Consumer Protection — older stories

The CARD Act gives every gift card a five-year floor. What happens after that depends on which state you're standing in.

Blame usually lands on a phone in your pocket, but most hotel key card failures trace back to expiration timers, encoding mistakes and aging locks.

A federal tracking system logs every pseudoephedrine sale in real time. Here's why Sudafed sits behind the counter, what the purchase limits actually are, and when they start to matter.

Your black-and-white document didn't need cyan, but your printer used it anyway, and in some models an empty color cartridge stops every print job cold.

A federal court vacated the FTC's click-to-cancel rule in 2025. Since then, Connecticut, New York City and half a dozen other states have passed their own versions.

The FTC banned hidden fees on tickets and hotels last year. Everywhere else, from restaurants to airlines, the same trick is still perfectly legal.

A federal rule now bans hiding mandatory fees until checkout for tickets and hotels. Here's what's covered, what's exempt, and how to tell it's working.

A record 34% of merchants now surcharge credit card transactions, but the legal limit changes wildly by state — banned outright in three, capped in a dozen others.

An empty seat is revenue an airline can never get back once the door closes, which is why carriers deliberately sell a few more tickets than they have seats.