Consumer Protection

SALT LAKE CITY — State lawmakers want to give the hook to predatory towing practices.

Members of the House voted 66-4 on Tuesday to require tow truck operators to accept debit or credit card payments as well as post new signage requirements on costs and forms of payment.The measure now moves to the Senate.

The bill, HB 115, is seen as consumer protection against towing companies that aggressively hook up cars parked in spots for too long or left on the road, and then expect cash payment, sometimes inflating the cost when the car is impounded overnight.

OGDEN -- Now for the first time, we can just type in a name on our PC, laptop or handheld device to call up disciplinary actions against our doctor, accountant, massage therapist or nail technician.

Updates to the website of state regulators in the Department of Commerce were announced late last week, the biggest being the new search capability for the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing.

"The most significant change is to the DOPL disciplinary database," Jennifer Bolton, the commerce department's public information officer, said in an interview. "We've uploaded all of these records of actions taken, going back to 2007."

Those brightly lit, garish-looking storefronts that promise "CASH NOW!" and "NO CREDIT CHECKS!!!" are the purveyors of payday loans, or "deferred deposit loans," as the Utah Code prefers to call them.

The loans are usually for smaller amounts, between $50 and $500, but carry annual interest rates often exceeding 500 percent.

OGDEN — The father of Matthew David Stewart abruptly stopped renewed fundraising efforts on a website Monday night for his son’s legal defense against capital murder charges following warnings of possible fines from the state.