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Jeff's Blog

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Fair Debt Collection Practices Act for Pennsylvania Consumers

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Do you Know What's on Your Credit Report? How to obtain a free report and file disputes...

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Fair Credit Reporting Act for Consumers Rights

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Government Student Loan Rehabilitation

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General

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How and Where to Obtain you free credit reports

If you want to truly obtain your credit report without any "strings attached", please vist www.annualcreditreport.com. This is a site where you can obtain your credit report from Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.

You may obtain your credit report for free once every year. If you have any questions regarding your credit report inquiries, please contact Jeff.

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act for Pennsylvania Consumers

Federal Trade Commission - The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: Federal Trade Commission - The Official Fair Debt Collection Practices Act web page that defines this law.
Pennsylvania Attorney General: If you feel that you may have been a victim of unfair debt collection practices, you can contact the Office of Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection at 1-800-0441-2555. Stand up for what's right. If enough Pennsylvania Consumers take a stand against unfair practices, we could help change things for the future!

Do you Know What's on Your Credit Report? How to obtain a free report and file disputes...

I.D. Theft Affidavit...What to do if you feel your a victim of identity theft: To make certain that you do not become responsible for any debts incurred by an identity thief,
you must prove to each of the companies where accounts were opened in your name that you
didn’t create the debt. The ID Theft Affidavit was developed by a group of credit grantors,
consumer advocates, and attorneys at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for this purpose.
Importantly, this affidavit is only for use where a new account was opened in your name. If
someone made unauthorized charges to an existing account, call the company for instructions.
The real free credit report: To obtain "the real" free credit report you are entitled to use this link.

Fair Credit Reporting Act for Consumers Rights

The Fair Credit Reporting Act: To obtain information about the provisions under the FCRA

Government Student Loan Rehabilitation

Student Loan Borrower Assistance: This is the National Consumer Law Center's site for student loan assistance. If you have any questions or need assistance with your student loan repayment options, this site is very helpful.

Debt Collectors and Credit Bureau information

Budd Hibbs: To obtain awesome information about bad debt collection agencies and consumer news

General

Americans for Fairness in Lending: Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL) exists to raise awareness of abusive credit and lending practices and to call for re-regulation of the industry. As a group, we are committed to using a unified and consistent national message to raise the volume of our collective outrage and to shine a spotlight on predatory and unfair lending practices. AFFIL intends to generate a groundswell of public support for regulation of the lending industry to ensure fairness in lending for all Americans.
Dateline NBC Debt Collectors and Americas Debt Investigations: Dateline NBC's Chris Hansen investigates the debt in America.

With hidden cameras, NBC follows signs to an office with an official sounding name: Final Claims Asset Locators. NBC is able to walk around inside for a few minutes, and see one person after another working the phones, collecting debt.
Foreclosure Rights in Pennsylvania: A summary of each state's foreclosure laws and procedures along with links to other law resources.
Guide to tape recording phone conversations within the 50 states: "Can we Tape Record a Debt Collector?" This is a Practical Guide to Taping Phone Calls and In-Person Conversations in the 50 States and D.C." This is an excellent guide to current state laws regarding the recording of collection calls throughout the United States. Always verify this information with a competent attorney before you record, though.
Maxed Out Movie Clips: Clips to the documentary "Maxed Out"
NACA - National Association of Consumer Advocates: NACA is a nationwide organization of more than 1500 members who represent and have represented hundreds of thousands of consumers victimized by fraudulent, abusive and predatory business practices. As an organization fully committed to promoting justice for consumers, NACA's members and their clients are actively engaged in promoting a fair and open marketplace that forcefully protects the rights of consumers.
Pennsylvania Consumers DO NOT CALL LIST: Tired of those annoying telemarketing calls all day long? Pennsylvania consumers, fill out this form that takes about 10 seconds to get your number off the list today.
Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate: The Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) is a state agency that represents the interests of Pennsylvania utility consumers before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), federal regulatory agencies, and state and federal courts. The OCA was created by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1976 and is an independent office within the Office of Attorney General.

The OCA represents consumers in cases before the PUC involving a wide range of utility issues. These include rate increase cases, purchased gas cost cases, retail competition issues, mergers, and alternative regulation plans. The OCA is involved in rulemakings, policy statements, and state and federal level cases that involve either the price consumers pay for vital utility service or the quality of service they receive. The office uses its resources to help the greatest number of consumers. The OCA generally stresses the interests of residential consumers.
Pennsylvania website for finances and help with financial issues: This website is just for Pennsylvanians. On this site you can find resources to help deepen your understanding of financial issues, deal with major milestones in life, and connect with state and local services to help you make the most of your hard earned money. Check out the different workshops offered in the Pennsylvania areas as well.
Pittsburgh Consumers who want Fair Arbitration Clauses!!!!: Most Americans don't know that they are bound by forced arbitration. Buried in the fine print of employment, cell phone, credit card, retirement account, home building, and nursing home contracts are mandatory arbitration clauses. Just by taking a job or buying a product or service, individuals are forced to give up their right to go to court if they are harmed by a company. Because the private system of forced arbitration benefits companies - and disadvantages consumers and employees - more and more industries are using forced arbitration to evade accountability.

In arbitration, there is no judge, jury or right to an appeal. The arbitrators do not have to follow the law, and there is no public review of decisions to ensure the arbitrator got it right.
Ripoff Reports, By Consumers for Consumers: Ripoff Report is a worldwide consumer reporting Web site and publication, by consumers, for consumers, to file and document complaints about companies or individuals.Be an educated consumer. Read what you can and make your decision based upon an examination of all available information.