P.G. Wodehouse, through his inimitable Jeeves, understood the lighter side of “the psychology of” the lovelorn (and terrifying aunts).
The authors of the 1974 “Subliminal Seduction” understood the psychology of the shopper-consumer.
And no one understands the psychology of marks more than scammers and flim-flammers themselves:
A Dec 2nd, Oregonian story reports on policy and practice changes at the Oregon Department of Justice.
Read the Oregonian story for background and details: Kroger appoints public records czar but limits consumer information, by The Oregonian’s Jeff Mapes and Laura Gunderson, December 02, 2009.
Changes include:
Who has your student loans? Can they be consolidated? What if I can’t pay them?
Liz Pulliam Weston’s column (which I read in the 10/18/09, Oregonian), and is also on her website, answered an interesting and tricky question about student loans. You may learn as much as I did about how to follow the trail of your student loans:
1) Student loans in collections? Here’s where to find help, by Liz Weston
Law school in 30 seconds? Not quite, but close!
Visit the Oregon State Bar’s public website for some fun lessons in the law. They answer questions like these and have lots of other useful information:
1) If I co-sign for my son to buy a car, could I wind up paying for it?
The Portland Tribune ran an excellent news story on the current status of Oregon payday lending and on Internet payday lending (and lenders):
Internet payday lenders flout new law: Oregon law capping rates ignored by many online lenders, by Steve Law, The Portland Tribune, Oct 15, 2009
The newspapers and cyberspace are awash in stories about “financial planners.” Some manage their clients’ money with the care of a mother bird for its fledglings. Other “financial planners” manage their clients’ money as if the clients had said, “take it, my money is your money, do with it as you please – I don’t want it back.”
The September 27, 2009, Oregonian ran a story titled, “Your financial planner: friend or faux” in the It’s Only Money column. It was not the first such column on this subject they have run in recent days, nor will it be the last. These stories show up on the front pages of newspapers, blogs, and websites far and yon.
Where to find information about Financial Planners and personal money management? Try these:
I was reading a useful “Travel Troubleshooter” column in the print 9/6/09 Oregonian Travel section, written by Christopher Elliot, ombudsman for the National Geographic Traveler magazine) and saw a reference to this book:
Complete Idiot’s Guide to Person-Person Lending (and a blogger book review of it: Complete Idiot’s Guide to Person-Person Lending)
Both the blog and the book had some very useful tips and background information.
While you are channeling Your Inner Sherlock Holmes, you can also engage your inner Consumer Self-Help resourcefulness.
The Oregonian’s Complaint Desk had an excellent story of how you can resolve a consumer mystery and find your missing mo-ped, by following the trail of a missing-in-action company, aptly named Knuckle Head (but still nice guys and not out to harm anyone – librarians love happy endings!).
A bit of online sleuthing brings mo-ped reunion, from the Sunday Oregonian (print) and online, September 20, 2009.
Lots of people clip coupons, swallow pills, or spend hours scanning the “over-the-counter pharmacy” shelves at the store, without doing their homework first. How do you know that product is safe or if you really want that one rather than another one (or none at all)?
Consumer, or shopping, homework doesn’t just mean reading the ads or looking for “reviews” on the web. How do you know those reviews are for real? Who is comparing the product and to what? Is the price offered one that give you “good value?”
For example, the latest issue of Consumer Reports (September 2009) has articles that will definitely save you money and maybe your life or your health, your financial and your physical health.
I’ve been working on a blog post linking to summaries of this Oregon Legislative Session’s consumer law accomplishments e.g. see the Oregon Live information, but got sidetracked by this story. Mandatory arbitration requirements have been a hot topic for a while amongst consumer law attorneys:
From an Oregon attorney’s blog post about a lawsuit against the National Arbitration Forum. Excerpt:
“This major development in the fight against arbitration abuse has potential to cause some serious carnage. The State of Minnesota filed a lawsuit against National Arbitration Forum, a leading arbitration provider, claiming that NAF is a front for debt collectors and their law firms and not an independent arbitration service. Here’s a copy of the complaint–it’s long–for anyone who is interested….” (read full post)
Oregon Legal Research Blog