The teenager picked up a store courtesy phone and made the following announcement “Attention Walmart shoppers, all black people leave the store now.” The store had approximately 100 shoppers inside at the time. More than a dozen went to the customer service desk to call police.

The Washington Township police took custody of the teenager on Friday afternoon assisted by the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s office. After the large amount of media attention following the incident, it was an anonymous tip that pointed investigators in the direction of conversations on a social networking website. The teen was not the one posting information but police were able to gather evidence through conversations about the supposed prank and ultimately got a lead on a name. Walmart provided video surveillance footage from the event on Sunday.

The police in the case have stated the store’s intercom system can be accessed by anyone at any time. It is a matter of picking up a store courtesy phone and pressing a certain button that gives the access to the store-wide intercom system. The manager of the Walmart location quickly apologized via the system immediately after the remark but shoppers were already expressing outrage.

A spokesman for Walmart said they have updated the intercom system at the store, which is the first Walmart store location in the state of New Jersey,  to prevent additional incident. Company representative David Tovar stated “We again apologize to all of our customers and associates who has to listen to something so offensive.” In another statement released by the company, Walmart representatives said “We’re appalled by this incident and are amazed that anyone could be so backward and mean-spirited in this day and age.”

The suspect’s identity is not being released because he is a minor. He was arrested and released to his parent’s custody. The suspect was in the store with a friend and the friend’s mother. Neither the friend nor the mother was charged but investigators said there is a possibility either could face charges for not reporting the crime.

This is not the first time this type of incident has occurred within the same store location. During the investigation, it was revealed that there were at least two other similar occurrences in recent months.

16 Year Old Charged in Walmart (NYSE: WMT) Racial Case was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The New York Attorney General has just shut down a collection operation that has been using illegal tactics nationwide. While it is true that creditors have every right to try to collect money owed to them, there are certain lines that cannot be crossed to protect consumers from illegal tactics. The rules differ depending on who you are dealing with, an original creditor or a collection agency which has bought your debt from the original creditor or another debt collector. The company that was the recent target of Attorney General Cuomo’s investigation has been shut down after it was discovered they (collectors) were pretending to be police officers, threatening to throw consumers in jail and using scripted telephone calls designed to intimidate consumers into paying debts according to a Consumer Affairs report. The following tips can serve as a reminder of your rights if you are struggling with debt and dealing with collection agencies.

• Debt collectors cannot contact you whenever they choose. They are limited to contacting you between the hours of 8am and 9pm and shall not contact you at work if you have relayed to them you are unable to receive this type of call at your place of employment.
• They may not discuss your debt with third parties, such as a relative, neighbor or employer. They shall only relay information regarding the debt they are attempting to collect to your attorney or to you directly.
• Debt collectors cannot misrepresent themselves as anyone other than a debt collector. This makes it illegal for a debt collector to claim to be a police officer, an attorney or anyone else for that matter.
• Legal action can be taken against you in an attempt to recover money owed, however debt collectors cannot threaten legal or other repercussions without the express intent of following through. This means unless they are actually in the process of taking legal action they cannot threaten to do so. Remember your wages cannot be garnished until legal action has been taken and a judge has imposed a wage garnishment. In that event you will receive written notification well in advance of any garnishments. Do not fall for the oldest trick in the book, which is to threaten your very next paycheck.

More information is available by reviewing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Remember that the law does not apply to your original creditor.

In an ideal world you would not have to worry about debt collectors because you would not be behind on any of your accounts. Unfortunately that is not the world we live in. If you are experiencing a financial hardship, you should seek immediate assistance to try and resolve your outstanding debt. While you are offered some protection through the law, in the end you still owe the debt. Paying it off is the only way to completely avoid problems that arise from debt collection efforts.

Know Your Rights If You Are In Debt was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

New Tax Brackets, Higher Standard Deductions & Higher Personal Exemptions – Tax Brackets and the standard tax deduction increase every year by the rate of inflation. You’ll also be able to deduct more for each of your dependent family members as the amount of money you can deduct for a personal exemption has increased as well. This mean that you’ll end a smaller amount of taxes if you made the same amount of money as you did last year. You can view information about this year’s tax brackets here.

Increased Business Mileage Rates – You’ll be able to deduct more of depreciation if you own a vehicle and use it for business purposes. In 2007 you could deduct 48.5 cents per mile, and in 2008 you’ll be able to deduct up to 50.5 cents per mile.

New Rules for Charitable Giving – The IRS is attempting to clamp down on fraudulent charitable giving this year by making it so that you cannot deduct a cash donation unless you can provide a record of the contribution. These records include a notice from the charity, a cancelled check, or a bank statement.

Limits on Itemized Deductions for the Wealthy - If you and your spouse make more than $159,950 or if you are single and make more than $79,975 this year, you may lose a portion of your itemized deductions.

Increased Roth IRA Contribution Limits – In 2007 you could deposit up to $4,000 into a Roth IRA and have the investment be completely tax free. In 2008, you will be able to deposit up to $5,000 and have all of the earnings on that money be tax free. Those over 50 can deposit up to $6,000 this year as their catch-up contribution.

Better Tax Breaks for College Students – The amount of money that your family can make and still be qualified for the Hope & Lifetime Learning credit increases to a sliding scale between $47,000 and $57,000 in 2007 and between $48,000 and $58,000 in 2008.

Improved Adoption Credits – Taxpayers can now deduct a maximum credit of $11,390 when they adopt a child. You must make less than $210,000 to qualify for any or all of this credit.

PMI is now deductible – If you had to purchase private mortgage insurance as part of your mortgage, you will now be able to deduct the amount you pay.

Increases in Alternative Minimum Tax Limits – The alternative minimum tax limits were raised for the taxes filed on 2007 income by a bill in congress late last year. This number will drop down significantly next year unless congress reforms the legislations

New Tax Law Changes for Your 2008 Federal Income Taxes was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Pretty soon we’ll all be looking for deductions, gathering our 1099 forms and the like and putting together our tax forms for the year and sending them off to the IRS. In addition to your social security and Medicare taxes, here’s how much income tax we’ll be paying in 2008.

Single Filers
10% on income between $0 and $8,025
15% on the income between $8,025 and $32,550; plus $802.50
25% on the income between $32,550 and $78,850; plus $4,481.25
28% on the income between $78,850 and $164,550; plus $16,056.25
33% on the income between $164,550 and $357,700; plus $40,052.25
35% on the income over $357,700; plus $103,791.70

Married Filed Jointly
10% on the income between $0 and $16,050
15% on the income between $16,050 and $65,100; plus $1,605.00
25% on the income between $65,100 and $131,450; plus $8,962.50
28% on the income between $131,450 and $200,300; plus $25,550.00
33% on the income between $200,300 and $357,700; plus $44,828.00
35% on the income over $357,700; plus $96,770.00

Married Filing Separately Filing
10% on the income between $0 and $8,025
15% on the income between $8,025 and $32,550; plus $802.50
25% on the income between $32,550 and $65,725; plus $4,481.25
28% on the income between $65,725 and $100,150; plus $12,775.00
33% on the income between $100,150 and $178,850; plus $22,414.00
35% on the income over $178,850; plus $48,385.00

Head of Household Filing Status
10% on the income between $0 and $16,050
15% on the income between $16,050 and $43,650; plus $1,145.00
25% on the income between $43,650 and $112,650; plus $5,975.00
28% on the income between $112,650 and $182,400; plus $23,225.00
33% on the income between $182,400 and $357,700; plus $42,755.00
35% on the income over $357,700; plus $100,604.00

2008 Federal Income Tax Rates was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The Securing Adolescents from Exploitation Online (SAFE) Act requires anyone who provides a “remote computing service” or an “electronic communications service” to the public who learns about the storage or transmission of an offending image or an illegal activity must register their name, mailing address, phone number, and fax line with the CyberTipline at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The person finding the violation must also make a report to the CyberTipline that includes all of the information they know about the person as well as the illegal images themselves. This law would require individuals to collect, store, and submit any child pornography that an individual recognized to the government.

The bill was rushed through congress in a very hurried fashion that was only designed for non-controversial bills or emergency pieces of legislation. This means that there were no committee hearings and time for public comment. The vote passed the house on an extremely lop-sided vote of 409 to 2. Only Rep. Ron Paul and Rep. Paul Broun voted against the legislation. The bill will now move onto the Senate and then to the President’s desk for a signature.

The authors of the legislation claim that they are not trying to target individuals who have open WiFi routers, but rather internet service providers. Unfortunately the language in the bill is so broad that anyone enforcing the law could easily interpret the legislation to apply to individuals. There have been many instances in the past where the letter of the law has trumped the intent of the law. The Senate version of the legislation would be well served to clarify this section of the legislation so that individuals wouldn’t be forced to monitor, collect, store and report offensive imagery.

Have an Open WiFi Access Point? Be Prepared to Track and Report Child Porn or Face a $300,000 Fine was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The US House recently voted to enact the “Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending” act which would do a number of things to make sure that consumers know what they’re getting into when they take out a mortgage and ensure that they can only take out loans that they can reasonably afford to pay back.

The bi-partisan legislation passed on a 291-127 vote and would establish a federal licensing and registration system for mortgage lenders. In addition it would establish a new department in HUD called the office of “Housing Counseling” which would assist consumers in avoiding a foreclosure. The legislation would also make it illegal for banks to give loans to consumers that there’s no reasonable way for the consumer to repay and prevent lenders from pushing predatory loans on to consumers. The legislation will now move onto the senate and then the desk of the president.

Banks and other mortgage lenders have been fighting tooth and nail to prevent this legislation from being passed. They have absolutely refused to work with congress in coming up with some sort of reasonable compromise and have nothing to say on the legislation but “No Way, No How!” Major banks’ lobbies spent several weeks trying to derail the legislation while it was in committee and are now trying to prevent it from passing in the US Senate.

These large financial institutions have shown that they have not policed themselves properly. Banks which lend mortgages to people believe they have no responsibility to sell you the product that makes the most financial sense, but rather the one that makes them the most money. They have put people into mortgages which they simply cannot afford to repay by qualifying them on low teaser rates rather than what they would actually be repaying over the long haul.

Banks hate this legislation because they do not want to have what’s called as “fiduciary responsibility” to their customers, meaning that they would have to give them the product which is the best deal for the consumer, not the banks pocketbook. They’re also opposed to the bill because it would make it so that people had to qualify based on the actual payment, not the teaser rate. Mortgage companies are unhappy with the legislation because it would require them to spell out in plain English what the true cost of the mortgage is on a monthly basis as well as the costs and fees of the loan to the consumer.

By working against this legislation, banks are showing that they have little concern as to what’s in the best interest of the consumer and are rather only concerned about increasing the number of mortgages they originate and their short term quarterly profits.

Major Banks At it Again, Fighting Against “Truth in Mortgage Lending” Legislation Which Would Decrease Foreclosures! was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Business Week recently ran a story entitled “Prisoners of Debt” in which they reported that a group of banks, collection agencies and even credit bureaus were working together to undermine bankruptcy law. They found that Capital One, Bank of America, Chase, and Discover were all ignoring existing bankruptcy laws, whether by accident or on purpose, and selling debts illegally to collection agencies so that the collection agencies could go after you and try to collect the bankrupted debt. There was recently a court case in which a Chase lawyer testified to a judge that bankrupted debts are sold all the time in the industry.

The article in Business Week stated that the banks public relations arms said that these actions were an “unintentional mistake,” but let’s look at the facts. Multiple banks have neglected to wipe out people’s debt when they file for bankruptcy and then sell the debt off to a collection agency so they can collect the money. The credit bureaus then help by listing debts on your credit reports, even though they are not valid. There’s a clear financial gain for banks and debts and collectors to flaunt the law like this and since there’s been a clear pattern across a number of different companies with a large number of consumers who have filed bankruptcy, it’s very difficult for these banks to pass off these actions as an “unintentional mistake.”

If you’ve found yourself the victim of banks and debt collectors who are trying to collect bankrupted debts, contact the banks y phone and in writing and try to get them to update the status of your debts which are legally expired. If that fails, your best bet is to go back to the bankruptcy court where you filed and present the matter before the judge.

Bank of America, Capital One, Chase and Discover Caught Actively Working to Undermine Bankruptcy Laws. was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

If you don’t have a will, the state can legally take away your children from whoever they’re with, put them in a foster home temporarily and then decide according to some cookie cutter formula as to who gets to keep your children! The intentions of who the god parents were could have been perfectly clear between the family, but unless it’s written down on paper and notarized, it does not matter to the government! Not only could your children end up with someone you don’t want raising them, your money could be given to a relative that you really don’t even like! Depending on which state you live in, your spouse might not even get all of your money. In some of the more conservative states if a husband dies and the couple has not been married for a year, the vast majority of the money will go to the husband’s family rather than his bride! You should be able to decide where your money goes when you die, but that won’t happen unless you get moving and get a will today!

Making a will is incredibly easy to do, unless you have a significant amount of wealth (say a net worth of $500,000 or more), you can do it yourself! There are two sites which offer state specific legal forms to create wills with, which are LegalZoom.com and US Legal Forms. There’s also a piece of software called WillMaker which is highly respected. You’ll probably pay $20 or $30 for the form or the software, but that’s a steal when the alternative is to let the government decide what to do with your children and your money!

Don’t Let The Government Decide What To Do With Your Children and Your Money If You Die! was created by and is property of American Consumer News.