Articles Tagged with consumer law

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Please do your research before despairing, screaming, and especially before signing anything or saying anything to collection agencies. (Yikes). In the latter situation, the rule is, Say Nothing (but take detailed notes), until you talk to a professional. What you say to a debt collector CAN be held against you. Look for trustworthy sources of student debt information and even then, double and triple check on the accuracy of the advice given.

Remember what Winston Churchill said about trusting and verifying.

1) Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC): “The Student Borrower Protection Center is a nonprofit organization solely focused on alleviating the burden of student debt for millions of Americans. The SBPC engages in advocacy, policymaking, and litigation strategy to rein in industry abuses, protect borrowers’ rights, and advance economic opportunity for the next generation of students.”

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A few days ago a Trimet buddy told his fellow riders about an appalling tax return grab and go theft that happened at the downtown post office earlier this week. He was jostled from behind and when he turned the mail in his hand was grabbed, including, especially, the easily identifiable IRS tax return envelope.

He spent the remainder of the day, and week, doing the rounds of police, credit reporting agencies, IRS, and all the other ID theft checklist items, including a couple hours looking at security video, sadly to no avail.

Yes it’s a lesson to file electronically, but it’s also a lesson we all need to keep in mind – watch out for other people and not always strangers who invade your personal space. And keep those valuables out of sight!

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Please do not be penny wise, pound foolish. Please! Public law librarians see these 2 things every day, day after day, week after week, month after ….:

1) Unrepresented litigants who have an expensive legal mess to clean up (IF it can be cleaned up) because they thought legal self-representation, without ever consulting a lawyer at all, was a good idea.

2) Lawyers who are, at great expense, representing people who thought the law was “all online” or DIY. It’s not, no matter what anyone tries to tell you.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has an excellent Library Resources website for librarians who manage their library’s programming, websites, and research and reference services.

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If you have or care for children, Safe Car dot gov is mandatory reading and in Oregon, so is Safe Kids Oregon.

Hat tip to this Oregon attorney’s website/blog, where I saw this blog post:
Oregon Child Endangerment Cited in Tigard Car Incident

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Depending on your specific question, you will need to look at different parts of the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) or contact state regulatory or consumer agencies. Here are a few places to start your research (in no particular order):

1) Do a quick search for Oregon consumer law and car rentals. For example, Laura Gunderson at the Oregonian “Complaint Desk” and Brent Hunsberger at the Oregonian’s “It’s Only Money” column cover a lot of useful Oregon consumer-protection ground; they are worth reading. They are also the first to say whoops if they make a mistake or overlook something, so don’t stop there with your research. (These columns move around the Oregonian website, so you may need to use a search engine to find them.)

2) Oregon Department of Justice (ODOJ) Consumer Hotline

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We often hear about the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) in the arena of civil court cases such as divorce, evictions, foreclosures, and default judgments.  However, the SCRA offers other consumer protections to deployed and disabled veterans.  The  Oregon Department of Justice’s Veteran Resources website offers information on consumer protections offered by the SCRA in Oregon including:

  • reinstatement of existing insurance policies after returning from active duty
  • reduced interest rates on existing financial obligations
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Tracy White, Oregon Attorney, and Washington County Law Library patron, writes a monthly legal affairs column for the (OregonLive) Hillsboro Argus:

April 9, 2013, OregonLive column in the Argus: “Why the Oregon Constitution matters (guest column)”

Read the Oregon Constitution.

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An awful lot of people have a hard time saying “no, thank you.”

Unless you have a burning desire to be scammed, I recommend you practice, practice, practice.

If you want another really good reason for saying, “no, thank you,” here’s a story for you, from the 11/6/12, Law for Real People Blog:Every Season is “Attempt to Scam the Elderly Season”

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