Tread carefully with money transfer services – National Consumers League

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Money transfer services make it easy to wire cash quickly and conveniently to friends and relatives — but crooks may take advantage of these services to get money from their victims!

  • Scammers may ask for payment through money transfer services because it’s fast. Unlike checks and credit card payments, the money is often available within minutes. That means that a fraud victim may not be able to stop the payment before it’s received. Because the money is usually picked up in cash and in person, it can be difficult to recover.
  • Common scams to watch for are bogus sweepstakes and lotteries, false promises of credit cards and loans, fraudulent online auction sales, work-at-home and other money-making schemes, and offers to transfer foreigners’ “fortunes” to victims’ bank accounts.
  • Crooks also befriend people on dating service sites and in online chat rooms. They ask to “borrow” money for medical problems or other emergencies, or to come to the U.S. from another country. Once they get it, the “friendship” ends. People who lost a pet or other valuable item are sometimes contacted by criminals who, posing as good Samaritans, ask for money to ship it back.
  • One of the fastest growing frauds is the fake check scam. If you receive payment and are asked to send part of it to someone through a money transfer service, don’t do it.
  • New frauds emerge every day, but no matter what the pitch is, if someone you don’t know asks for payment through a money transfer service, don’t do it.

Stop calling me! Remove your name from marketing lists – National Consumers League

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Are you inundated with junk mail? There are ways consumers can remove their names from marketing lists – and avoid getting on them in the first place.

Are you inundated with junk mail? There are ways consumers can remove their names from marketing lists – and avoid getting on them in the first place.

  • Don’t provide information that isn’t necessary for the transaction. Don’t just fill in the blanks without thinking about whether you want to limit the information you supply.
  • Be anonymous. Consider using online tools and fictitious names in situations where your real identity isn’t needed and there is no other option to avoid getting on marketing lists.
  • Think twice before entering contests. Entry forms are often used to build marketing lists.
  • Know the privacy policy. If you don’t see anything about what personal information companies collect and how they use it, ask.
  • Understand your privacy choices. If there is no privacy policy or it doesn’t allow you to avoid unwanted marketing, take your business elsewhere.
  • Know when your personal information is being collected. Be aware of Automatic Number Identification and other ways that your information may be collected and tell the company if you don’t want to be put on a marketing list.
  • Understand that unlisted and unpublished phone numbers don’t guaranty privacy. Marketers may get your number if you’ve given it to others or they may simply dial you randomly.
  • Know your telemarketing rights. Federal law allows you to tell marketers not to call you again. Check with your state attorney general’s office to find out if you also have “Do Not Call” rights under state law.
  • Know your financial privacy rights. Federal law requires financial institutions to tell you what information they collect and how they use it, and allows you to request that your personal information not be shared with unrelated companies. Check with your state attorney general’s office to find out if you also have financial privacy rights under state law.
  • Know your medical privacy rights. Federal regulations limit how your health information can be used and shared with others for marketing purposes. Check with your state attorney general’s office to find out if you also have medical privacy rights under state law.
  • Your state may protect you against “spam.” Some states have enacted laws about unsolicited emails. Check with your state attorney general’s office.

Get off the lists!

Contact the major credit Bureaus. Call (888) 567-8688 to get off marketing lists for preapproved credit and insurance offers with all of the major credit bureaus (this does not affect your ability to apply for credit or insurance).

Contact the Direct Marketing Association. Get off the mailing, telemarketing and/or email lists of many major marketers:

Removal from mailing lists – write to: Mail Preference Service P.O. Box 9008 Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008 Or visit: https://www.the-dma.org/cgi/offmailinglistdave

Removal from phone lists – write to:
Telephone Preference Service
P.O. Box 9014
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9014
(include your phone number)

Or visit: https://www.the-dma.org/cgi/offtelephonedave

Removal from email lists – visit: https://www.e-mps.org/picklang.html

Pyramid schemes posing as business opportunities – National Consumers League

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The pitch is that you’ll make money by joining the program and recruiting others. The reality is that in pyramid schemes, you and your friends will lose money, not make it.

Here’s how to protect yourself

• Take your time — don’t let anyone rush you into a decision. Legitimate opportunities will not disappear overnight.

  • Review the compensation plan and be sure you will be paid based primarily on the sale of products by you or members of your network.
  • Minimize your risk. Most legitimate multilevel companies require little, if any, up-front payment, and offer to repurchase your inventory for at least 90 percent of what you paid if you decide to leave the business.
  • Ask questions, verify all information, get written copies of all company literature, and consult with others who have experience with the company.
  • Pyramid schemes promise easy mney. You pay to join, convince others to do so, and you’ll get a cut of the payment from each new member. The truth is, all such schemes are losers and collapse when members realize they’re not making the money they were promised.
  • Sometimes pyramid schemes claim to be multilevel marketing plans (MLMs), which use networks of independent distributors to sell their products. The key difference is legitimate MLMs sell goods or services to consumers and compensation comes primarily from those sales, not from membership fees or the recruitment of new participants.
  • Pyramid schemes are illegal. People who participate in them are subject to fine and/or imprisonment in all 50 states and under federal law.

Download NCL’s brochure, Pyramid Schemes: Don’t let one collapse on you.

Considering a visit to a retail health clinic? – National Consumers League

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Retail health clinics have been popping up all over the United States in recent years. Many consumers find them appealing for their conveniences, but critics question the quality of care and are concerned about their impact on the traditional doctor-patient relationship.

As the United States is facing an increasing shortage of primary care physicians, Americans are turning to other sources of primary care. One delivery model that has attracted growing attention is the retail clinic, which focuses on providing convenient and accessible services at lower, easy-to-understand costs. These clinics are expanding rapidly across the country, from fewer than 100 in 2005 to thousands today.

These clinics are typically located in large retail settings, such as drug stores or big box stores. They are staffed largely by physician assistants or nurse practitioners, who can write prescriptions and have phone access to physicians. The growth of retail health clinics has been limited to parts of the country with legal frameworks that enable such clinics to deliver care and prescribe medication. The care offered through these clinics is restricted to a limited number of generally minor and easily treatable illnesses such as strep throat or urinary tract infections. Retail clinics often provide school and camp physicals, flu shots, and cholesterol checks.

The growth of retail clinics in America has generated debate on how they deliver health care to the consumer. The retail clinic provides convenience to the consumer by with extended weekend hours, central locattions, and fast service with an average wait time of less than 15 minutes – with no appointment necessary. Also many of the clinics post the cost of their services clearly for patients. However, critics argue that there are problems with quality of care due to staffing issues, continuity of care, and there is concern about how the clinics might impact the traditional doctor-patient relationship.

As retail clinics expand, state legislatures have taken a variety of approaches to regulating them. Some states are expanding the scope of practice for nurse practitioners, while others are moving for greater involvement by physicians. A handful of states require that physicians be on-site to support the nurse practitioners. Still other states such as Pennsylvania and California have called for expanding the scope of practice of nurse practitioners, including increased autonomy at retail clinics. Many states have seen bills aimed at additional regulation of clinics. Specifically, a few states have proposed laws restricting clinics by prohibiting the provision of medical services where tobacco is sold.

Given the complexities of the issue, we believe stakeholders will benefit from the opportunity to engage in an open and balanced discussion. NCL has found that multi-stakeholder forums help both consumers and policy makers navigate complex issues. Along with a final report on the forum, NCL will develop consumer education, including factors to consider when visiting a retail clinic. NCL will also summarize the issues state and federal policy makers and regulators should be considering as clinics expand. The report and consumer education pieces will be posted to the NCL website, and NCL will distribute the report to appropriate policy makers.

Thinking about visiting a retail health clinic? Start here with these FAQs

When should I use a retail health clinic?

Retail clinics are designed for providing basic services – cold, flu shot, strep test, etc. Retail clinics are intended for non-emergency and non-urgent use. Often a nurse practitioner or physician assistant provides the care.

Will my health insurance cover my visit to a retail health clinic?

Contact your insurance company to determine if the services are covered BEFORE you go. Ask the retail clinic if there are any other fees. Oftentimes, the fees-for-services are listed as they will be charged, while other times additional procedures might result in additional fees.

How will I know whether a clinic is legitimate?

The Convenient Care Association certifies its member clinics based on a variety of conditions, but not all retail clinics are members of the Association. You have the right to know whether or not a clinic and its practitioners are legitimate. Check to see if the clinic – or at least its practicing providers – are accredited or certified and don’t use their services if the clinic is not certified. Don’t be afraid to inquire about the practitioners’ licensing and certification to ensure that the clinic is legitimate.

What should I tell the retail clinic?

Be sure that you provide whoever cares for you with a detailed medical history – any conditions you may have, medications you may be taking, reactions to medications, past surgeries, history of treatment for disease, allergies, etc.

What should I tell my primary care provider?

Be sure to communicate back to your doctor anything that was prescribed or diagnosed while at the clinic. Get a report form the clinic and take it back to your doctor. And if you take a child, always report back to your pediatrician.

What if I don’t have a primary care provider?

Many of those who visit a retail clinic report that they do not have a primary care provider.

While a retail clinic can provide some basic services when you are in a pinch, it is best to have a primary care provider who knows and understands your entire health history and not just a single condition or ailment.

My health privacy – National Consumers League

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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), along with its implementing regulations and subsequent rules that build on HIPPA, create a national standard for medical privacy. These privacy laws give patients greater control over their personal health information. Healthcare providers — including doctors, dentists, pharmacists, psychotherapists — as well as hospitals and most health plans, must adopt and follow policies to safeguard the privacy of your health information.

Below is an overview of consumers’ rights under health privacy laws. Learn what you can do if you believe your rights have been violated. If a health provider or plan is found to be in violation of the law, they may be subject up to $50,000 per violation with an annual maximum of $1.5 million, and one to ten years in prison. For information on how to file a complaint and additional resources, see the complaint form and other resources at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Use of Health Information

The health privacy law sets limits on how health providers and plans may use individually identifiable health information. Under the law, health providers and plans may use your individual health information for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations without obtaining your permission. Personal health information may generally not be used for purposes not related to health care. And the release of health information must be limited to the minimum amount necessary for the purpose of the disclosure.

Notice of Rights

You must now be given a notice of your privacy rights when you see your doctor, dentist, pharmacist, or any other healthcare provider. The notice explains how your health information will be used and also tells you about your privacy rights. Providers are required to make a good faith effort to get you to acknowledge that you received the notice or your privacy rights by signing it, but you are not required to sign the notice.

What are my rights under the privacy regulations?

  1. You can inspect, photocopy, and request corrections in your medical records. Medical records include doctors’ notes, x-rays, and lab results. Photocopies of the records must be provided within 30 days of a request.  Your health care provider can charge you a “reasonable fee” for copying the records.  If your provider uses electronic health records, your electronic record must be transmitted directly to you upon request.
  2. You can find out who else has seen your medical records. At your request, doctors, hospitals, and health plans must disclose who has seen your medical records.
  3. If you are admitted to a hospital, you have the right to not have your name and health status be made publicly available through the hospital. If you choose to opt out of the hospital’s directory, the hospital will not confirm that you are a patient to outside callers. If you are listed in the directory, the hospital will disclose your general condition to callers who ask for you by name.
  4. Mental health providers must obtain a patient’s voluntary authorization before disclosing notes to health plans. Before the privacy law, health plans could access psychotherapy notes to justify further treatment.
  5. Your healthcare provider and health plan are not allowed to disclose any identifiable health information to your employer.

Can my doctor or dentist office use a sign-in sheet or call out the names of patients in the waiting room?

No. Sign-in sheets can be used, as long they do not ask the reason for the visit or display medical information. Any incidental disclosures of information are permitted, such as hearing the names of other patients in the waiting room, or seeing names on a sign-in sheet. The health care provider must have reasonable safeguards in place to protect health information.

Must hospitals and doctor’s offices provide private rooms and soundproof walls to avoid the possibility that a conversation is overheard?

No. While health providers must have in place appropriate safeguards to protect health information and make reasonable efforts to prevent disclosures, facility restructuring is not required. Examples of modifications that may be needed to safeguard health privacy include: use of cubicles, dividers or curtains in large health clinics to separate the areas where health professionals talk to patients; pharmacies asking waiting customers to stand a few feet back from the counter used for patient counseling; and doctors using discretion when talking to a patient who shares a hospital room.

Can I have a friend or family member pick up a prescription for me?

Yes. A pharmacist can use professional judgment and common sense to make sure it is in the patient’s best interest to allow another person to pick up a prescription. If a friend or relative comes to the pharmacy to pick up your prescription, that means they are involved in your care. You do not need to give the pharmacist the names of such persons in advance.

Can I communicate with my doctor by phone or e-mail, and can appointment reminders be mailed to me?

Yes. Health care providers can communicate with their patients at their homes through the mail, by phone, or in some other manner. If your provider phones and you are not at home, messages can be left on answering machines, or with a family member or other person answering the phone if a limited amount of information is disclosed. For example, leaving only a name and number or other information to confirm an appointment, or requesting that the patient call back. Email communication is encouraged, as long as a secure network is used and the messages are encrypted.

You can request that your doctor or health care provider communicate with you in a confidential manner, such as only getting calls at the office and not at home, or have any mail delivered in a closed enveloped and not as a postcard. If such requests are reasonable, your provider must comply.

Can my personal health information be used by marketers?

While HIPPA privacy law sets restrictions on the use of health information for marketing purposes, communications about treatment, disease management, wellness programs and health promotion are not considered marketing.

More specifically, the law requires that a person’s prior written authorization be obtained in order to use or disclose protected health information for marketing. However, the definition of marketing does not include communications related to health care. Communications that are not considered marketing include those that describe health-related products or services available to health plan members, those made for treatment, those more for case management or care coordination, and those made to recommend alternative therapies, providers or settings of care.

For additional information on the your health privacy laws:

Department of Health and Human Service, Office of Civil Rights

Center for Democracy and Technology

 

Door-to-door sales: Questions for consumers – National Consumers League

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When a young salesperson comes knocking at your door, how can you tell whether it’s a legitimate sales company rep or a teenager who’s become involved in a dangerous traveling sales crew? The following tips can help you evaluate the situation, while keeping you – and the young worker – safe.

Stay Safe 

  • be very cautious about allowing people into your home unless you have requested the sales visit or are familiar with the company.

  • if alone, don’t let anyone in your home.

  • make sure minors alone at home do not open doors to strangers.

Be Smart

  • if your community requires door-to-door salespersons to have a permit, ask to see it and don’t do business with anyone without it.

  • be skeptical of dishonest sales tactics often used by traveling sales crews, such as:

  • the salesperson is in a contest and will win prizes for making sales.

  • the company is a charitable, nonprofit organization, yet you’ve never heard of it before.

  • the sales benefit youth programs to help youth stay off drugs, learn entrepreneurial skills, youth empowerment, etc.

  • the salesperson refuses to take “no” for an answer and uses high-pressure tactics, such as intimidating or threatening customers or refusing to leave until they buy something.

  • read before you sign a sales agreement.

  • get a receipt for any purchase.

  • never pay in cash.

  • don’t assume you can cancel an order. Yes, by law, you should be able to cancel if the order is more than $25. But, unethical companies may not provide real telephone numbers to call in order to cancel an order.

Be Aware

  • if you suspect that the salesperson is part of traveling sales crew, don’t let them into your home and don’t buy their products.

  • contact the police to notify them that a crew is operating in your neighborhood. Provide them with the name of the company and the product being peddled.

  • contact the police if you are concerned about the youth’s safety, such as working in inclement weather, visibly ill, etc.

Standards Ethical Door-to-Door Salespersons Should Follow

Keep in mind the following guidelines for ethical sales:

  • Offers should be clear, so consumers understand exactly what they are buying and how much they will have to pay.

  • The order form should clearly describe the goods and quantity purchased, the price and terms of payment, and any additional charges.

  • Recipients and contracts should show the name of the sales representative and his or her address or the name, address and telephone number of the firm whose product is sold.

  • All salespersons should promptly identify themselves to a prospective customer and should truthfully indicate the purpose of their approach to the consumer, identifying the company or product brands represented.

  • A salesperson should obey all applicable federal, state and local laws.

  • A salesperson should explain the terms and conditions for returning a product or canceling an order.

  • Salespersons should not create confusion in the mind of the consumer, abuse the trust of the consumer, nor exploit the lack of experience or knowledge of the consumer.

  • Salespersons should respect the privacy of consumers by making every effort to make calls at times that best suit the customer’s convenience and wishes.

  • It is a consumer’s right to end a sales call and salespersons should respect that right.

  • All references to testimonials and endorsements should be truthful, currently applicable, and authorized by the person or organization quoted.

  • Product comparisons should be fair and based on substantiated facts.

  • A salesperson should not disparage other products or firms.

  • A salesperson should not try to make the consumer cancel a contract made with another salesperson.

Recycle Your Cell Phone and Maybe Save a Life – National Consumers League

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by Reid Maki, Coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition

Each week, more than 2 million phones are de-activated. Did you know that fewer than 20 percent of them are recycled each year? According to Earthworks, a group involved in cell phone recycling, there are 500 million used cell phones either in landfills or sitting in drawers.

The phones are an environmental time bomb. “Cell phones contain toxic materials such as lead, mercury, beryllium, arsenic, cadmium, and antimony,” notes Earthworks. “If incinerated these substances can pollute the air, in landfills they can leach into groundwater. Many of the materials found in cell phones are also on the EPA’s list of persistent bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs). Because PBTs accumulate in fatty tissue of humans and animals, the toxins are gradually concentrated, putting those at the top of the food chain at the greatest risk, especially children.”

But there is another reason to recycle these de-activated phones: you may be saving a child’s life in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the central African nation formerly known as the Belgian Congo, where rampant war and violence have cost between five and six million lives in the last decade. More lives have been lost in the Congo through violence and war than in any other country in the world since World War II. And the nature of the violence has shocked the world. Rape has become a weapon of the civil war that grips the country to the extent that advocates in the country say it has become a “norm” — an estimated 200,000 women, including many children, have been raped in the conflict, according to the United Nations.

What do phones, war, and child safety have to do with each other?

The DRC’s mineral resources are among the richest in the world. According to one estimate, the Congolese—who on average earn less than 50 cents a day—are walking on ground containing more than $300 billion worth of minerals. And many of those minerals—Coltan, copper, and tungsten—end up in electronic equipment like cell phones and laptops.

Many human rights advocates believe that the DRC’s vast resources are the underlying cause—and sometimes the direct cause—of the wars and violence that have ripped through the country in waves for decades. Many of the warring groups finance their armies with trade of the mined materials. In some cases, children are forced to mine the minerals—as well as gold and diamonds—out of the earth. Some work willingly, but are far too young to perform work as dangerous as mining, especially in a war zone. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, 40 percent of boys and girls between age 10 and 14 work in the DRC, despite laws that say no child under the age of 15 should work.

Often the children are re-victimized when they are forcibly turned into child soldiers.

The constant war has led to a breakdown of society, causing a witches’ brew of lethal health problems that, according to the New York Times earlier this year, was killing 45,000 Congolese every month. “The mortality rate in Congo is 57 percent higher than the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, the survey found. Particularly hard hit were young children, who are especially susceptible to diseases like malaria, measles, dysentery and typhoid, which can kill when medicine is not available,” reported Lydia Polgreen in January. Nearly half of the more than five million dead were children under the age of five.

In addition to the human toll, the mining of these minerals has also led to a reduction of gorilla habitat, endangering some of the world’s most magnificent animals.

The world, for the most part, turns a blind eye to the turmoil in the Congo. However, there are groups—at least a couple of dozen around the country—doggedly pushing the mining companies and the electronics companies to set up a mineral tracing system so that minerals from areas of conflict can be barred from the world markets. Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) introduced legislation in the last Congress toward that goal. The National Consumers League (NCL) has recently joined the effort to bring about a tracing system along with the International Labor Right Forum, a member of the NCL-coordinated Child Labor Coalition and one of the lead organizers of the effort.

Before you throw that old cell phone in the trash, remember the true value of the mineral contents in terms of the lives lost and damaged in mining areas. Please recycle.

[If you can’t find a recycling site in your area, Earthworks provides free shipping for recycling phones. EPA also has links to corporate recycling programs at its site.]

1/20/09: A Day of Reflection – National Consumers League

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by Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

The crowds in Washington DC were thick with people from all over America, indeed, from all over the world and all roads led to the Mall on this historic day in Washington DC and in America, the swearing in of America’s first African American president, Barack Obama. The sense of optimism and hope for a new direction was palpable in those streaming downtown as I walked with my friends and family from Washington’s Dupont Circle neighborhood toward the Mall. The night before, I and many Washingtonians, whose city was virtually shut down for the four-day weekend that included Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 19, followed by the Inaugural Day, had attended parties and events from the National Archives to the Washington Convention Center to the National Portrait Gallery to the many hotels and restaurants.

I couldn’t help thinking of Florence Kelley, the National Consumers League’s first leader and General Secretary. One hundred years ago, in 1909, Kelley helped to create the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and thereafter became a lifelong friend and ally of W.E.B. DuBois, the black visionary and leading voice for civil rights at the beginning of the 20th century. At Kelley’s death, DuBois gave a eulogy for her, saying: “Save for Jane Addams, there is not another social worker in the United States who has either had her insight or her daring, so far as the American Negro is concerned.” Kelley came by her civil rights ideas naturally; her father, a Philadelphia Congressman and impassioned abolitionist, William “Pig Iron” Kelley, and her great aunt Sarah Pugh was a Quaker and fierce opponent of slavery.

The League, under Kelley’s leadership, was unique among both union and women’s groups in championing the cause of equal rights for black Americans. League leaders argued passionately for better pay and working conditions for blacks and particularly for black women, who were the lowest paid workers of all.

The spirit and great works of Kelley and the other leaders of the National Consumers League throughout our 109 year history – from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and consumer and labor leader Esther Peterson – are with us on this historic occasion as we welcome our new President and his family to Washington DC and look forward to working with him on behalf of workers and consumers across America.

Bitter Fruit for Consumers from the Google Money Tree – National Consumers League

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By John Breyault, Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud

When the economy goes into the tank, scammers seek to take advantage of consumers desperate for some extra cash. Unfortunately, due to trying economic circumstances, we find that consumers who would likely otherwise shy away from dubious business opportunities become more susceptible to them.

One such case involves a company advertising itself as “Google Money Tree,” which operates a site called www.googlemoneytree.com. Over the past two months, NCL’s Fraud Center has received more than a dozen consumer complaints via our online complaint form. In addition, blogs and message boards focusing on publicizing work-at-home scams have noted numerous complaints about the company.

The scam appears to work like this:

  • The victim receives an email or sees an ad offering a substantial weekly salary earned simply by “Posting on Google.”
  • The victim is then directed to a download site where they enter in their contact information to receive a “Google Money Tree Kit” for “free” (though a $3.88 shipping and handling charge applies).
  • Customers who enter their credit card information to order the kit are charged the $3.88 shipping and handling fee.

Sounds great, right? Ready for the Google Money Tree to start sprouting your riches?

Not so fast. Unfortunately, numerous consumers have reported that they receive nothing and are subsequently charged a $72.21 fee for access to the Google Money Tree. When they call to dispute the charge, they are told that they agreed to the monthly fee when they signed up to receive the kit and didn’t call to cancel within seven days.

It’s hard to believe that many consumers would have fallen for this trick if the $72.21 fee was readily disclosed. Where is this fee listed? Why, in hard-to-read grey text on a white background at the bottom of the page (above the attention-grabbing red “Check This Out!” sign pointing to photos of a Range Rover, mansion, and island retreat), of course! As stipulated, agreeing to receive the kit gives the consumer a 7-day trial access to the Google Money Tree private Web site where, presumably, the secrets of getting rich quick with Google will be revealed.

The Devil is in the Term and Conditions

As with most dubious work-at-home schemes, the devil is in the details; or in this case, the “terms and conditions” section. There, in tiny font, the red flags abound. First, consumers are alerted that the use of the Google Money Tree involves a negative option, a bill practice that has been deemed unethical by some (since the customer must “opt out” in order to avoid getting billed). The Federal Trade Commission enforces strict rules about how negative option billing programs can be advertised and disclosed via the Prenotification Negative Option Rule, which “requires companies to give you information about their plans, clearly and conspicuously, in any promotional materials that consumers can use to enroll.”

Second, the “Disclaimer of Warranties and Liability” section seems at odds with the advertised purpose of Google Money Tree. Specifically, the fine print states that:

“This Site is for informational purposes only, and is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed. googlemoneytree.com does not provide legal, financial, or any other kind of professional advice or services. To make sure that information or suggestions on this site fit your particular circumstances, you should consult with an appropriate professional before taking action based on any suggestions or information on this site.”

The Google Money Tree Web site advertises that this is a “limited time offer” and that consumers should “act now!” Why then, are consumers advised to “consult with an appropriate professional” before taking any action (presumably to include investing money) that Google Money Tree advises?

Finally, there is the dreaded “Consent to Binding Arbitration Before the American Arbitration Association,” clause which essentially prevents a consumer from trying to get their money back from Google Money Tree in court.

Sleuthiness!

The dubiousness of Google Money Tree does not end at the Terms and Condition section. Since we’re inquisitive types, we took it upon ourselves to look a bit deeper into Google Money Tree. First, we checked with the Better Business Bureau of Southern Nevada (Google Money Tree is registered to a P.O. Box in Las Vegas). Lo and behold, Google Money Tree has an “F” rating with the BBB due, in part, to six complaints against the company. The good folks at the BBB told us that Google Money Tree does not have a valid business license and that they began receiving complaints about the business in November 2008, which is incidentally around the same time that our Fraud Center began receiving complaints as well (are we surprised?).

We also checked out the inference on Google Money Tree’s advertising Web site that they were written up in the New York Times and USA Today. The only “mention” of Google Money Tree in either publication was a November 12, 2008 story in the New York Times that mentions how a former Google employee’s friends call him “the Google money tree.” If this is what the operators of googlemoneytree.com feel amounts to an endorsement by the paper of record, they really are ambitious.

The Bottom Line: Avoid

For all intents and purposes, Google Money Tree looks like an extremely dubious enterprise, operating on the edge of being an out-and-out scam. Consumers should be on the watch for any get-rich-quick scheme, particularly those that promise large paydays in exchange for up-front investments in “training kits” or “educational materials,” especially if they involve recurring monthly fees. Because Internet companies like Google are respected names, scam artists frequently make use of their names to try and associate themselves with such companies’ good reputations. Remember to check out ANY company with the Better Business Bureau before sending them money and always, always, ALWAYS read the fine print. Finally, consumers who feel that they’ve been scammed by Google Money Tree or ANY scam should file their complaint at NCL’s online complaint form.

Elizabeth Warren’s Financial Services Product Safety Commission Proposal – National Consumers League

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by Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Can a faulty toaster be compared with a faulty credit card? Several weeks ago at the Consumer Federation of America’s annual gathering on financial services, I heard Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren speak on just this topic. Warren, who wrote an article for Harvard Magazine called “Making Credit Safer: The Case for Regulation,” is recommending a radical new system for protecting consumers from credit card and other debts that are dangerous to their financial health. The new regime would be the financial equivalent of the Consumer Product Safety Commission – the independent federal agency that regulates the safety of 15,000 consumer products all of us use daily. Warren would call the new agency the “financial services product safety commission.”

The analogy Warren uses is this: you buy a toaster that had a wiring diagram and other documents, 31 pages long, single spaced. On page 25 is the diagram which shows a clearly faulty wiring system that means the toaster could burst into flames and burn down your house. If that happens, well, you should have known of the dangers; they are described right there in the manual. Warren argues that the financial documents that accompany credit cards, mortgages, or payday loans are the equivalent of that diagram. Consumers cannot be expected to read through a 31-page document to look for signs of danger in a toaster. No, the toaster is expected to be safe, and, if it is not, the Consumer Product Safety Commission will come in to protect you.

Like the toaster diagram, consumers don’t read the 31 pages that accompany a credit card agreement, and even it they did, they are unlikely to recognize the dangers signs. She argues that it is possible to refinance your home with a mortgage that has the same chance of putting your family out on the street—and the mortgage won’t even carry a disclosure of that fact. Similarly, while it’s impossible for the seller to change the price on a toaster once the consumer has purchased it, with a financial agreement, your credit-card company can triple the price of the credit even if you meet all the credit terms. Warren asks why consumers are safe when they purchase tangible products with cash, but left at the mercy of their creditors when they sign up for routine financial products like mortgages and credit cards.

Warren says that lenders have deliberately built tricks and traps into some credit products so they can ensnare families in a cycle of high-cost debt. She believes that creating a safer marketplace means making certain that the products themselves don’t become the source of trouble. This means that terms hidden in the fine print or obscured with incomprehensible language, reservation of all power to the seller with nothing left for the buyer, and similar tricks have no place in a well-functioning market.

How did financial products get so dangerous? Warren believes that disclosure has become a way to obfuscate rather than to inform. In the early 1980s, the typical credit-card contract was a page long; by the early 2000s, that contract had grown to more than 30 pages of incomprehensible text that no typical consumer can digest.

Her recommended solution is this Financial Product Safety Commission (FPSC), which could set guidelines for consumer disclosure, collect and report data about the uses of different financial products, review new products for safety, and require modification of dangerous products before they can be marketed to the public. The agency would review mortgages, credit cards, car loans, and so on. It could also exercise jurisdiction over life insurance and annuity contracts. In effect, the FPSC would evaluate these products to eliminate the hidden tricks that make some of them far more dangerous than others, and ensure that none pose unacceptable risks to consumers.

While there are undoubtedly many issues to work out with Warren’s plan, it does jumpstart the conversation. Consumers should feel they can enter credit markets confident that the products they purchase meet minimum safety standards. A financial products safety commission could collect data about which financial products are least understood, what kinds of disclosures are most effective, and which products are most likely to result in consumer default. Consumers deserve far stronger protections from predatory loans and gotcha late fees and finance charges – and this commission, or a bill that addresses these same issues, might just be the answer.