New York taxi drivers have resigned themselves to a fate with credit cards, according to a New York Times investigation. Cabbies struck twice this year to protest regulations forcing them to accept credit of all stripes. To see if cabbies are following the new rules, the Times asked five reporters to hop in twenty cabs each with one question: “I’ve only got a credit card, is that O.K.?”

Here is what happened over 92 rides:

• 47—slightly over half—accepted credit cards.
• 35 cabs—nearly 40%—did not have credit card readers
• 9 drivers refused to accept credit cards at all.
• 1 driver accepted the credit card, and then tried to levy his own $0.35 transaction fee.

The nine drivers who refused offered a litany of poor excuses, including:

• “There is a minimum cab fare for credit card use.” (There isn’t, according to the Taxi and Limousine Commission.)
• There’s a 35-cent transaction fee for credit cards.” (Not so.)
• “It’s too short a ride.” (No such thing.)
• “It superior be a good credit card.” (Passengers can always pay with cash if the card is declined.)
• The device doesn’t have to be activated until the new year. (If it is installed, passengers can use it.)

If a cabbie gives you a hard time, you’re in good company—Matthew Daus, New York’s Taxi Commissioner, has been twice refused. Most drivers will cave if you write down their badge number and threaten to call 311. It may take effort, but paying with a credit card is still easier than catching a late-night lift to Brooklyn.

Hey, Taxi! Do You Take Credit Cards? [NYT]
(Photo by Michael Nagle/Getty Images)

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AdFreak is running a bracket style vote-off to determine the freakiest commercial of 2007. We have a big soft spot for Montgomery Flea Market (featured as an entrant in our “Great Moments In Commercial History” series, but it seems “Orville Deadenbacher” could be slated to sweep the race. [AdFreak]

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Lisa Madigan, the attorney general of Illinois, is investigating subprime mortgage lender Countrywide “as part of the state’s expanding inquiry into dubious lending practices that have trapped borrowers in high-cost mortgages they have the ability to no longer afford,” states the New York Times.

Lisa Madigan, the attorney general, has subpoenaed documents from Countrywide relating to its loan origination practices, a person briefed on the matter stated. Rick Simon, a Countrywide spokesman, stated the company was cooperating with the investigation but declined to comment further.

The inquiry follows an investigation by Ms. Madigan’s office into One Source Mortgage, a Chicago mortgage broker that recently shut its doors. Ms. Madigan sued One Source on Nov. 27, contending that the company misled borrowers by promising low rates on mortgages without advising them that their payments would jump sharply shortly after the loans were made. Countrywide was One Source’s primary lender, according to the lawsuit.

One Source is being investigated for tricking borrowers into signing up for loans in which only a part of the interest is paid, resulting in a mortgage that grows, rather than shrinks as time goes on. These loans are illegal in 25 says, but, of course, not in Illinois—the Sucker State.

The attorney general’s lawsuit contended that One Source put borrowers into loans with terms they didn’t understand, especially so-called pay option adjustable-rate mortgages. These loans allow borrowers to pay only a fraction of the interest owed and none of the principal, resulting in a growing rather than a shrinking mortgage balance. Countrywide was One Source’s main provider of pay option loans, documents in that case show.

“This company’s conduct is a prime example of unscrupulous mortgage brokers that has led to a foreclosure crisis for many Illinois homeowners,” Ms. Madigan said when she filed the suit against One Source.

One Source mortgage brokers are accused of inflating borrowers incomes, telling customers that they’d to close before the terms of the deal were explained, lying about the terms of the mortgages, and closing mortgages in as tiny as 15 minutes.

Countrywide Subpoenaed by Illinois [NYT]
(Photo:meghannmarco)

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“Shoppers who pay the full price of about $249 for an out-of-stock Wii on December 20 and 21 at retailer GameStop Corp will get a certificate promising a Wii ’sometime in January,’” sez Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime. Only at GameStop, urg. [Reuters]

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Investigators for the Metropolitan Transit Authority in NYC gave 26 items to various transit workers in order to see how long it would take for the items to show up at New York City Transit’s lost property claim office. Trouble is, only 3 items showed up at all, and the MTA wasn’t anticipating that.

“Obviously, the results are disturbing,” said the inspector general, Barry L. Kluger. He added that the investigation was not meant “as a sting operation” and that it was not possible to know if the missing items were stolen by transit employees or simply “wound up in the bottom of a drawer or in a wastebasket.”

The report stated that the transit agency’s lost property unit received more than 8,000 items each year and that only about 18 percent wound up back in the hands of their owners. Most unclaimed items were eventually auctioned off, the report said.

The audit also uncovered a chaotic system for handling property once it is turned in, with few safeguards. Often it can take weeks or months for lost items to make their way to the property unit’s office where people can claim them.

Then there was the case of the lost earring. After it was found, a bus employee put the earring, which was set with what looked like a diamond, into an envelope for transfer to the lost property unit, the report stated. But the envelope arrived empty.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the NYPD is conducting something called “Operation Lucky Bag” in which they drop wallets and bags at subway stations and arrest anyone who picks them up and doesn’t walk immediately to a transit worker to turn them over. Over 200 New Yorkers have been arrested, many of them good people who intended to report the item, or track down the owner, but didn’t want to miss their train.

Lost an Item in a Subway? Good Luck for Its Return [NewYork Times]
(Photo:dM.nyc)

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Today’s most popular headlines are Ideal Buy Refuses To Accept Legit XBOX Exchange Because Of Typo (8,417 views today), CompUSA’s Pink Slip Is As Stingy As Their Liquidation Discounts (5,939) and Mandatory Binding Arbitration Means Alleged Halliburton Rapists Could Go Free (3,544). Today’s most discussed stories are Ideal Buy Refuses To Accept Legit XBOX Exchange Because Of Typo (56 comments), Mandatory Binding Arbitration Means Alleged Halliburton Rapists Could Go Free (47) and Vampire Electronics Suck Power Even While “Off” (47).

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Pillsbury has told a New York food co-op to stop using the phrase “bake-off” because they own it. Pillsbury coined the phrase back in 1949 (according to this unverifiable web source), and then trademarked it in the early 1970s (according to another). Now you know. (Thanks to Sarah!)

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“Group can’t use the term ‘bake off’”[News10Now]
Bake-Off official site

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Wesabe, the popular personal finance website, has unveiled a new mobile version that “lets you check your balances, see current transactions, and… enter cash transactions, from any mobile browser.” To save time, you only need to enter the most basic information via your phone—you can add the details to the entry later from a standard web browser.

The mobile version of the site has been tested with Opera Mini, but supposedly works with any mobile browser that can handle SSL connections.

“Wesabe’s New Mobile Finance Site Helps Track the ‘Latte Factor’” [Wired]

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m.wesabe.com (Wesabe account needed to login)

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