Consumer Confidential: Games, games and games

Here's your tasty-Tuesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Activision's new video game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, went on sale shortly after midnight today. Industry analysts expect the shoot-'em-up to be one of the fastest-selling titles ever, with as many as 13 million copies estimated to be sold by the end of the year. I stopped by a Best Buy outlet in West L.A. where Activision was planning a big launch party. Javier Rivera, 25, was first in line for the new Call of Duty. He said he'd gotten there at 5 a.m., meaning that he planned to stand around for 19 hours to get his hands on the game. "I'm not working today," he explained. "I am working tomorrow." But not very alertly, it's safe to assume.

--Maybe guys like Rivera are one reason that game retailer GameStop says it expects sales to remain brisk this holiday season, even though analysts say consumers aren't buying as many titles as they used to.

--Speaking of high-stakes games, the head of Bank of America, Ken Lewis, says history will vindicate his company's big-bucks purchase of brokerage Merrill Lynch & Co. Right after it vindicates the invasion of Iraq, that is.

— David Lazarus

Consumer Confidential: Credit cards, banks and trains

Here's your tardy-Tuesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Sign o' the times: MasterCard Inc. says its quarterly profit rose as consumers put more stuff on plastic, which is yet another indication that the economy is on the upswing. Robert Selander, MasterCard's chief exec, said it looks like the worst of the downturn is now in our rear-view mirror. But he also said that things won't be entirely hunky-dory until next year. So go easy with your credit card. We're not through the rough stuff yet.

--These little town blues: Bank of America says it wants to attract a higher caliber of exec for its next CEO, so the company reportedly may move its executive suite from North Carolina to New York. Probably doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things. But it shows that many of our too-big-to-fail companies are beholden to no particular community -- except, perhaps, Wall Street.

--Warren Buffett is buying a railroad -- the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., to be precise. Clearly the guy known how to play Monopoly. The railroads always pay off over the long run.

-- David Lazarus

Consumer Confidential: Costco, Disney, banking scam

Here's your whoopee-it's-Wednesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Sign of the times: Costco says it will accept food stamps at many outlets nationwide. In the past, the company has generally pursued a higher-end demographic interested in bargains but still capable of paying membership fees. Now Costco is acknowledging, albeit tacitly, that many of those same people are facing unemployment or other challenges, and is trying to find ways to keep their business.

--Disney has found a nifty way of converting people's iPhones into marketing tools. A new app rewards using your iPhone to poke around the Disney.com website. Following various clues and hints will unlock special content, such as animation or other goodies. A company official calls the app "a unique content experience." I call it advertising. But whatever works.

--Heads up: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is warning of bogus FDIC e-mails from scammers that will unleash a virus on your computer and make off with your personal info. The message says the FDIC has closed the recipient's bank and says you'll need to click a link that will provide more information about your banking record. Clicking that link, of course, makes all the bad stuff happen. The FDIC says if you get any e-mail that looks like this, delete it, quick.

-- David Lazarus

Consumer Confidential: Credit cards, muscle carts and car seats

Here's your woe-it's-Wednesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

• Fedmeister Ben Bernanke says the Federal Reserve may speed up new credit card regulations -- or maybe not. Amid efforts by lawmakers to get tough new laws on the books, Bernanke said it's possible that the Fed's own efforts could arrive sooner than their current arrival date of Feb. 22. But he's concerned that banks need sufficient time "to allow for an orderly transition and to avoid unintended consequences, compliance difficulties and potential liabilities." I say: Get some darned safeguards in place and worry about consequences and difficulties later.

• The Consumer Product Safety Commission says it'll take a closer look at so-called ROVs, or off-road recreational vehicles. The four-wheel contraptions, which look like golf carts on steroids, have been responsible for more than 100 deaths since 2003, the agency says. ROV-makers have proposed voluntary safety regulations, but officials say those rules don't go far enough. So the commission will now explore its own crackdown. How hard can this be? Write some rules that keep people from dying. Is this something that really needs to be negotiated?

• Car seats are great ... in cars. On the dining room table? Not so much. That's the conclusion of a new study which found that more than 43,000 kids ended up in the emergency room between 2003 and 2007 after falling in car seats placed atop tables and other high surfaces. The problem, of course, is that kids wriggle and jiggle, and can send unsecured car seats tumbling. Note to parents: Keep the car seat in the car. Keep the kid in a crib or down on the floor.

-- David Lazarus

Consumer Confidential: Credit, jobs and beer

Here's your finally-it's-Friday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- Banks weren't doing us any favors in August. Consumer credit dropped by nearly $12 billion, according to the Federal Reserve. In other words, there were a lot fewer loans being made, particularly in light of many credit card accounts being shut down by banks ahead of stricter rules coming from Washington. Of course, it's not necessarily a bad thing that many would-be borrowers are being shown the door. One reason we got into our current mess is because banks were handing out cash willy-nilly. But after billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bailouts, some might see this big drop in credit as a fine how-do-you-do.

-- This has been an equal-opportunity recession. Experts say it's not just working stiffs who have been struggling to find jobs. Nearly half of long-term job seekers come from the ranks of white-collar workers, according to a report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. And since these folk tend to make more dough, and thus spend more, this could slow any economic recovery until the ranks of the white-collar crew are replenished. I'm sure we can all agree that what the workplace needs is more managers.

-- Don't mess with Coors drinkers. An Illinois man is suing MillerCoors for allegedly denying him the chance to win football-themed goodies in a promotional sweepstakes. Mario Aliano says in the lawsuit that consumers were told by the company to submit a code on Coors Light cartons to see if they'd won a prize. But when he tried to do this online and by text message, he says all he got was an error message. Aliano alleges that the code was in fact invalid and that he never had a chance to win anything. Would he settle for some free brew?

-- David Lazarus

Consumer Confidential: Kindle, bank fees and Whoppers

Here's your wow-it's-Wednesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- Amazon.com really wants you to have a Kindle. The online retail giant has cut the price of its e-book reader yet again, this time by $40. Now, you can score a Kindle for $259, rather than the $399 it was originally offered at in 2007. Amazon will also offer a $279 international version that it says will work in 100 countries. Me, I'm going to see what Apple and Microsoft have up their sleeves on the tablet-computer front before splurging on an e-reader of any sort (which I still think won't be as enjoyable as a good old-fashioned book).

-- We all know that banks are making money hand over fist from overdraft fees -- I wrote about it the other day in my column. And now comes a new report informing us that the practice may be even more lucrative for our banking brethren than previously thought. According to the Center for Responsive Lending, banks pocketed nearly $24 billion in overdraft fees last year, up 35% from just two years earlier. The main reasons: Banks automatically sign up customers for overdraft protection and then order transactions from highest to lowest, rather than chronologically. Consumer advocates say this all but guarantees that fees will kick in for people living paycheck to paycheck.

-- Burger King says it's going upscale. Good luck with that.

-- David Lazarus

Watch out for foreclosure scams

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley warned homeowners today to be careful to avoid foreclosure-rescue scams.

Some companies offering to negotiate home loan modifications are instead opportunists who “promise quick results for a fee but actually provide nothing,” Cooley said in a news release.

The district attorney encouraged homeowners in financial crisis to consider contacting lenders directly to negotiate loan modifications.

People using third-party loan modification negotiators should “beware of promises involving the payment of substantial amounts of money or the deeding of your home to someone as a way to solve your financial problems.”

“In reality, these predators may steal your money, your home and your hope,” Cooley said.

Anyone looking for foreclosure assistance should consider contacting a housing counselor approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by calling (888) 995-4673, Cooley said.

Additional information about foreclosure fraud is available on the Los Angeles County district attorney’s website.

-- Stuart Pfeifer

Consumer Confidential: Pocketbooks, protection and pups

Here's your thrilled-it's-Thursday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--We're shopping again. Consumer spending posted a 1.3% increase in August -- the largest jump in nearly eight years -- thanks mostly to the government's cash-for-clunkers program, which lured car buyers back into showrooms. Economists say we probably won't see another spending spree like that any time soon, but we've still logged four straight months of growth.

--Fedmeister Ben Bernanke told lawmakers it's "vitally important" that consumers are protected from "unfair and deceptive practices in their financial dealings." But he stopped short of endorsing President Obama's plan for a a new regulatory agency that would focus solely on doing just that. The banking industry says the Fed can handle all that watchdogging on its own (with help from a bunch of other agencies). Yeah, that's worked really well for consumers so far.

--Careful with that puppy chow. Nutro Products is pulling some of its puppy food from store shelves because a worker's hard hat was apparently sucked into the machinery, raising the possibility of bits of plastic getting into Fido's feast.

-- David Lazarus

More consumers prefer to bank online, says American Bankers Assn.

For the first time, more bank customers prefer banking online to any other method, according to a new survey from the American Bankers Assn.

Calling the findings a “watershed change,” the group reported that 25% of all bank customers under age 55 now prefer the speed and convenience of Internet banking to phone and mail options. For customers ages 18 to 34, a whopping 38% preferred banking online. Among older customers, 26% still prefer visiting their local branch. But just 21% of the overall group would rather bank at physical locations, and only 17% prefer ATMs. Just 1%, mostly 18- to 34-year-olds, are most likely to enjoy mobile banking on cellphones or personal digital assistants.

The survey of 1,000 consumers was conducted by market research firm Ipsos-Reid over three days in August.

Banking preferences are also available by age: 18 to 34, 35 to 54 and 55 and older.

-- Tiffany Hsu

David Lazarus: Shaming the big banks

One way to read the new Treasury Department report that big banks are dragging their heels when it comes to helping troubled homeowners is that the Obama administration is trying to shame these institutions into doing a better job.

Despite the foreclosure crisis, banks have reduced mortgage payments on only 9% of eligible loans, Treasury said. Some of the biggest banks posted even worse numbers.

Consumer columnist David Lazarus asks: Since when has shame been a factor for these guys?