Consumer Law Blog

Dispute over Medical Bills?

Sonya Smith-Valentine, Valentine Legal Group — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:16:05 +0000

I recently found out about a unit at Maryland’s Attorney General’s Office. They have a unit called the Health Education and Advocacy Unit. They offer help to consumers who are having a billing dispute with their health care provider or health insurance company. The Unit assists with issues like these: Health insurance company has refused to cover a medical procedure, medical equipment was never delivered or is defective, or there is a billing issue with your doctor or dentist.

The Health Unit can be reached by calling 410-528-1840 or 877-261-8807. You can file a complaint online at www.oag.state.md.us/consumer/heau.htm

I don’t know if all states have a unit like this but it would seem worth the time to find out if you are having a dispute with your doctor or insurance company over medical bills.

Possible Reforms for Credit Card Industry

Sonya Smith-Valentine, Valentine Legal Group — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:51:05 +0000

The Federal Reserve and Congress are both working on tightening the rules on credit card companies. Stricter regulation will probably be approved by the end of the year. Some of the rules being considered by the Federal Reserve include: (1) specifying when credit card companies can raise interest rates on existing balances, (2) prohibiting late fees when customers were not given a reasonable amount of time to pay their bills, (3) preventing credit card issuers from calculating interest based upon the average balance over 2 billing cycles. The proposals do not ban the universal default provisions now found in many credit card agreements. A universal default provision allows a credit card issuer to raise a customer’s interest rate if the customer is late on paying an unrelated debt. The Federal Reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration have joined together in trying to draft new rules for the credit card industry.

Where to Complain About Credit Card Issues - Post #2

Sonya Smith-Valentine, Valentine Legal Group — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:59:38 +0000

In Post #1, I talked about steps to take in trying to resolve problems with your credit card company. One step is complaining to the federal agency that oversees your credit card issuer. In this post, I’m giving you the contact information for the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). OTS oversees federal savings and loan institutions and federally chartered savings banks.

Office of Thrift Supervision, Consumer Programs, 1700 G Street, N.W., 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20552 - (800) 842-6929 - www.ots.tres.gov

Credit Report Inquiries

Sonya Smith-Valentine, Valentine Legal Group — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:08:10 +0000

Clients often ask me about the “inquiry” section on their credit reports. A significant number of consumers don’t know what the inquiry section is or about the different type of inquiries.

The inquiry section is a listing of all the companies and/or individuals who have asked to see your credit history. There are two types of inquiries:

Hard inquiries are based upon your request for credit, loans, or employment. Creditors and employers request your credit report so they can evaluate your creditworthiness. If a hard inquiry appears on your credit report and you didn’t apply for credit at the time of the inquiry, you have some investigating to do. You might be a victim of identity theft.

Soft inquiries are created when (1) a company requests to see your credit report before sending you a pre-approved offer for credit, (2) you request your credit report, and (3) when your existing creditors review your credit report. You are the only person who can see soft inquiries on your credit report. Soft inquiries do not impact your credit score. You can stop the credit bureaus from giving your information to companies who want to send you pre-approved credit offers by calling (888) 5-OPT-OUT.

Where to Complain About Credit Card Issues - Post #1

Sonya Smith-Valentine, Valentine Legal Group — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:56:29 +0000

If you are having a dispute with your credit card company, try and resolve it with the credit card company first. If that doesn’t work, you probably want to file a complaint with the federal agency responsible for enforcing consumer credit law for your credit card company. The agency responsible varies based on the type of bank that issued the credit card.

In this post, I’ll give you the information on where to complain if your credit card was issued by a federal credit union:

National Credit Union Administration, Office of External Affairs, 1775 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 - (703) 518-6330 - www.ncua.gov

Citibank ATM Breach

Sonya Smith-Valentine, Valentine Legal Group — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:03:38 +0000

Hackers broke into Citibank’s ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores earlier this year and stole customers’ PIN codes. The hackers netted millions of dollars. The thieves were able to access the PIN numbers by attacking the back-end computers responsible for approving the cash withdrawals. Hackers are targeting the ATM system’s infrastructure, which often uses Microsoft’s Windows operating system. It’s unclear how many Citibank customers were affected by the breach, which extended at least from October 2007 to March of this year. Citibank has nearly 5,700 ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores.

Innovis Credit Report

Sonya Smith-Valentine, Valentine Legal Group — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:12:32 +0000

In addition to the big 3 credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax & Trans Union), there exist some small credit bureaus. You should check your credit reports with the smaller credit bureaus as well as with the big 3. Innovis is an example of one of the smaller credit bureaus. You can request your Innovis credit report by writing to: Innovis, Attn: Customre Assistance, P.O. Box 1358, Columbus, Ohio 43216. Include your name, social security number, date of birth, proof of address (like a utility bill), and a copy of your driver’s license or other government issued ID card.

New FICO Credit Score Changes

Sonya Smith-Valentine, Valentine Legal Group — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:02:02 +0000

Fair Isaac, the developer of the FICO credit score, has made some changes to the way your FICO credit score is calculated. Here are some of the changes: If you are an authorized user on someone else’s credit card, you will no longer benefit from the credit rating associated with that credit card. You’ll now need to become an actual supplemental card holder to get any credit scoring benefit. Also, one late payment won’t kill your credit score anymore. Your score used to drop 100 points if you paid one item late. Now the drop won’t be as punitive. However, if you have a trend of paying late, you will be hit even harder than before. Additionally, applications for new credit won’t hurt your score as much as before. On the other hand, your credit score will be more sensitive to the balances you carry. Also, active use of your credit card now matters. If you have a credit card that you haven’t used in awhile, it will weigh less in your credit score than before. Fair Isaac made these changes to the FICO scoring system for lenders as the credit industry complained about some aspects of the old scoring model.

Stopping Unsolicited Credit Card Offers

Sonya Smith-Valentine, Valentine Legal Group — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:34:06 +0000

Many companies that solicit new credit card accounts use prescreening to identify potential customers. Prescreened offers are based upon information in your credit report that indicates you meet the criteria set by the credit card company. There will be inquiries on your credit report showing which companies obtained your information for prescreened offers but these inquiries do not affect your credit score. You can opt out of receiving prescreened credit offers for either 5 years or permanently. Visit www.optoutprescreen.comfor details. The website is operated by the credit bureaus. Requests to opt out are processed within 5 days but it may take up to 60 days before you stop receiving prescreened offers.

Pre-qualified never means pre-pay

Sonya Smith-Valentine, Valentine Legal Group — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:33:48 +0000

The scam: You’ve been told that you’ve been “pre-qualified” to get a low interest loan or credit card but the company needs you to pay a processing fee of several hundred dollars. The truth: Legitimate lenders never “guarantee” a credit card or loan before you apply. A legitimate pre-qualified offer means that you’ve been selected to apply. You still have to complete an application and you can still be turned down. Also, legitimate lenders don’t charge several hundred dollars in processing fees.