CONSUMER CATCH-UP: College students doubt they'll pay off student loans, Uber to boot low-rated riders from its service, and Amazon's Alexa to allow users to delete voice recordings
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Over half of college students doubt their abilities to repay loans
While most college students say they feel prepared to tackle their college coursework, only about half say they feel confident in their abilities to pay off their student loans.
According to a new survey by financial education technology company EVERFI and AIG Retirement Services, just 53% of college students reported feeling confident when it came to handling their money, as compared to 62% who felt sure of their academic capabilities.
60% of college students plan to borrow money to pay for school, but only 65% of those expect to pay off their debts on time and in full. That's a significant decrease from the 88% who expected to do the same seven years ago.
Uber to boot passengers with low ratings
Uber passengers with low ratings now risk being booted from the service, according to a company blog post.
There are as yet no details on how low a rider's starred rating has to be, although Uber says the rating will vary from city to city. Riders at risk of deactivation will receive notifications beforehand so that they can try to improve their rating.
Deactivated riders will also lose access to Uber Eats and the Jump scooter service.
Riders are given a rating out of five stars by their drivers based on their behavior as a passenger. In turn, riders give their drivers a starred rating as well.
Alexa now allows users to delete voice recordings with a command
Amazon Alexa users will soon be able to command their devices to erase the conversations and commands heard by the AI assistant.
Starting today, users of Amazon's voice assistant Alexa will be able to say, "Alexa, delete what I said today" in order to delete their histories on a day by day basis. Soon, users will be able to use the command "Alexa, delete what I just said." Users were already able to delete their voice commands, but this new feature allows them to do so with a spoken command.
This change is occurring just as the state of California moves forward on a bill that would prohibit so-called "smart speakers" from saving, storing, or transmitting what they "hear." AB 1395, nicknamed the "Anti-Eavesdropping Act" passed the California State Assembly on Tuesday.
According to the text of the bill, this new legislation would "prohibit a smart speaker device... from saving, storing, or exchanging with a third party recordings of verbal commands or requests given to the device, or verbal conversations heard by the device, regardless of whether the device was triggered using a key term or phrase, unless a consumer notifies the smart speaker device manufacturer in writing that the consumer requests that their recordings be stored."
Take a look at more stories and videos by Michael Finney and 7 On Your Side.
