New Credit Card Law and freecreditreport.com

The new credit card law (Credit Card Act of 2009) brings freecreditreport.com under clear FTC rulemaking authority. The provision will require, in nine months, that any radio or TV ad for this over-priced subscription credit monitoring product or similar product will have to include the following words: “This is not the free credit report provided for by Federal law.”

Data Breach at UC-Berkeley – 160,000 Records

The University of California-Berkeley acknowledged that hackers breached a database of the university’s health system records, including 160,000 names and Social Security numbers.

UC Berkeley said it was notifying the people affected about possible identity theft or fraud.

FTC Charges Seven Credit Repair Companies with Deceiving Consumers

The Federal Trade Commission has charged seven related companies with violating federal law by falsely promising to remove negative information from consumers’ credit reports, even information that is accurate and current, and by charging an up-front fee and failing to provide written disclosures. The agency seeks to make them stop the violations and pay restitution to consumers.

National Consumer Protection Week

In recognition of National Consumer Protection Week, I will provide a variety of consumer information to you this week that highlights efforts designed to help you make informed decisions about your money. These topics will include information related to credit, banking, mortgages, investments as well as protecting your identity.

Many thanks to the Federal Trade Commission and its steering committee partners listed below:

* AARP
* Better Business Bureau
* Consumer Federation of America (CFA)
* Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC)
* Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
* Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
* Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
* National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators (NACAA)
* National Consumers League (NCL)
* Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
* United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS)
* United States Postal Service (USPS)

To kick off this event, I have listed these topics for you today: Credit Repair: How To Help Yourself, Ten Ways to Protect Yourself from Scams and Rip-Off’s, and Obtaining a Free Credit Report.

That’s Not Me! Dealing with Identity Theft

Identity theft is growing especially in light of our devastating economic times. In most cases, you don’t know that you’re a victim until your credit card statements stop coming, or you’ve realized that there were charges made against your accounts, but you didn’t make nor authorized them, or you’re receiving phone calls from bill collectors for bad debts tied to your personal information.

The Federal Trade Commission published in their “FTC Facts for Consumer” report that if you’re a victim of identity theft, follow these four steps as soon as possible, and keep records of your conversations and copies of all correspondence.