18 states now have restrictions…
