Yelp Extortion Lawsuit, Passport Prices Rise

MYFOXNY.COM - NY Money Authority headlines for Tuesday, July 6.

(Good Day NY report):

YELP EXTORTION LAWSUIT: Yelp, the popular review website, is being accused of extortion. A federal class action lawsuit is accusing Yelp of forcing businesses to advertise on its site to keep their high ratings and rewarding those that do by moving down negative reviews. The website, which helps millions of visitors choose restaurants, doctors, hotels and other businesses by reviewing comments from other users, denies the allegations. Even if the company isn't guilty of any of the charges in the suit experts say it could hurt Yelp’s credibility.

PASSPORT RENEWAL PRICES UP: If you've been putting off getting or re-newing your passport you better act fast. The fees are going up one week from today. The price of an adult passport will go up from $100-$135 on July 13. Those for children will jump from $85 to $105 and renewal frees will go from $75 to $110. The higher fees help cover the cost of a computer chip now included in passports that store your information.

NFL CREDIT CARD REWARD POINTS: People using NFL credit cards need to act quickly to spend their reward points. The football league is shifting its business from Bank of America to Barclays. That means customers must spend their points before the end of August. CLICK HERE FORE MORE DETAILS.