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Do Search Engines Scare You?
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Identity Theft: Count the ways
I received an e-mail message from "Paypal" not to long ago. The e-mail stated that PayPal needed me to update and verify my security information for their database. I didn't. One of the sentences in the e-mail read:
"Complete the necessary...
Money Laundering in A Changed World - Part II
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The Credit Repair Business
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Consumer Protection Available to Americans in the Know
Today, many Americans are victims of financial crimes
perpetrated by disreputable businesspeople. Consumers are
swindled by those who engage in identity theft, through car
dealer rip-offs, by credit agencies that incorporate inaccurate
data into credit reports, and through a variety of inflated fees
charged by mortgage brokers.
Unfortunately, consumer protection laws often fall short of
helping consumers. Even when consumer protection laws are in
place, they are often inadequately enforced. Worse, consumers
are often unaware of the consumer protection laws that are
available to help them, or do not have the knowledge to use
consumer protection laws to their advantage. In addition,
Americans often do not have the financial resources to hire an
attorney in order to gain redress for financial shenanigans
perpetrated by companies and individuals who have taken
advantage of them.
For example, many consumers do not stay abreast of their credit
reports, and do not know how to improve credit. It is estimated
that, together, American companies issues over three million
reports to credit bureaus each day. Studies have found that,
unfortunately, between 20 and 40 percent of credit reports
contain errors. Although a federal consumer protection law was
enacted forcing credit bureaus to each provide one credit report
to each consumer annually, most Americans do not take advantage
of this opportunity, even though doing to would be the first
step they could take to improve credit.
Likewise, consumers often don't know how to stop bill collectors
from contacting them.
As a result, Americans are unnecessarily
harassed by bill collectors.
Consumers are also taken advantage of by car dealers and
mortgage brokers. Although there are several ways to avoid car
dealer rip-offs, many Americans are unaware of some of the most
common car dealer scams, and that safe buying methods exist that
could save them thousands of dollars. Likewise, mortgage brokers
can make a considerable profit by padding fees and closing
costs. Although homebuyers can shop around for brokers and
compare fees, there are few federal consumer protection laws in
place to prevent fee gouging.
Fortunately, consumers do have some low-cost alternatives to
educate themselves and protect themselves from becoming victims
of financial crimes. For example, Ray Perry, the "Consumer
Bulldog," offers a Consumer Protection and Action Service Kit
that contains a myriad of reports, action letters, and legal
documents that can help consumers prevent identity theft, stop
bill collectors, avoid car dealer rip-offs, and improve credit.
These types of tools go far to enable consumers to protect
themselves and to resolve any issue they encounter.
About the author:
Chris Robertson is an author of Majon
International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on
the web. Visit this Financing\Investing
Website and Majon's Financi
ng\Investing directory.
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