Especially in hard economic times, the moral for consumers is ‘buyer beware’
In South Florida, more than 100 people who signed up for a free trial of a nutritional supplement found charges as high as $87 a month on their credit cards for not canceling before the “free-trial period’’ expired - a period so short it sometimes ended before the supplement arrived. State authorities are investigating.
Moral of the story: Read terms of free-trial offers carefully and contact your card issuer immediately to dispute charges if the terms of the offer were not conspicuously disclosed.
In California, an elderly couple refinanced their home of 40 years to pay for the wife’s cancer treatments. A mortgage broker talked them into a variable interest rate loan. When the rate went up, the couple couldn’t pay and received a foreclosure notice. They turned to a “foreclosure rescue’’ company that took their money but never passed it on to the lender. Fortunately, the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs was able to delay eviction and help the couple find an affordable apartment.
The lesson: If you’re having trouble paying bills, get advice from a trusted source, such as a local nonprofit credit counseling service, an accountant, or a lawyer. (The National Foundation for Credit Counseling, at www.nfcc.org, can direct consumers to counseling services in their area.)
In Virginia, seven couples paid a wedding photographer $1,800 to $3,000 each, but never received the photos. Luckily, an investigator from the Virginia Beach Consumers Affairs Program tracked down the photographer.
Lesson: Pay only a small deposit for future services, not the full price, and use a credit card so you can dispute the charges if the services are not delivered.
These cases are just a sampling.
“It’s ironic that at the same time more people are asking state and local consumer agencies for help, their budgets are shrinking,’’ said Susan Grant, of the Consumer Federation of America.
A survey by the federation and other groups found 62 percent of the agencies got more complaints last year than in 2007, and 47 percent suffered budget cuts. The agencies surveyed - 34 state, county, and city agencies from 19 states - responded to more than a quarter-million complaints and obtained nearly $250 million in restitution or savings for consumers. Debt collection topped the list of the fastest-growing complaints. Mortgage-related complaints, especially “foreclosure rescue’’ scams, were most frequently cited as the worst.
Federal law and many state laws prohibit debt collectors from calling with annoying frequency, falsely threatening legal action, and discussing debts with anyone other than the person who owes the money. Consumers having trouble making mortgage payments should contact the lender to try to work out a loan modification. If that fails, try the Hope Now Alliance at 1-888-995-4673 to get a referral to a nonprofit counseling resource.
Humberto Cruz can be reached at AskHumberto@aol.com. 
