Fake Classified Ads, Gift Card Scams, Phishing Emails–Some of the online scams to be aware of this holiday season!

It’s that time of the year again!  Lots to do and very little time.  As you start your holiday shopping, it is important to take a few minutes to learn some useful tips to prevent scammers from ruining your holiday season.  Scammers online use many tricks to try to fool you into giving away your [...]

Know your Rights and Tackle your Debt Today!

The unemployment and underemployment situation for New Yorkers is not getting any better.  This means that families across the state are still struggling with debt, potential foreclosure, and limited resources.  To find out what assistance may be available to help you deal with your debt, first make a list of the different types of debt [...]

Find out how the new Power NY Act can help you.

New York Lawmakers have passed a law to help residents improve their home’s energy efficiency and create thousands of new construction jobs.
The “Power NY Act of 2011″ will allow qualified New Yorker home-owners to receive low-cost loans up to $13,000 for residences and $26,000 for businesses to make energy-saving home improvements.  Homeowners repay the loans [...]

New Treasury Rule Protects Consumers–Read On!

Two weeks ago the Treasury Department announced a new rule. Senior citizens with social security, veterans and disabled people with government benefits will no longer be victimized by creditors who freeze their bank accounts and drain their resources. Up to now, even though these kinds of federal benefits are legally protected from seizure, in reality a creditor [...]

Make a note: Paper checks for federal benefits will be phased out by March 1, 2013!

It’s more important than ever to help clients sign up for electronic payments and bank or credit union accounts. Please share the details below with all your staff. To share this information with clients and your community, you can order “Go Direct” campaign materials for free. Visit their web site to [...]

National Consumer Protection Week

March 6-12, 2011 is National Consumer Protection Week.
Whether shopping at your local store, getting your car fixed at the local car repair shop, surfing the Internet or doing online shopping, its important to keep in mind that there are laws which protect you from fraud or other unscrupulous dealings with store, individual, companies, or anyone [...]

Beware of Mortgage Rescue Scams!

Many people, desperate to save their homes, are being victimized by foreclosure rescue companies. Many of these companies promise to negotiate with mortgage banks for lower rates, get payment forgiveness and other benefits in exchange for illegal upfront fees —promises they won’t or can’t actually fulfill. As a result, consumers may find themselves further in [...]

Avoiding Medicare fraud

Seniors are often vulnerable to different kinds of consumer frauds. A common and less-known type of fraud affecting seniors is Medicare fraud. The national non for profit advocacy group Medicare Watch provides the following tips to ensure you or a loved one can be protected against fraudulent Medicare practices:

Be aware: Anyone [...]

Problems with debt collection?

In the weeks that come, we’ll be highlighting the ways the recession has affected low-income New Yorkers—and how they can protect their rights. We’ll start with one area where a little bit of information can avoid a lot of financial hardship: debt collection.
Many people in debt think bankruptcy is their only option. Bankruptcy is [...]