Citronella Tiki Torches From BJ’s Wholesale Club Recalled Nationwide

Buyer beware. If you recently purchased tiki torches from BJ's Wholesale Club, I hope you kept the receipt. Over 90,000 torches sold from the retail store are now being recalled due to burn risks.

The recall was issued by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission and is effective for all Berkley Jensen Citronella 72-inch Tiki Torches. The USCPSC has cited a malfunction with the tiki torches as cause for the recall, noting the alarming ease with which the tiki torch top can fall off while lit and pose a burn hazard.

The firm has already received nine individual reports of the top falling off, with two resulting in burn-related injuries.

This particular brand of tiki torches was sold exclusively at BJ's Wholesale Club locations nationwide (including the Red Tip Road location in Fayetteville) from January 2015 to November of last year. They were also on sale online at www.bjs.com for the same length of time.

The USCPSC recommends that anyone who purchased tiki torches from BJ's within that time period should immediately stop using them and contact BJ's Wholesale Club for a full refund. Consumers should also destroy and dispose of or return the tiki torches (with the fuel reservoir empty) to BJ's Wholesale Club in order to receive a refund.

It's understandable to want to bust out the tiki torches from BJ's for the upcoming summer barbecues and cookouts, but it should definitely not come at the risk of your safety and well-being. If you would like to keep up with various product recalls that could affect you, click here to visit the "Recalls" section of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission's website.

As the economic world continues to see ebbs and flows, many people are relying on credit to help them get by. But in Fayetteville, that might be harder than most everywhere else, as the city has some of the worst credit scores in the country, according to one study.

Researchers at WalletHub.com analyzed credit scores across 182 cities in the United States, and found that the median credit score in Fayetteville was 628. That landed our community at 176 out of the 182 cities in the study.

Good credit scores are important for a variety of reasons, including buying a home or a car, or even getting approved to rent an apartment.

"Having a good or excellent credit score opens up so many doors for you," said Cassandra Happe, an analyst with WalletHub. "Not only does it help you get approved for future loans and lines of credit, but it also reduces your interest rate and increases the amount you’re able to borrow. A good credit score can even make you a stronger candidate for employment, help you with renting housing, and make you a more attractive dating partner."

Before we get into the rankings, it's important to know that there are a lot of factors at play here. And that it's never too late to do things to improve even the worst credit scores.

WalletHub says these tips are the best for improving your credit scores:

So let's get to some of the rankings for the worst credit scores in the country. We'll look at the top three cities, the bottom three cities, and where a couple of our North Carolina counterparts fall for worst credit scores.

South Burlington comes in at an incredible average credit score of 736. It's also one of the highest income cities according to WalletHub, coming in at 29th.

With an average credit score of 277, San Francisco lands high on the list. It helps that the average income is $107,500 and that it's a financial hub city.

Another high-income city, Huntington Beach averages at 722 also. The city ranks highly in money management, according to WalletHub.

Detroit comes in at the bottom of the list, with a credit score average of 611. A distant gap even above the next worst. The automotive center of the United States fell on hard times during the recession, and during COVID. Rebounding will take a while, but the city has done a lot to reinvent itself.

With a score of 621, this economically-depressed city in Louisiana has struggled in a lot of ways. With a dismal low average in things like credit-card debt, mortgage-debt-to-income-ratio, and more, it's been a tough go of it.

There are actual three cities tied with scores of 624 - Jackson; Newark, New Jersey; and Lewiston, Maine. There are a lot of differences in those three cities, but the one thing they share in common is economic downturn struggles.

The highest-ranked city in North Carolina on the list is Raleigh, with an average credit score of 680.

The Queen City is just a few points behind Raleigh, with an average credit score of 667. Surprising considering how much of the banking industry is centered in Charlotte.

74 - Durham, 677

114 - Winston-Salem, 662

149 - Greensboro, 647

176 - Fayetteville, 628