Consumer Blog

Good column today in the Columbia Tribune on how to save money when using your cell phone in another country. Best suggestion: take out your SIM card and replace it with one from that country. On average, rates will be 80% lower than if you're using your U.S. SIM card.

AG Nixon's consumer alert today warns that a lot of consumers with mortgages are getting offers in the mail that look like they're from the bank or lender that holds your mortgage. But they're not - they're from a third party, addressed to you and mentioning the name of your lender in big letters.

The point is, these companies are trying to play on the trust you may have with your lender, to get you to think this is an important service you need. They mailings are offering either mortgage insurance or refinancing. Just know that these are from somebody else, and file a complaint with us if you see something deceptive or fraudulent.

BTW, these remind me of those car extended warranty offers. Some company goes through public records, finds that you've made a major purchase, and sends you mailings that look like they're from the company you're already in business with. You may know that AG Nixon sued several of these extended warranty companies recently.

The Truston ID theft blog has some good info on this question I often hear from consumers. A lot of people prefer to write "Ask for I.D." rather than signing it. But that can get you in trouble. Your credit cards need to be signed.

Read on for the explanation.

Thanks to Katie's post from Thursday, we have several questions about when and how these tax rebate (or stimulus) payments will arrive.

One important note: if you got a tax refund from the IRS this year, your stimulus payment will arrive that same way. So if your tax refund was a paper check, your stimulus payment will be also. If it was directed deposited, so will be your stimulus payment.

If you owed money this year, your rebate will come as a paper check.

Now, onto your questions:

My husband and I file jointly. Will our rebate check come jointly or will each of us get a separate check?

You will get one payment. When you get it is determined by the Social Security number of the first person listed on your return. (See schedule in Katie's post, above)

When will we expect our rebate? We filed jointly and by the date that is on the computer and news we should have already received our rebate but we haven't.

Did you get a tax refund via direct deposit? If not, you will be getting it via paper, and those don't even start coming until May 16. (again, see schedule)

When they say direct deposit do they mean those who got their refund on a emerald card? If I got it on an emerald card will I receive a check or will it be on my card?

I assume you are talking about the Emerald Card prepaid debit card available to customers of H&R Block. The IRS will treat this kind of stored value card just like a bank account. If it's still active, you'll get your money direct deposited on the card. If not, the IRS' attempt at direct deposit will bounce back, and they'll send you a paper check. Unless that account number has been assigned to someone else - in that case, they will get your stimulus payment!

The IRS has a personalized page called "Where's my economic stimulus payment?" You can enter your Social Security number (safe to do) and find out what info is available about the status of your payment. The only tricky part is you have to know how many exemptions you claimed on your 2007 tax return - and I can't remember.

Shopping for the perfect Mother's day gift online? Don't get scammed. If you want to be safe while shopping around the best way to visit local stores. But if you choose to shop online, I recommend that you read this article first, as it offers some guidelines to keep your personal information safe.

If you are looking for a last minute gift idea, you can always teach your mom how to be a savvy consumer. Be sure to explore our list of consumer publications.

If you filed your taxes you may already have your tax rebate in your bank account.

The IRS started depositing stimulus payments earlier than expected. Rebates will be sent out based on the last two digits of your social security number.

The announced schedule for depositing is listed below. To determine how much you can expect, have your copy of your return and visit the IRS Economic Stimulus Payment Calculator website.

A mid-Missouri TV station interviewed me recently because of a Craiglist posting about a baby available for adoption - for free. Sounds fishy already, right? It gets worse. The "mother" was supposedly in Africa somewhere and had her husband die recently. "She" claimed to have a baby she wanted to go to a good home.  Here is the story.

 This has all the markings of an adoption scam. My guess is that any consumer who expressed interest would receive photos of the baby, health updates, etc. All this would serve to get them emotionally hooked. Then the "mother" will ask for money - for a medical complication, diapers, travel to the U.S., whatever. This "mother" may very well be a he, and there is almost certainly no baby.

Our Welcome Home publication, released last summer, is a consumer guide that walks you through the complicated process of adoption. There is also a section, on page 15, on adoption scams. Basic tips are to work with an adoption professional (like a reputable agency or lawyer) and never send money directly to the birth parent(s).

Like all publications, Welcome Home is available for free at our online order form.

AG Nixon is warning Missourians today - especially seniors - to be on the lookout for this scam. A central Missourian was almost tricked out of $8000 by someone claiming to be his grandson and needing money to get out of jail. The consumer went to the wire transfer station to send the money. Fortunately a station employee got suspicious and warned him that it could be a scam. He didn't send the money.

Apparently, some of these crooks get lucky, in that they have a voice that sounds like the grandchild of the people they're calling. I guess if you call enough people, you'll get lucky eventually.

As many scams do, this one involved a request for a wire transfer. That is often a red flag - scammers love wire transfers because they can be picked up almost anywhere in the world. In other words, if I convince you to wire money in my name, I can pick it up at any of the thousands of wire transfer stations across the globe.

This is a scam that can hit individuals and businesses alike. You get what looks like an invoice in the mail - maybe for a magazine subscription. Turns out you never subscribed to this magazine, so this is just a solicitation. But it looks just like a bill - it has an amount due, the magazine name, the dates of the subscription -- maybe even an account number.

So if you're busy (like a lot of small businesses) you pay the bill. The solution is to keep good records of what you've subscribed to - whether it's a magazine, domain registration, yellow-page listing, etc. These things can hit businesses especially hard, because someone in the accounting department gets it, and assumes it's a bill for a product that someone else in the company ordered.

If you fall for one of these, you can file a consumer complaint with our office.

Thanks to a fairly recent change in federal law, if you have accounts that are medical in nature (such as money you owe, outstanding debt, etc), your credit report can't reveal any identifying information about the creditor.

Example: let's say you got medical treatment from Ellis Fischel Cancer Center in Columbia, and you are paying for your treatment in installments. Or perhaps you failed to pay your bill at the Mid Missouri Substance Abuse Center (just made that name up). On your credit report, you should see an entry that's designated as medical, but doesn't name those companies or give their contact information.

This is to protect your medical privacy, so that anyone checking your credit report won't learn anything about your medical condition. They will just learn that you owe money to some kind of medical organization. The amount of debt will show up, along with any history of payments good or bad.

The privacyrights.org Web site has more on the provisions of this new law.

The  Florida Attorney General is looking into whether these pre-paid calling cards are delivering what they say they will.

Apparently his office is overhwhelmed with consumer complaints on this subject. Phone issues were the fourth-highest complaint category in our office's top 10 complaints list in 2007. One of the FL AG's biggest concerns is that this problem disproportionately affects Hispanics.

Financial exploitation of the elderly sometimes happens at the hands of those they love and trust - children, in-home caregivers, etc. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has released a video (on DVD)to help seniors understand that those they least expect to cheat them may indeed be the ones to do it. You can order this video for $10 or watch it online for free.

For example, a deadbeat son convinces his mother to routinely withdraw money from her bank account to help him out - while leaving her with little left over to pay her bills.

This video is part of the MOSAFE project, which had input from a number of different organizations and state agencies (including ours). The acronym stands for Missourians Stopping Adult Financial Exploitation.

It's the second video put out by MOSAFE. The first was a training DVD for bank and credit union employees to help them to see the signs of when their customers are being taken advantage of.

We often say that doing business with a stranger is a dangerous thing to do - but unfortunately sometimes the ones we know best do it to us as well.

USA Today last week had some good fact v. fiction when it comes to things like investing, taxes, declaring bankruptcy. Especially interesting is the first item - it says that despite common belief, victims of investment scams are usually very knowledgeable about investing.

AG Nixon's latest consumer alert reminds us that home repair ripoffs become one of the top issues as spring and summer approach. This is the season when a lot of us start looking to have repairs done on our homes. And believe me, the crooks are ready for you. We have lots of tips in the above-linked news release, but the biggies are don't do business with door-to-door contractor salesmen and don't pay full price up front. Wait until the job is done to pay the full amount.

Also, make sure you get your agreement in writing. Some contractors don't offer written contracts, but you can draw up your own using our home repair worksheet. This PDF document tells you what to include in your contract.

As you can see from 2007's top 10 consumer complaints, home repair is a big one - always is.

We have blogged about online dating scams in the past, but the story of a St. Louis woman shows that these scammers can be far more patient and calculating than you might have imagined. Her story involves a nice e-mail based relationship with someone that built over a year's time. Then he asked for money.

Unlike most, this story has a happy ending, at least financially - she got her money back.