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                       Consumer Advocacy       8 Feb 10

Expect to see compositions on:

Credit Rating Agencies - Partially because of confusion due to my being in the military, the State of California mistakenly issued a tax lien. It took me about 3 hours work to convince the CA Tax Board to issue a "Recorded in Error" lien release.  I've spent at least ten hours trying to get the credit rating agencies to remove the item from my credit report.  I recently received another annoying letter from Experian.  I wonder why the system is set up that when a company like Experian goes about slandering my name I'm the one required to spend time and money to get it fixed?

Credit Card Fees  -  Because of my work, we were away from the house for four months last year.  The forwarded mail was a little slow.  The original balance was about $30.  My wife sent her payment and it arrived a couple days past the stated due date.  The credit card company tacked on a non-payment fee of $35 and sent out the next bill.  On that bill the company showed the previous months payment so the only charges on that bill was $1 for the interest and the $35 non-payment fee. My wife sent out the payment for that bill.  The same time frame played out so that payment arrived a couple days after the stated due date.  So even though she paid the original bill within two days of the original due date for the loan she ended up paying $77 dollars of non-payment fees.  

Agreements not to Sue -  An organization in order to support the families of deployed members created an opportunity for the kids of current or recently deployed service members to go to summer camp.  Once there though the camp required the parent to sign a release of liability form.  This form was way overboard in its language.  It basically tried to write the release in a manner that even if they knowingly hired convicted pedophiles and received previous complaints of abuse they could not be held liable if your kid got abused.  I personally don't believe this kind of release can be legally enforced.

Medical Charges - The cost of medical equipment is way out of line.  Follow the link to see one example of many for which I am intimately familiar.  Why would an insurance company authorize such outlandish billing?  What can we as consumers do to stop it and still receive health services?