Current Events in January 2011

ConsumerAffairs.com recently reported on a lawsuit filed by Michael Dion, who fell between a subway train and a moving station platform, a mishap that broke his pelvis and lacerated his internal organs. Unsurprisingly, Dion, who was trapped for half an hour before workers were able to get him out, was angry enough to file a $15 million lawsuit against New York City.

Now a Pennsylvania woman is considering legal action for a different kind of fall -- and one that didn't cause nearly the injuries that Dion's did.

It all started innocently enough. Cathy Cruz Marrero was texting while walking through the Berkshire Mall in Reading, Pennsylvania when, apparently distracted, she tripped and fell into a fountain.

It was a harrowing scene.

“I saw the water coming at me, I could see the pennies and nickels at the bottom of the fountain and then I was in it,” Marrero told The Reading Eagle in an interview.

Mall security not “professional”

Rather than pick herself up, dry herself off, and perhaps chuckle at the ridiculousness of the situation, Marrero has hired a lawyer to investigate what she says is the mall's negligence for not coming to her aid. She says that the mall's security guards stood around laughing at her, rather than coming to her aid and making sure she wasn't injured.

“My issue is I don't think security was professional because they didn't send anyone to check on me until 20 minutes later and I had already left,” Cathy told the Eagle. “Instead of laughing, they should have said, 'Is she OK?' and been down there right away to check on me,” she said.

In a separate interview with ABC News, Marrero said she was “dumbfounded” by the guards' behavior.

“And all I kept saying was, 'I fell. I fell. I fell in the fountain. I fell in the fountain,'” she said.

A YouTube sensation

Adding to Marrero's outrage, video footage of the incident was leaked by a still-unknown person and has gone viral on YouTube, gathering over 1.5 million views so far. Merroro is signaling that she will pursue legal action against whoever took the video.

“We are troubled by the fact that anyone at the Berkshire Mall responsible for releasing this video would find humor in an employee injured on the premises,” Marrero's attorney, James Polyak, told MSNBC. “We intend to hold the appropriate persons responsible.”

But Marrero may have bigger fish to fry. According to CBS's The Early Show, Marrero is in the middle of a criminal case in which she is charged with five counts of felony theft. She allegedly charged $5,000 worth of purchases to a co-worker's credit card.

Poylak said that Marrero's criminal record, which also includes a hit-and-run conviction, has no connection to the incident at the Berkshire Mall.

“Her prior personal affairs have nothing to do with what happened to her at the Berkshire Mall and the video that has been posted,” Polyak told the Eagle.

Good advice

Meanwhile, Marrero has some plum advice for all you kids out there.

“Do not text and walk,” she helpfully instructed on Thursday's Good Morning America.

There's a national Do Not Call law, allowing consumers to prevent calls from telemarketers, and many states have adopted their own versions. Now, the State of Indiana is poised to take it one step farther.

When the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) established the national Do Not Call list, it was designed to help consumers prevent intrusive telemarketing calls to their residential phone lines. Mobile phones were less of a factor because there is no central directory of cell phone numbers and, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), placing telemarketing calls to a wireless phone is, and always has been, illegal in most cases.

But in recent years, an increasing number of consumers use only a cell phone, prompting some unscrupulous telemarketers to undertake the effort to build databases of mobile numbers in an effort to pitch to this untapped market.

Expanded protection

In the Indiana legislature, the Judiciary Committee has approved a measure to expand the state's Do Not Call protections to specifically cover both cell phones and VoIP lines, such as the ones provided by companies like Vonnage.

Attorney General Greg Zoeller sought the update to the current law by clearly defining a "residential phone number" to include any Indiana cell phone number used by an Indiana resident at home. Indiana Representative Eric Koch was among the lawmakers providing sponsorship for the measure.

"Cell phone users deserve the same level of privacy protection afforded to landlines," Koch said. "This bill aligns the law with technology."

Reaching out to college students

Over the next several days, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said he will visit college campuses to talk with students about the importance of the Do Not Call list and why they will want to register their Indiana cell phone numbers should the measure be passed into law.

College students, most of whom opt out of paying for an additional landline in their apartments or dorms, are no strangers to loans and credit card debt and may be accustomed to receiving interest rate reduction calls or credit repair offers, many of which are scams or illegal in Indiana. Having the ability to register an Indiana cell phone number on the Do Not Call list will make it easier for students to identify a legitimate call from a fraud.

"The Do Not Call list has the added benefit of acting as a warning sign to Hoosiers who are on the list," he said. "If you get a sales call on a number you know is registered, that's a red flag the person on the other end is ignoring Indiana laws and it's probably a scam. And the same goes for text message solicitations."

Being placed on the Do Not Call list will eliminate most telemarketing calls, but not all. Under Indiana law, certain groups may still make calls to those on the list including insurance agents, realtors, newspapers and most charities.

The Tucson shooting that left six people dead and 14 injured, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was especially frightening not only because its primary targets included women, children and seniors but also because it seemed to come out of nowhere.

It's what police call an "active shooter attack," defined by Homeland Security as "an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area."

Nearly all such attacks are carried out by a single attacker, making them very difficult to detect in advance.

But that doesn't mean employers shouldn't prepare for attacks. The New York Police Department yesterday released a report to private-sector employers that included advice on how to prepare for – and survive -- such attacks. Precautionary steps include:

• Build a "safe room" with thick walls, solid doors with locks, few windows, communications gear and medical supplies;

• Hold drills to familiarize employees with emergency plans;

• Limit access to blueprints, floor plans and other documents that could be useful to a shooter;

• Avoid elevators. Employees trying to escape an attack could be trapped on an elevator with the shooter or wind up on a floor where the shooting is occurring;

• Never approach arriving police officers.

• Evacuate with "hands empty, hands open and hands up," in the words of Capt. Michael Riggio.

• If unable to avoid a confrontation with the shooter, attack him "as aggressively and violently" as possible, Riggio said. Use staplers, scissors, furniture and pens as weapons.

• Gang up on the shooter. The more people who attack the shooter, the better the chance they will be able to stop him.

Forty-six percent of active shootings from 1996 to 2010 have been ended by the use of force, either by law enforcement or bystanders. Forty percent of the shooters committed suicide, said Jessica Tisch, director of policy and planning in the HYPD counter-terrorism unit.

Mostly male

Other highlights of the report:

• Shooters are overwhelmingly male. Only 8 out of 202 cases involved female attackers.
• The median age of shooters is 35. School shooters tend to be 15-19 years old, workplace shooters 35-44.
• Attackers in 64% of cases had a professional or academic relationship with their targets but in 22% of cases, there was no prior relationship between the shooter and his victims;
• Fewer than one-third of workplace shootings involved former employees. In many cases, active shooter attacks resulted from disagreements and grievances among current employees.
• Less than one-third (29%) of attacks took place in schools, while one-half occurred at commercial facilities, including office buildings, factories and warehouses.
• 36% of active shooter attacks involved more than one weapon. In several cases, attackers ued firearms stolen from relatives or friends.

The complete NYPD report, "Active Shooter: Recommendations and Analysis for Risk Mitigation" is available online (pdf file).

Three companies and their owner, who allegedly falsely claimed they could help consumers quickly eliminate their credit card debts and stop calls from debt collectors, have been banned from the debt relief business under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

According to the FTC’s complaint, The Hermosa Group and Financial Future Network deceptively advertised debt relief services, in English and Spanish radio and television ads, claiming that consumers could pay thousands less than what they owe on credit cards.

The defendants themselves did not provide any debt relief services. Instead, the advertising was meant only to generate sales leads -- the names and phone numbers of consumers who called the defendants’ toll-free number -- which the defendants sold to debt relief providers or other sales lead generators.

Bogus pitches

The defendants’ ads included sales pitches such as:

•  “With one simple call you can eliminate your debt in a fraction of the time and for less than you owe.”
•  “Find out today how quickly and easily you can eliminate your debt.”
• “Stop the harassing calls!”

The FTC contends the defendants’ claims that they could reduce debts substantially, settle debts quickly, and stop calls from debt collectors, were false or unsubstantiated, and that the defendants did not obtain adequate evidence from sales lead buyers that they could achieve the promised results. The complaint also alleges that the defendants falsely claimed they provided the debt relief services they advertised.

Settlement terms

The defendants are Jonathan Greenberg, Hermosa Group LLC, Media Innovations LLC, and Financial Future Network LLC. The settlement order imposes an $8.5 million judgment that will be suspended when the defendants pay $500,000. The full judgment will be imposed immediately if they have misrepresented their financial condition.

In addition to banning the defendants from the debt relief business, the settlement order prohibits them from making unsubstantiated claims about financial related products or services, or misrepresenting material facts about any product or service.

The order also prohibits them from disclosing or otherwise benefiting from customers’ personal information, and failing to dispose of this information properly.

The FTC recently amended its Telemarketing Sales Rule to require debt relief companies to make certain disclosures and prohibit them from making false claims or collecting fees before delivering the services they promise.

Because the defendants’ ads predated these amendments, the FTC did not allege any violations of the Rule in this case.

If you’re in the market for a new car, 2011 may be the best year to finance one.

Dealers are bending over backwards to move cars by offering low to no interest loans, praying they don’t have another year like 2010 when car sales were 28 percent below pre-recession levels.

I know -- what about all this talk about a turnaround in the auto industry? The reality is that despite some improvement in car sales in the U.S., the overall market is still hurting.

According to SmartMoney magazine, automakers keep churning out vehicles, dealers stock up so they can offer a wide selection to customers and then at the end of the year -- if they don’t sell -- they’re stuck with them. Sales are growing but they’re growing slowly and dealerships have been overstocked, which means more cars are sitting on lots for longer periods of time.

Toyota rates

SmartMoney says Toyota has been among the more aggressive with dealership financing, offering zero percent APR on the Camry, Corolla, Tundra and Yaris in select locations. A Toyota spokesman said “we want our customers back,” and added that “it’s no secret that we’ve had a rough year at Toyota” with its massive recalls and bad press over cars that killed their owners. Toyota reported a 24 percent percent increase in sales in 2010, following a dismal year brought on by the fatalities and recalls.

On the 2011 Toyota Camry sedan, with a base model price of about $20,000, consumers can get zero percent financing for up to 60 months at some dealers.

Put $2,000 down on a five-year loan (the average length of most auto loans) at 5.9 percent (the average APR on a car loan) and you'll pay $840 more in interest over the duration of the loan than a dealer-financed borrower who locks in 4.2 percent, and around $2,820 more than a buyer who scores a zero percent interest rate.

Low-risk proposition

Although it sounds like a losing proposition, SmartMoney says dealers actually assume little risk with these low and zero interest loans. The loss automakers incur is still less than they'd face from both the stockpiles of unsold inventory and the resulting investor angst. What's more, says SmartMoney, not all loans are offered at a loss to automakers. And, unlike homes, cars are easy to repossess and can be resold relatively quickly.

Paul Taylor, chief economist at the National Automobile Dealers Association, says that typically, cars are repossessed three to four months after a missed payment. Home foreclosures, on the other hand, can take a year to process. What's more, fewer borrowers are missing payments; year-over-year delinquency rate on car loans is down 28.4 percent and is expected to drop further this year, according to TransUnion.

SmartMoney says that limited risk profile on auto lending has also contributed to an increased appetite among investors for these loans. Last month, Canada's TD Bank announced a $6.3 billion acquisition of Chrysler Financial and in October, General Motors completed its $3.5 billion purchase of lender AmeriCredit Corp.

Proceed with caution

Still, dealers are proceeding cautiously. SmartMoney says they're lending mostly to prime borrowers with a FICO credit score of at least 700, saving their lowest interest rates of zero percent to two percent for borrowers with minimum credit scores of 730 to 750 (depending on the dealer).

Jack Nerad, executive market analyst at Kelley Blue Book, says buyers should read the fine print to make sure the dealer hasn't slipped in any add-ons, like an extended warranty or a fabric treatment, that add to the cost of your loan. It's one of the few ways dealers make money from low-interest lending.

On the plus side, zero percent offers are being offered for loans of up to five years. In the past, the best rates usually applied for up to three-year loans. And while some of the zero percent deals expire at the end of this month, experts say consumers can expect more of the same throughout 2011 since car sales aren't expected to return to pre-recession levels this year either.

Just because you’re out of work and looking for a job doesn’t mean you have to settle for whatever comes along.

In fact, according to Fortune magazine, the top 26 best companies to work for have at least 700 openings each, totaling nearly 137,000 available jobs.

While we don’t have the time or the room to list all 26 here, we do have space for the top five.

SAS

The best company in the country to work for -- and this is the second year in a row it holds that title -- is SAS, a leader in business analytics software and services and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market.

Based in Cary, North Carolina, SAS has been on the Fortune best 100 companies for 14 years. What makes it so great? Its perks are incredible. Here are a few:

• On-site healthcare
• High quality childcare at $410 per month
• Summer camp for children of employees
• Car cleaning
• Beauty salon
• State-of-the-art, 66,000-square-foot gym

According to one SAS manager, people stay at SAS in large part because they are happy, but to dig a little deeper, I would argue that people don’t leave SAS because ‘they feel regarded -- seen, attended to and cared for.”

Boston Consulting Group

Company number two is the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which rose in the ranks from number eight last year. It scored points this year by avoiding job cuts during the downturn and hiring its largest class of recruits ever in 2010. They were attracted by the firm’s generous pay and a commitment to social work.

For example, its Social Impact Practice Network (SIPN) offers a chance to work with the U.N. World Food Program and Save the Children. BCG even pulled its consultants off client projects to provide on-the-ground support in Haiti following the earthquake.

Wegmans

If you don’t mind harsh winters, you might enjoy working at the number three company, Wegmans Food Markets, headquartered in Rochester, New York. Wegmans was number three last year as well. This is a customer-friendly supermarket chain that cares about the well-being of its employees.  This year, 11,000 employees took part in a challenge to eat five cups of fruit and vegetables a day and walk up to 10,000 steps a day for eight weeks. Another 8,000 took advantage of health screenings that included a flu shot and H1N1 vaccine -- all covered by Wegmans. You can fill out an application at www.wegmans.com

Google

Number four is a perennial favorite, Google, which was number four last year too. The search giant is famous for its perky perks including free food at any of its cafeterias, a climbing wall and free laundry. Last year, with revenue up more than 20 percent, Google gave every employee a 10 percent pay increase. Employees can also award each other $175 peer spot bonuses, which more than two-thirds of them did last year. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

NetApp

Rounding out the top five is NetApp, a data storage firm that just hired hundreds of new employees after revenues jumped 33 percent. Last year this Sunnyvale, California, company was ranked number seven but the year before in 2009 it ranked number one.

One reason is the high wages employees earn. An hourly executive assistant makes $76,450 a year, supplemented by a bonus of $21,917. Employees also enjoy perks like free fruit on Tuesdays, free bagels and cream cheese on Fridays, and free espresso all the time.

You can find the complete list of the 100 Best Companies To Work For here.

Husqvarna is realling about 600Poulan Pro generators. The carburetor can fail allowing gasoline to leak, posing a fire hazard to consumers.

The firm has received four reports of fuel leakage. No injuries have been reported.

This recall involves gas-powered Poulan Pro Generators designed for residential use. Models included in the recall are: PP4300, PP6600, PP6600E and PP7600E, all serial numbers. The generator's model number can be found on the front of the fuel tank on the Serial Number Plate. The generators are black and marigold color, measure 21.5" H x 26.6" L x 21.3" range from 4.4 to 7.6 KW with two handles and two wheels.

Poulan Pro and Husqvarna authorized dealers sold the generators nationwide from July 2010 through September 2010 for between $600 and $1,000. They were made in China.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled generators and contact Husqvarna to arrange a free repair.

For more information or to schedule a free repair, contact Husqvarna toll-free at (877) 257-6921 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday. Consumers can also visit the firm's website at www.husqvarna.us/december2010Alert

A man crushed by a moving subway platform in Manhattan has announced plans to launch a $15 million lawsuit against the city.

On December 10, 41-year-old Michael Dion was waiting for the 4 train, which runs along Lexington Avenue, at the 14th Street-Union Square station.  

That station features a sharply curved track that creates an unusually wide gap between the platform and the train. To compensate for the gap, the platform features several moving metal grates, which jut forward to connect the platform to the subway cars after a train has pulled in. Once the train leaves the station, the grates retract back into the platform.

Incident a “nightmare”

Dion apparently fell into the gap after the train pulled up, but before the platform fully extended. As a result, he was crushed between the platform and the train, which his lawyer says caused “virtually all of his internal abdominal organs [to become] either lacerated or severely injured.” Both sides of Dion’s pelvis were also fractured.

Dion remained stuck for half an hour as Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) workers struggled to get the platform to retract. None of the workers who initially responded to the incident were trained in how to disengage the platform’s hydraulics.

“It's a nightmare, plain and simple,” Dion’s lawyer, Jay Dankner, told The New York Post. “It is such a horrifying experience that is going to last him forever.

“What really makes him break down is how close to death he really was,” Dankner added.

Dion wants changes to system

Dion has filed a notice of claim against the MTA and NYC Transit, an arm of the MTA that oversees the subway, which is the first step toward filing a lawsuit, according to the Daily Mail.

Dion says that his suit is about more than money; it’s about preventing similar injuries in the future.

“Something must be done to fix this dangerous condition before someone else is seriously injured or killed,” Dion told the Post. “The people who ride their subways and trains deserve to be protected from these unnecessary and dangerous hazards.”

Dankner pointed out that a similarly-shaped platform, at the South Ferry station, has a chain to prevent riders from falling into the gap, and said that the Union Square station needs a similar mechanism.

Train gaps require close attention

How Dion fell into the gap is not entirely clear. Police initially said they thought he had been drinking, but Dankner denied that claim. Photos of the ordeal show Dion wearing earbud headphones, suggesting that he may not have heard automated announcements warning passengers to “stand clear of the moving platform as trains enter and leave the station.”

Train and subway gaps are notoriously dangerous and require passengers to pay close attention, especially when boarding and exiting trains. In 2006, teenager Natalie Smead was killed after she slipped through the gap at the Woodside station on the Long Island Railroad (LIRR). Smead tried to crawl to the platform on the opposite side of the station and was struck by an oncoming train.

The accident spurred the LIRR to launch a campaign warning passengers of the gap, and to reduce gaps measuring more than 10 inches wide.

And last year, a jury awarded $247,500 to Judith Cohen, after the 72-year-old New Yorker fell into an LIRR gap at the Huntington station.

This time of year consumers spend more time thinking about taxes and tax-related issues. That's why they may be more vulnerable to scams masquerading as Internal Revenue Service (IRS) communications.

These scams are around all year round, but they seem more prevalent this time of year. They may appropriate the name, logo or other appurtenances of the IRS or U.S. Department of the Treasury to mislead taxpayers into believing that the scam is legitimate.

Scams involving the impersonation of the IRS usually take the form of e-mails, tweets or other online messages to consumers. Scammers may also use phones and faxes to reach intended victims. Some scammers set up phony Websites.

(Read consumer complaints about tax companies).

The IRS and e-mail

Generally, the IRS does not send unsolicited e-mails to taxpayers. Further, it does not discuss tax account information with taxpayers via e-mail or use e-mail to solicit sensitive financial and personal information from taxpayers. The IRS does not request financial account security information, such as PIN numbers, from taxpayers.

So if you get an email from the IRS covering any of the above subjects, you should assume it is a scam and not act on it until you independently verify the email is -- in fact -- from the tax agency.

Object of scams

Most scams impersonating the IRS are identity theft schemes. The scammer poses as a legitimate institution to trick consumers into revealing personal and financial information, such as passwords and Social Security, PIN, bank account and credit card numbers that can be used to gain access to and steal their bank, credit card or other financial accounts.

Attempted identity theft scams that take place via e-mail are known as phishing. Other scams may try to persuade a victim to advance sums of money in the hope of realizing a larger gain. These are known as advance fee scams.

Who is targeted

Anyone with a computer, phone or fax machine could receive a scam message or unknowingly visit a phony or misleading Web site. Individuals, businesses, educators, charities and others have been targeted by e-mails that claim to come from the IRS or Treasury Department. Scam e-mails are generally sent out in bulk, based on e-mail addresses (urls), similar to spam.

How an identity theft scam works

Typically, a consumer will receive an e-mail that claims to come from the IRS or Treasury Department. The message will contain an enticing or intimidating subject line, such as tax refund, inherited funds or IRS notice.

Usually, the message will state that the recipient needs to provide the IRS with information to obtain the refund or avoid some penalty. The message will instruct the consumer to open an attachment or click on a link in the e-mail.

This may lead to an official-looking form to be filled out online or send the taxpayer to a seemingly genuine but bogus IRS Website. The look-alike site will then contain a phony but genuine-looking online form or interactive application that requires the personal and financial information the scammer can use to commit identity theft.

Also, the clicked link may secretly download malware to the consumer's computer. Malware is malicious code that can take over the computer's hard drive, giving the scammer remote access to the computer, or it could look for passwords and other information and send them to the scammer.

Phony Web or commercial sites

In many IRS-impersonation scams, the scammer sends the consumer to a phony Website that mimics the appearance of the genuine IRS Website. This allows the scammer to steer victims to phony interactive forms or applications that appear genuine and require the targeted victim to enter personal and financial information that will be used to commit identity theft.

In addition to Websites established by scammers, there are commercial Internet sites that often resemble the authentic IRS site or contain some form of the IRS name in the address but end with a .com, .net, .org or other designation instead of .gov. These sites have no connection to the IRS. Consumers may unknowingly visit these sites when searching the Internet to retrieve tax forms, publications and other information from the IRS.

The official Website for the Internal Revenue Service is IRS.gov and it contains a lot of helpful information and advice for taxpayers. The best way to make sure you are at the right site is to type in www.irs.gov in your browser.

The GMAC mortgage unit of Ally Financial, Inc. is planning to drop 250 foreclosures in Maryland due to defective affidavits, the company announced on Wednesday.

The decision encompasses every Maryland foreclosure “robo-signed” by Ally employee Jeffrey Stephan, who has already admitted that he signed off on thousands of foreclosures every month without conducting any meaningful review.

Ally’s announcement came after Civil Justice, Inc., a Maryland nonprofit group, agreed to abandon a class action brought on behalf of homeowners whose foreclosure papers were signed by Stephan.

Robo-signing defined

“Robo-signing” occurs when an individual is assigned to sign off on a large number of foreclosures without first checking to ensure that all the documentation is correct. The practice, which came to light after a Washington Post report last fall, potentially poses serious threats to the mortgage industry. In November, the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) warned that robo-signing could put some large banks at risk.

“The risk stems from the possibility that the rapid growth of mortgage securitization in recent years may have outpaced the ability of the legal and financial system to track mortgage loan ownership,” the panel wrote. “In essence, banks may be unable to prove that they own the mortgage loans they claim to own.”

Buyers and sellers could potentially be thrown into limbo as well, with no one reasonably sure of whether they could validly buy or sell a home.

Jeffrey Stephan, the best-known robo-signer, estimated during a deposition that he signed around 10,000 documents per month.

Company plans to re-file

In an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg, Ally spokeswoman Gina Proia said the company’s “intention is to re-file the cases to go through the new foreclosure procedures in Maryland.”

But that will likely be a lengthy process, and one that could inject additional uncertainty into Maryland’s already-shaky real estate market.

Action may have “ripple effect”

Although Ally’s action is ostensibly confined to Maryland, one consumer activist told The Washington Post that other mortgage companies who used robo-signers are likely to follow suit.

“What they're doing is triage,” Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, told the Post. “They're thinking: We've got a problem in Maryland. Let's get in front of it. But they're naive if they think that what they're doing in Maryland is going to shut the door on their troubles elsewhere.”

Indeed, that is the hope of Civil Justice, the group that filed the lawsuit.

“Hopefully GMAC’s actions will set a precedent with other lenders where robo-signing has occurred,” Civil Justice attorney Anthony DePastina told Bloomberg. “I think there will be a ripple effect throughout the country.”

While credit repair companies make lots of promises about restoring your credit rating and removing negative items from your credit report, most are just empty claims.

In New Jersey, consumer officials have launched a multi-media outreach campaign that educates consumers about how to avoid credit repair scams that may actually worsen their situation.

“Your credit history is critically important when financing a major purchase, obtaining a loan and even when applying for a job,” said Thomas R. Calcagni, Acting Director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. “Through this outreach campaign, we want consumers to learn that everything that a credit repair company will claim to do for you legally, you can do for yourself at little or no cost. We’ve seen these so-called credit repair companies scam consumers out of hundreds of dollars while essentially doing nothing and we want consumers to be alert to these frauds.”

The outreach campaign is primarily funded by a grant from the Sears Consumer Protection and Education Fund.

Multi-media approach

The campaign includes radio ads that began airing this week and newspaper ads that will appear this Sunday. Both the radio and print ads refer consumers to the division's Website, where detailed information has been posted.

The posted information includes how to obtain a free annual credit report and how to notify the credit reporting companies of incorrect or missing information on your credit report.

“Consumers can report incorrect or missing information themselves, without the cost of hiring a company that promises to repair your credit,” Calcagni said. “Be dubious of any company that claims it can erase bad credit information from your history.”

Cracking down

The Division of Consumer Affairs filed suit against a Lakewood-based credit repair and credit counseling firm, United Credit Adjusters in October 2008, alleging that it failed to provide the promised services after clients made required payments in advance. The division also claimed that contrary to the company’s representations and advertisements, consumers’ credit scores were not raised nor was negative information eliminated from credit reports.

The two officers of United Credit Adjusters were permanently barred from doing credit counseling, credit repair, debt adjuster and bankruptcy work in New Jersey, under the terms of the Final Consent Judgment entered in 2009.

“We will investigate any and all complaints about alleged fraud committed by companies that promise to repair consumers’ credit ratings,” Calcagni said.

Although it may seem counterintuitive, exercise could be used as an intervention for -- or even a way to prevent -- eating disorders.

“When it comes to eating disorders, exercise has always been seen as a negative because people use it as a way to control their weight," says Heather Hausenblas, an exercise psychologist at the University of Florida. " But for most people, exercise is a very positive thing.”

Hausenblas says results of her research show it's not necessarily bad for people with disordered eating to engage in exercise. In fact, she says, "The effects on self-esteem, depression, mood and body image can reduce the risk of eating pathologies.”

Psychology of exercise

Researchers surveyed 539 normal-weight college students, most of whom were not at risk for eating disorders. They evaluated the students’ drive to be thin, along with their exercise habits and risk for exercise dependence and used statistical models to find potential relationships.

They found that, more than its physical benefits, the psychological effects of exercise could help prevent and treat eating disorders. The findings are reported in European Eating Disorders Review.

Intervention assistance

“The public health implications of this study are important,” says Danielle Symons Downs, director of the Exercise Psychology Laboratory at Penn State. “This research is important for understanding the complex interactions between exercise behavior and eating pathology, and it can assist clinicians with better understanding how to intervene with and treat eating pathology.”

Beyond offering an affordable treatment to address the needs of people with eating disorders, exercise therapies also could help relieve the burden of such diseases on the health-care system, Hausenblas says.

“If a patient is extremely underweight, you’re not going to have them exercising two or three hours a day. But once they’re at a stable level, exercise could have a big positive effect,” she says.

Hausenblas hopes to launch another study that would follow at-risk individuals over a period of several months to see if exercise impacts their symptoms. “We’d like to assess them over time, and we hope to see their risk factors go down.”

Researchers at the University of Kentucky and University of Arizona collaborated on the study.

A bed bug class action marches on in Des Moines, Iowa, with residents of two apartment complexes for the elderly and disabled alleging in court papers that the buildings’ management ignored the problem until confronted with litigation.

The plaintiffs are asking that the suit, originally filed in March, be certified as a class action so that it can inch closer to trial. The implications for the plaintiffs are real, with many seeking refunds of rental payments and compensation for property lost to the infestation.

Elsie Mason Manor and Ligutti Towers, the buildings at issue, are home to many residents on fixed and limited incomes, who don’t have the necessary means to fully address the problem themselves. As a result, those residents are essentially at the mercy of the buildings’ managers.

Variety of hardships

In addition to the often-crippling financial burden -- victims of bed bug infestations often have to throw out all their furniture and sometimes their clothes as well -- the incident has caused residents physical and emotional hardship.

The complaint says that at least 250 tenants have experienced substandard and unconscionable living conditions as a result of the epidemic.

“Everybody sleeps on the floor,” Robert Hobbs, a resident of Elsie Mason, told The Des Moines Register. “You have to.”

Management targeted

Despite its pious-sounding name, American Baptist Homes of the Midwest -- which manages the two buildings -- is depicted as downright Scrooge-esque in the complaint. The company allegedly dismissed reports of bed bugs at first, and then blamed the problem on residents’ hygiene, a belief that is unfounded and scientifically inaccurate. (As bed bug expert Harold Harlan explained to MSNBC, “the cleanest living area can have a very large infestation, and improving sanitation alone will not eliminate an established bed bug population.”)

After the suit was filed, things seemed to be looking up for the plaintiffs. American Baptist CEO Dave Zwickey declared that his was “a faith-based, values-driven organization” that would mount “a real-time response to the problem.”

But the spirit of cooperation has apparently broken down somewhat, with Zwickey telling the Register that he thinks at least some of the plaintiffs’ claims “are both inaccurate and exaggerated.” Zwickey stressed, however, that after the complaint was filed, his company made use of “thermal radiation,” a process that involves heating apartments to 140 degrees for six to eight hours. American Baptist has also sent bedbug-sniffing dogs into the apartments on several occasions. Zwickey says the treatments have helped, leading to “a much different situation than we had last March.”

“Necessary to take this next step”

Meanwhile, plaintiffs’ attorney Jeff Lipman is turning his attention toward pushing the case through the courts. “Although we never foreclosed the possibility of settlement, we now find it necessary to take this next step,” he told the Register.

The plaintiffs want the entire building fumigated as soon as possible -- since bed bugs can easily migrate from one apartment to the next -- and ask that potential residents be informed of the problem ahead of time.

The case highlights the fact that bed bugs aren’t going away any time soon -- and that homeowners should take action to prevent an infestation in the first place.

Consumers should steer clear of second-hand furniture or close whenever possible, as bed bugs can hop a ride on those items while remaining out of sight.

Those who live in high-density areas, especially New York City and the surrounding areas, should also consider investing in a bed bug-proof mattress cover.

Sixty-six vehicles earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick award for 2011, including 40 cars, 25 SUVs, and a minivan, with Hyundai/Kia and Volkswagen/Audi leading the pack with nine winners each.

Top Safety Pick recognizes vehicles that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, rollover, and rear crashes based on good ratings in Institute tests. Winners also must have available electronic stability control, a crash avoidance feature that significantly reduces crash risk. The ratings help consumers pick vehicles that offer a higher level of protection than federal safety standards require.

Last year the Institute toughened criteria for Top Safety Pick by adding a requirement that all qualifiers must earn a good rating for performance in a roof strength test to assess protection in a rollover crash. The move sharply narrowed the initial field of 2010 winners.

At the beginning of the 2010 model year, only 27 vehicles qualified for the award, but the number grew to 58 as auto manufacturers reworked existing designs and introduced new models. Now another 10 vehicles join the winners' list for 2011. Two discontinued models drop off.

"In just a year, automakers have more than doubled the number of vehicles that meet the criteria for Top Safety Pick," says Adrian Lund, the Institute's president. "That gives consumers shopping for a safer new car or SUV — from economy to luxury models — plenty of choices to consider in most dealer showrooms. In fact, every major automaker has at least one winning model this year."

Front-runners

Hyundai/Kia and Volkswagen/Audi each have 9 winners for 2011. Next in line with 8 awards apiece are General Motors, Ford/Lincoln, and Toyota/Lexus/Scion. Subaru is the only manufacturer with a winner in all the vehicle classes in which it competes. Subaru earns 5 awards for 2011.

"Safety is a priority among this crop of winners," Lund says. "From the start these manufacturers set out to design vehicles that would earn Top Safety Pick, even though we've made it harder to win."

One of them is Ford. For 2011, the automaker is rolling out a new design for its popular Explorer midsize SUV, which until now had never earned Top Safety Pick. Ford also upgraded the roofs of 2 other midsize SUVs, the Ford Flex and Lincoln MKT, along with the Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ, 2 midsize cars that missed the initial round of 2010 winners because they lacked the required roof strength. The all-new Ford Fiesta rounds out Ford's winners and is the only minicar to earn Top Safety Pick this year.

General Motors' new Chevrolet Cruze broadens the number of award-winning options for consumers looking to buy a fuel-efficient small car. GM built the Cruze, which has 10 standard airbags, including ones for the knees, to outperform the government's minimum roof strength requirements and touts the achievement as a selling point.

The redesigned Volkswagen Touareg is the only large SUV to earn Top Safety Pick for 2011. The Institute doesn't normally evaluate SUVs this large, but Volkswagen requested crash tests to demonstrate the Touareg's crashworthiness.

None of the small pickups the Institute has evaluated qualified for this year's award, and large pickups haven't yet been tested.

The Institute awarded the first Top Safety Pick to 2006 models and then raised the bar the next year by requiring good rear test results and electronic stability control as either standard or optional equipment. With last year's addition of new criteria for roof crush the Institute's crash test ratings now cover all 4 of the most common kinds of crashes.

More than 12,000 people died in frontal crashes of passenger vehicles in 2009 in the United States, more than 6,000 died in side impacts, and more than 8,000 died in rollovers, many of which also involved a front or side impact. Rear-end crashes usually aren't fatal but result in a large proportion of injuries. Neck sprain or strain is the most commonly reported injury in two-thirds of insurance claims for injuries in all kinds of crashes.

Vehicles rated good for rollover crash protection have roofs more than twice as strong as the current federal standard requires. The Institute estimates that such roofs reduce the risk of serious and fatal injury in single-vehicle rollovers by about 50 percent compared with roofs meeting the minimum requirement.

Quick strides in occupant protection

When the first roof crush results were released in March 2009, only a third of the SUVs tested had good roofs. Since then about 113 vehicles have been tested, and the majority are rated good for roof strength.

Hyundai is a case in point. The Tucson and the small SUV's twin, the Kia Sportage, earned a poor rating for roof strength in 2009, with the weakest roof among all of the small SUVs evaluated that year. A redesign helped the 2011 models secure a good rating and Top Safety Pick. Hyundai also improved the roof on another SUV, the midsize Santa Fe, and redesigned the Sonata, a midsize car that had earned a marginal roof rating the first time around.

The outlook for side-impact protection has brightened, too, Lund notes. Many cars failed the side test the Institute began conducting in 2003, but now most vehicles ace the test thanks to stronger side structures and standard side airbags that protect the head and torso. It's an important improvement because new Institute research shows that the risk of dying in a crash is sharply lower for people in vehicles that earn good ratings in the Institute's side test.

Chrysler added torso airbags to the redesigned Jeep Grand Cherokee to bolster side crash protection and earn a good side rating. The previous design relied on head curtain airbags to cushion occupants in side crashes and only rated marginal for side protection.

Safety equipment is increasingly standard. Ninety-two percent of 2011 model cars, 94 percent of SUVs, and 56 percent of pickups have standard head and torso side airbags. Electronic stability control is standard on 92 percent of cars, 100 percent of SUVs, and 72 percent of pickups.

"Automakers deserve credit for quickly rising to meet the more-challenging criteria for Top Safety Pick," Lund says. "Several already have requested tests for new models due to ship early next year, so we expect to add even more winners to the 2011 list."

The Institute groups Top Safety Pick winners according to vehicle type and size. Lund advises consumers to keep in mind that size and weight influence crashworthiness. Larger, heavier vehicles generally afford better occupant protection in serious crashes than smaller, lighter ones. Even with a Top Safety Pick, a small car isn't as crashworthy as a bigger one.

How vehicles are evaluated

The Institute's frontal crashworthiness evaluations are based on results of 40 mph frontal offset crash tests. Each vehicle's overall evaluation is based on measurements of intrusion into the occupant compartment, injury measures recorded on a 50th percentile male Hybrid III dummy in the driver seat, and analysis of slow-motion film to assess how well the restraint system controlled dummy movement during the test.

Side evaluations are based on performance in a crash test in which the side of a vehicle is struck by a barrier moving at 31 mph. The barrier represents the front end of a pickup or SUV. Ratings reflect injury measures recorded on 2 instrumented SID-IIs dummies representing a 5th percentile woman, assessment of head protection countermeasures, and the vehicle's structural performance during the impact.

In the roof strength test, a metal plate is pushed against 1 side of a roof at a displacement rate of 0.2 inch per second. To earn a good rating for rollover protection, the roof must withstand a force of 4 times the vehicle's weight before reaching 5 inches of crush. This is called a strength-to-weight ratio.

Rear crash protection is rated according to a two-step procedure. Starting points for the ratings are measurements of head restraint geometry — the height of a restraint and its horizontal distance behind the back of the head of an average-size man.

Seat/head restraints with good or acceptable geometry are tested dynamically using a dummy that measures forces on the neck. This test simulates a collision in which a stationary vehicle is struck in the rear at 20 mph. Seats without good or acceptable geometry are rated poor overall because they can't be positioned to protect many people.

The Supreme Court has refused to intervene in a lawsuit alleging that Pella windows are defective, allowing the case to proceed as a class action in federal court in Chicago.

The suit, currently working its way through the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, alleges that Pella’s “ProLine” casement windows are defectively designed, in that they allow water to seep behind their aluminum cladding, thereby causing the interior wood to rot more quickly than it otherwise would. The plaintiffs allege that Pella failed to inform consumers of the defect, and of a modification to its “Pella ProLine Customer Service Enhancement Program” intended to compensate affected owners.

According to the plaintiffs, Pella used the customer service enhancement program to modify the warranties of consumers who owned ProLine windows, but failed to tell consumers about the modification, or the defect that spurred it. The original warranty covers defects for the first 10 years only.

Fraud allegations at issue

Two distinct groups of consumers are represented in the case. The first consists of all consumers who own a home containing ProLine windows manufactured between 1991 and the present, and who haven’t yet experienced problems with the windows. The second group consists of consumers in six states -- California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York -- who have already experienced problems with their ProLine windows, and who had those windows replaced.

Both classes of plaintiffs are alleging fraud, predicated on Pella’s alleged failure to disclose the defect. Pella contends that consumer fraud cases are inappropriate for class treatment, due to the difficulty of proving causation, reliance, and the amount of damages due.

The Seventh Circuit, in rejecting Pella’s argument, wrote that “[w]hile consumer fraud class actions present problems that courts must carefully consider before granting certification, there is not and should not be a rule that they never can be certified.”

Quoting Thorogood v. Sears, the court concluded that class certification in the Pella case was “a sensible and legally permissible alternative to remitting all the buyers to individual suits each of which would cost orders of magnitude more to litigate than the claims would be worth to the plaintiffs,” and agreed with the district court’s determination that “individual issues that necessarily arise in a consumer fraud action [do] not prevent class treatment of the narrow liability issues here.”

Pella took an interlocutory (or mid-case) appeal to the Supreme Court, which refused to intervene.

Reports from the field

ConsumerAffairs.com has received a number of complaints from consumers with rotting Pella windows. Nancie of Oxford, PA writes:

“I purchased a 9 year old home with Pella windows. They leak, rot and fall apart. Water leaks into walls, floor, ceilings. When my husband and I contacted a local Pella supplier they said NOTHING about the windows being JUNK or not being made correctly. Many homes in my development have the SAME problem.”

Melanie of Williston, TN is having trouble getting Pella to help her address the problem:

“I purchased Pella windows for my home when it was built in 2001, now all of the windows are rotting and need to be replace. Pella wants me to pay 300 for them to look at the window and even if they decide it is under warranty I will have to pay the cost to have them installed. These were expensive windows that leak because of a manufacturing problem.”

Contractors on edge

The litigation has contractors who installed the windows concerned about their own potential liability. An entry on the Builders Counsel Blog, which describes itself as focused on “progressive construction law topics,” warned that “contractors who have installed Pella “ProLine” windows should be on their toes about potential breach of contract and/or warranty claims that might be raised by their customers.”

With housing prices still coming down in many regions and analysts predicting a long housing recovery period, you might do better investing your money in the stock market rather than paying off your mortgage. Still, many homeowners I know have taken advantage of the low interest rates to refinance their mortgages and move into a 15-year mortgage from a 30-year so they can pay off their home faster.

Like many people, they feel that the more equity they have in their home, the better. And in most cases, they’d be right. But, as Adam Bold, founder of the Mutual Fund Store, says in an article he wrote for Yahoo Finance, people shouldn’t rush to pay off their mortgage because it doesn't make financial sense.

Bold, who also has his own radio show, used the example of a man who planned on using half of his $100,000 mutual fund investment to pay off the remaining $50,000 on his home mortgage. Rather than pay off the mortgage, Bold recommended he keep his money invested and here’s why.

The man has a 5 percent interest rate on his mortgage, and the interest he pays can be deducted when he does his tax return. Depending on his tax bracket, his interest cost leaves him with a net mortgage cost of roughly 3.6 percent (or $1,800) per year after taxes. If he keeps the $50,000 invested in the stock market rather than paying off his mortgage and earns the stock market's long-term average return of 10 percent or more, he would have an annual gain of $5,000. Subtract the $1,800 mortgage interest cost from $5,000 earned by staying invested, and he could end up $3,200 ahead. If he continues to invest $3,200 per year over the next five years, he can accumulate $16,000 or more, money he wouldn't have by paying off his mortgage.

Bold says that the other reason people shouldn't pay off their mortgage is more emotional in nature. Many people believe they'll attain peace of mind when they pay off their mortgage. They might share the Depression-era belief that the government can't take their house away if they pay off their loan. But Bold believes that any peace of mind is outweighed by the potential benefits of keeping the money and investing it.

Costly mistake?

According to Bold, if a person uses investment money to pay off that loan, it may leave that person with much less money when it's really needed in future years. That could be a costly mistake because it may not offer the person the luxury of time to replenish his nest egg.

Besides, with mortgage rates on the rise recently, this is not the time to be in a hurry to pay off a mortgage. Bold says he’s hopeful that many homeowners were able to benefit in recent years by refinancing their loans as 30-year fixed mortgage rates fell, including a period of time in 2010 when rates were below 4.5 percent. Their interest costs should be very low going forward.

Bold says mortgage debt is okay to have, because equity in the home is being built as the loan is paid down. For most people, their home will always be a part of their net worth, even if they don't pay off the mortgage. And low-interest mortgages allow them to expand their wealth by investing money they have because they didn't pay off their mortgage.

So, Bold encourages people to keep their mortgage and instead, enjoy the fruits of investing their extra money. When considering net worth, whether it's increased home equity or a larger investment account, it's still net worth. With investments, they have a chance to grow. With home equity, the interest savings are the only upside.

Adam Bold is not only the founder of The Mutual Fund Store, which provides fee-only investment advice, he’s also the author of The Bold Truth about Investing and the Chief Investment Officer of The Mutual Fund Research Center, an SEC registered investment adviser.

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