Hopefully, most of us will be spared the experience: you take out your debit card, thinking that your biweekly paycheck has just cleared, and come to find that while your account balance is up, your available funds are $0. Remember those phone calls from the debt collector you were getting a few months ago? The ones for a credit card that you could have sworn were paid off? Or were for someone other than you? You may be left wondering how that debt collector could have taken your money without ever having taken you to court....Well, here is an explanation of what may have happened, and what you can do about it.

Most debt collectors need to show your bank a judgment from a court before they can levy your bank account. Your bank should have a copy of the judgment that states the name of issuing court. The courthouse should have on file a Return of Service, which will say when and where you were served with a Notice to Appear in court and be heard on whether the debt belonged to you and/or was already paid. If you can show that you weren't actually served with the Notice based on the date and time of service, you may be able to ask a judge, in a written motion, to vacate the judgment and return your money.

Be aware that a narrow class of debt collectors - the Internal Revenue Service for delinquent taxes, the Department of Education for defaulted student loans, child support collectors, and Social Security for overpayments - may be able to levy your bank account without a judgment.

Additionally, you may be able to object to a levy on your checking account if it contains only funds that are exempt from collection under federal law. These include social security benefits, some federal pensions, and others. See the FTC's publication, Debt Collection FAQs: A Guide for Consumers.

Internet auction sites give buyers a flea market with new and used merchandise from around the world and sellers a global storefront from which to market their goods. Online Auctions remain a fun, efficient and relatively safe way to shop. Yet, our office consistently receives complaints every year dealing with online auction fraud.

To act prudently and decrease your chances of Internet Auction Fraud please refer to the Federal Trade Commission’s Internet Auction Guide for Buyers and Sellers. You can receive a free copy of the guide on the FTC's website or you can call toll-free 1-877-382-4357.

In a buyer's market such as this, it's hard for a lot of homeowners to sell their houses. So people are calling our office asking if they can hold a raffle to unload their house. They might charge $1000 a ticket, hoping to get 150 or 200 people to buy tickets - thus raising $150,000 or $200,000. Then they hold a random drawing to determine the winner.

The answer is no. This would be an illegal game of chance under Missouri's gambling law. An illegal raffle is defined by three things:

• Purchase is required to enter (the $1000 ticket)
• Winner is determined by chance (random drawing)
• Winner wins something or value (house)

You can only legally hold these raffles in Missouri if you're a charitable or religious organization, designated by the federal government.

So then some people think up ways they hope will get around the gambling law - hold a contest to see who wins - such as a letter-writing or essay contest. They argue that's a game of skill - not chance - so it's now legal. That may be a hard sell. All we can say is be prepared to defend yourself in court if a law enforcement agency challenges your raffle, calling it an illegal gambling operation.

A great way to stay on top of your credit card account, avoid fees and detect fraud is to sign up for alerts from your card company. There are lots of different alerts you can sign up for. Here are some that my credit card offers:

• Balance getting high - they send you an e-mail any time your balance goes above a dollar amount that you choose. ie, you tell them "Send me an e-mail if my balance goes over $2,000."
• Balance update - they e-mail you as often as you want with your balance. ie, "E-mail me once a week with my balance"
• Credit getting low - they e-mail you if your available credit drops below the dollar amount you choose. ie "E-mail me if my available credit is less than $2,000." Your available credit is the difference between your credit limit and the amount you owe, or balance.
• Available credit update - they e-mail as often as you want with your available credit
• Large purchase alert (this is my fave, as a consumer advocate and identity theft prevention guru) - they e-mail you any time there's a charge on your account of more than a dollar amount you choose. ie, "E-mail me any time there's a charge of more than $80." This is an effective way to detect unauthorized charges as soon as they happen. Of course, you'll find out about any unauthorized charges within a month or less because you always check your credit card statement at least monthly.

We often say the safest way to make purchases on the Internet is with a credit card, because federal law protects credit transactions from fraud. That law does not protect you using your debit card, PayPal, money orders, wire transfer, etc.

You can take this one step further by asking your credit card company for a single-use credit card number. It's also called a virtual number. This a temporary number (assigned to your account) that's good for a limited number of purchases - maybe one or a few more - and after that, it's invalid. Thus, if that number gets into a thief's hands, it won't do him any good.

This article from bankrate.com explains things further, including some cases where you don't want to use this type of account number.

You often hear about steps you can take to increase your credit score (like pay your bills on time, etc) and steps that can lower your score. But how much will those things affect your score - and by how many points?

A federal government publication has some nice examples of real-life scenarios and the impact they have on your score. Scroll about half way down this page to see the examples. Maybe you can relate to some of these situations.

PS: Check out our earlier blog post about the factors that make up your score. And this post gives you a free credit score estimate.

We get a lot of inquiries from consumers about these offers, like "Is this a scam?" or "Is this an illegal pyramid scheme?" or "Can I really make tons of money from home doing this?"

There are plenty of legitimate work-at-home opportunities, but there are lots of scams too. Signs of a scam:

• Promises of easy money. As with any job, working from home requires work. The more you put into it, generally the more you'll get out of it.
• Unsolicited offers that come by mail, phone or e-mail. These are usually scams, and many of them include a bogus check, hoping to lure you into an overpayment scam. If you want a good work-at-home job, you need to go out and find them yourself. You can check our KnowMO database to find out if we have consumer complaints against a company.
• Start-up costs. You should not have to pay to get a job. They're supposed to pay you.

We see a lot of work-at-home scams using secret shopper jobs and HUD Tracers as the hook. You can file complaints with our office if you suspect a scam.

If you've ever dealt with contractors building or repairing your home, you may have heard these terms thrown around. Despite the way it sounds, a mechanic's lien doesn't just pertain to car repair, but home repair as well. A lien waiver comes into play during new home construction.

Mechanic's lien - a general contractor doing repairs or remodeling at your house can go to court and get a mechanic's lien on your property if you don't pay him. This means if you sell your house, part of the sale money will go to pay that contractor's bill. Any prospective buyer is obviously going to be turned off by this.
Under Missouri law, only the general contractor - not the subcontractors such as plumbers, electricians, drywallers - can put a mechanic's lien on your house. That means if you have paid the general, but he doesn't pay his subs, they can't put a lien on your house. The only way they could do that is if you sign a Consent of Owner statement. We do not recommend consumers ever sign this document, as it makes you vulnerable to having to pay the general contractor and the subs for the same work.

Lien waiver - Missouri law is different for new construction. It allows any contractor - general or sub - to put a lien on your property if they don't get paid. That means if you pay your general and he doesn't pay his subs, the subs can still put a lien on your property. So you may want to ask for a lien waiver from every subcontractor working on your house. Yes, this is a lot of work because there are so many - landscapers, concrete, masons, roofers, flooring, carpenters, etc.

As we have discussed at length on this blog, you have rights under federal law when dealing with debt collectors. And that's important, because the debt collection industry has become more and more aggressive, getting busted by the feds occasionally for overly aggressive and harassing tactics. In some cases, the harassment is committed against the wrong people: either they already paid off their debt, or they never owed it in the first place.

Well, we can expect this problem to get worse. You may have heard there is a credit crunch around the country. That's because there are a lot of people not making their loan payments. In other words, consumers are going to have even more debt than they already do.

Remember, you can file complaints with our office about debt collectors. We can not only help you fight the ones who are breaking the law, but sometimes our involvement will encourage the good debt collectors to negotiate your payment down.

You do not have tickets to see your college take on the number-one-ranked football team. So, you shell out $400 for a couple of tickets from a vendor located near campus. You get to the stadium, pull out your ticket, but wait ... DENIED ... you are left outside the gate.

This happened to about 500 people in Lubbock, Texas, last Saturday. Fans bought counterfeit tickets and were prohibited from entering, and did not see their Texas Tech Red Raiders beat Texas. The tickets were rejected when the barcode on the counterfeit tickets failed. That barcode fail-safe prevented - presumably - mass chaos inside.

Closer to home, the University of Missouri has not had an issue of counterfeit tickets, as of yet. Tickets are not printed with a barcode, so tickets aren't scanned at the gate. However, Mizzou does take precautions to prevent this type of fraud.

Single game tickets are printed "in house" meaning the MU Ticket Office is responsible for and tracks all MU Athletic tickets. Those tickets are marked with gold foil, which is difficult to replicate. Season ticket holders have further assurances: those tickets - printed out of state - have the foil, as well as, specific, detailed artwork. (If you have an issue with your ticket, you should report it to the MU Ticket Office at 800-CAT-PAWS.)

Ticketmaster software is used to print the Mizzou Athletic tickets. Ticketmaster also supplies tickets to concerts and events on campus. Those non-athletic tickets are printed with a bar code and are often scanned upon entering a venue.

Both Ticketmaster and the Mizzou Ticket Office stated that the only way to prevent purchasing a fake ticket is to make a purchase from a reputable dealer. They both also said that this issue needs to be evaluated often. Re-evaluating the ticket process would take time and be costly. That said, as the MU Football program continues to grow, more and more games are sold out. And next year, the Texas Longhorns come to Columbia. Will you have your ticket or could you be scammed?

In 2005, the St. Louis Cardinals partnered with Attorney General Nixon at a press conference to announce a validating system that would combat ticket counterfeiting.

Thanks to Missouri's Cold Weather Rule, you can't have your heat shut off on extremely cold days just because you failed to pay your bills. The Rule, which took effect yesterday (Nov. 1), says that if the temperature is forecast to be below freezing in the next 24 hours, a utility company must keep your heat on, even if your bill is unpaid. The Rule is in effect until March 31.
Make no mistake - you still have to pay your bill, and your heat can be shut off once the temp gets back above freezing.

The Missouri Public Service Commission enforces the Cold Weather Rule. We also, thanks to a new state law, have a Hot Weather Rule. It basically provides the same protection against shutting off your AC (via your electricity) from June 1 to September 30.

One side note: the Cold Weather Rule only applies to the utilities regulated by the PSC. It does not cover others, including government-owned utilities or electric cooperatives. For their part, the co-ops say they honor the CW Rule, even though they're legally exempt from it.

The PSC has tips on weatherproofing your home here. This can reduce your heating bills. And if you need financial assistance with paying your utility bills, your local Community Action Agency is the place to start.

Side note: The Cold Weather Rule only applies to utilities regulated by the PSC. It doesn't apply to government-owned utilities or electric cooperatives. The co-ops, for their part, say they honor the CW Rule, even though they're not legally required to.

Seventeen people have been arrested in what appears to be a significant mortgage fraud case.  According to the KC Star, this complicated ring provided opportunities for a real-estate agent, mortgage officers and homebuyers to earn some extra cash, while duping the mortgage companies in the process.

Allegedly, the real-estate agent sought out potential buyers who then provided false information while applying for their loans.  After the homes were acquired, the homeowners received a bonus for their fraudulent information – somewhere between $60,000 -$125,000.

All of the deception distorted the property values for the neighborhoods of Kansas City. Even more, most of the homes are in foreclosure or abandoned.  Now those empty homes are in disrepair and thus, have decreased the value of the surrounding homes. 

Some government and non-government organizations are providing assistance for renters.

More and more property owners are finding themselves in foreclosure, thus forcing their tenants to vacate their homes.  States like Ohio and California are passing laws that will prevent renters from ending up homeless due to their landlords inability to pay their mortgages.  

Assistance is also coming from more localized organizations; read here for more information.

We have all heard about data breaches and other identity theft involving business, schools and government agencies that lose Social Security or credit card numbers of thousands - even millions - of people. Now, new federal regulations are going to put more of an onus on businesses to protect personal information.

Starting November 1 of this year, companies that deal in the credit world are required to have a written action plan to prevent, detect and recover from identity theft if it happens to their customers. The so-called red-flag rules naturally apply to companies like banks and credit card companies. But they also apply to retailers and others who pull credit reports as part of their decision making. In other words, if you check the credit of potential customers, this rule applies to you. We're talking banks and credit cards. We're also talking retailers like car dealerships and furniture, jewelry and appliance stores. Even government agencies that allow citizens to pay on credit are subject to these rules.

This is important ground to cover because in about 30% of all ID theft cases, a third-party organization is the culprit, through a data breach, crooked employee, etc. This blog post has a breakdown of how ID's get stolen.

Last week, I blogged about a name-change glitch that prevented hundreds of thousands of rebate checks from being mailed. That got me thinking - as a recent bride, myself - I need to get my paperwork started as soon as possible to prevent any mishaps, - like not getting a potential rebate check!

The problem exists with the follow through. You can't once have been "Ms. Jane Doe" and suddenly start calling yourself, "Mrs. Jane Smith" because there is no legal proof that your name has been changed. So, you must first start by visiting your local Social Security Administration office. Remember to bring a certified copy of your marriage certificate. Once you have your new Social Security card, you can present it to the MO Department of Revenue to change your name on your driver's license.

You should contact your local County Clerk to ensure a hassle-free voting process. You will also want to call your County Assessor to make the changes on your personal property taxes.

Of course, if applicable, you'll want to talk to your employer to make sure your W-2, forms etc., are correct. You will want to contact your health and car insurance providers. Then, it is time to go to head to the bank. You do not want to be writing checks with a different name than what is on your license! Further, make sure to call your credit-card company to get your cards updated.

Finally, here are some additional changes you may want to consider: Changing your mail - it's quick and easy; change you passport; and contact your doctors, landlords, friends, etc.

Obviously, you want to make sure that your vote will count and that your taxes are filed appropriately, and if there is another rebate check in the future, there won't be a delay because of a name mix-up.