If you’ve been doing business or contemplating doing business with the Missouri-based Bureau of Prescription Health the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is advising consumers to avoid this company. The Bureau of Prescription Health sounds like a trustworthy and reputable company (mainly because of the use of the word “Bureau”) but are in fact charging consumers for services they could find ... Read More »

It was announced on January 9, 2012 that Jennifer Kirk was sentenced to 188 months (almost 16 years) in prison for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud when Kirk victimized consumers in a timeshare telemarking scam. Kirk will also serve five years of supervised release after the completion of her prison term, during which she is forbidden from the ... Read More »

Earlier this month word broke when a complaint was issued against four Arizona LLCs and 11 Arizonians that Arizona telemarketers had defrauded almost 5,000 people out of over $6.3 million. These criminals conducted a scam that used victims’ credit-card limits to determine how much to charge them in setting up their very own “web mall” business that they would receive ... Read More »

It was announced last week that the United States and the State of Tennessee will be receiving $2 million in a settlement of False Claims Act allegations from Vanguard and its wholly owned subsidiary, Vanguard Health Care Ancillary. The settlement resolves claims by the United States and the state of Tennessee that Vanguard wrongly billed Medicare for enteral feeding services ... Read More »

A year ago this month the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) barred debt settlement companies that used telemarketing from accepting up-front fees. Although it’s been an entire year since this change we are still see companies trying sneak in those up-front fees with businesses trying to exploit loopholes. The whole purpose of the Telemarketing Sales Ruling was to help consumers from ... Read More »

Doug Gansler, the Attorney General of Maryland told me in this recent interview I recorded at the National Attorneys General meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina that the FTC TSR had a positive impact in cleaning out the bad actors in the debt relief world and leaving the legitimate companies intact. Interestingly he said that attorney model debt settlement companies had ... Read More »

At the recent National Association of Attorneys General meeting I had the pleasure of interviewing former Kansas Attorney General Robert Stephan who served between 1979 to 1995. We talk about how financial issues from the 1980s and today are very much the same. We talk about the problems he faced while the chief cop in Kansas. Our discussion of payday ... Read More »

Please note: Our most current page of consumer protection contacts is now located at State and Local Consumer Protection and Consumer Affairs Listings Please click here to reach the current data. Alabama State Offices Alabama Office of Attorney General Consumer Affairs Section 501 Washington Ave. Montgomery, AL 36130 334-242-7335 Toll free: 1-800-392-5658 (AL) www.ago.state.al.us Alaska State Offices Consumer Protection Unit ... Read More »

“Dear Steve, My name is Walter and I’m currently a senior psychology major at [XXXX] College. I have amassed over $10,000 in credit card debt from buying everything from a computer, Playstation 3, and even a High Def Television. As you can see, I really didn’t need any of the things that I bought and it has been really tough ... Read More »

Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler said in a press conference today that debt settlement companies are “predatory thieves”. The state of Maryland is preparing to take another swipe at passing tough new regulations that would limit up-front fees charged by debt settlement companies to $50 and total fees paid at 15% of the total debt. Marceline White, the executive director ... Read More »

I spotted an article “New Law Tightens Rules for Debt Firms” in which the Minnesota Attorney General, Lori Swanson, does not mince words about the problems she see with debt settlement companies. You can read the full article here. Consumers need to go into these transactions “with their eyes wide open,” said Elwood. Once they sign with a debt-settlement company, ... Read More »

The Maine Attorney General has filed three separate lawsuits in Kennebec County Superior Court against three out-of-state businesses and their principals. The defendants are: Elect Group, LLC, Anthony Ferlanti and Emmanuele Zuccarelli (Florida); Help Modify Now Debt Solutions, Inc., Help Modify Now, Inc. and Chas Bain (California and Nevada); and US Advocate Law Group, P.C. and Jeff Nemerofsky (California). These ... Read More »

The Division of Consumer Affairs has mailed notices of violation to nine New Jersey-based companies that allegedly offered loan modification services to consumers without being licensed. The nine companies each were cited for violating the state’s Consumer Fraud Act for engaging in unconscionable commercial practices by allegedly offering to negotiate mortgage modifications without being licensed as a debt adjuster by ... Read More »

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard filed a lawsuit alleging deceptive business and debt litigation practices against national payday lender Quik Cash (QC Holdings, Inc., and subsidiary QC Financial Services, Inc.). The lawsuit seeks up to $5 million in restitution, asks the court to set aside hundreds of deceptively obtained court judgments against Arizona payday loan borrowers and seeks to stop ... Read More »

A Kannapolis, North Carolina foreclosure rescue operation is barred from collecting any money from consumers for foreclosure assistance or loan modifications, Attorney General Roy Cooper announced Friday. [As you read this remember that US Consumer Solutions and The Lamb Group are tied together. Look for the bolded section below.] “Scammers entice struggling homeowners with false promises of lower mortgage payments, ... Read More »