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Category Archives: Consumer Law Basics

Dallas Council Urged to Limit Payday Lending Sites

Published on January 28, 2011 by Robert A. Kraft

This is old news by now, but I still think it’s important, and I’ve just delayed posting about it. Last month the Dallas City Council was encouraged by representatives from the United Way, the AARP, Friendship West Baptist Church, and CitySquare to limit the expansion of payday lending stores in poor areas of Dallas.
The representatives [...]

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FTC Sues Three Dallas Debt Settlement Firms

Published on December 6, 2010 by Robert A. Kraft

The Federal Trade Commission has accused three Dallas debt settlement companies of making deceptive claims about the results they achieve for consumers who are deeply in debt. The FTC claims the companies said that if consumers enrolled in their programs they could erase 30 to 60 percent of their credit card debt and be debt-free in [...]

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With Payday Loans, Poor Get the Loans, Firms Get the Payday

Published on August 16, 2010 by Robert A. Kraft

That was the headline of a recent lengthy article in the Dallas Morning News. I urge anyone considering a payday loan to read the entire article. It may change your mind. These are the opening paragraphs:
On July 2, a 74-year-old Dallas widow named Yvonne Sands received her monthly Social Security check of $1,360. Shortly after [...]

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Do You Take Thee, With Good Credit Score or Bad?

Published on May 10, 2010 by Robert A. Kraft

Not to take all the romance out of young love, but the Dallas Morning News had an excellent column today about checking someone’s credit before you get too personally involved with them. Excerpts follow, and they’re good tips. But this is something should to do before you’re too deeply in love for it to make [...]

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Five Credit Score Killers

Published on March 25, 2010 by Robert A. Kraft

As Dallas bankruptcy lawyers we are often asked by our clients about what helps and what hurts their credit scores. Bankruptcy hurts, of course, but you can recover from that over time. There are other actions you can take, usually in a futile attempt to avoid or delay bankruptcy, that also can hurt your credit [...]

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Federal Reserve Cracks Down on Gift Card Abuses

Published on March 24, 2010 by Robert A. Kraft

In a bit of good news for consumers, the Federal Reserve issued new rules yesterday prohibiting certain restrictions on gift cards. Under the new rules taking effect August 22, 2010, consumers must have at least five years to use the gift cards before they expire. The Fed also says service or inactivity fees can be [...]

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New Rule Will Clarify Free Credit Reports

Published on March 22, 2010 by Robert A. Kraft

One of my pet peeves is the abundance of TV commercials advertising free credit reports from companies that actually charge you for your credit report. This is totally deceptive, and finally the government is going to start putting an end to this practice on April 1. Here are excerpts from a column by Susan Tompor [...]

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New Credit Card Rules Take Effect Today

Published on February 22, 2010 by Robert A. Kraft

As many people know, today is the effective date of the largest section of the new federal law regarding credit cards, and especially the parts governing what the credit card companies can do and say. This excellent page of official information is from the government Web site of the Federal Reserve:
The Federal Reserve’s new rules for [...]

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Limited-Time Offer — Free Consultation With Consumer Law Attorney

Published on January 10, 2010 by Robert A. Kraft

The lawyers and staff at Kraft & Associates have been helping Texas consumers for more than 30 years with their personal injury and Social Security disability claims. But we have only recently added an experienced bankruptcy and consumer law attorney to our team. So for the early part of 2010 we are going to offer [...]

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Consumer Alert: FinallyFast.com

Published on December 22, 2009 by Kathleen Munden

As many of you in the Dallas area may have seen lately, a company called “FinallyFast” is heavily advertising on television. Their product is a program that they promise will speed up your computer by clearing out the junk files that accumulate on computers over time.
You would think that as a bankruptcy lawyer, I would [...]

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Beware Credit Card Changes As You Charge Into Holiday Shopping

Published on December 10, 2009 by Robert A. Kraft

As Dallas bankruptcy lawyers we see far too many clients who have gotten into financial trouble by misusing their credit cards. Pamela Yip, the personal finance columnist for the Dallas Morning News had an excellent article recently on the hazards of using credit cards for holiday shopping. The gist of the article is that there [...]

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Fannie Mae Introduces “Deed For Lease” Program

Published on November 6, 2009 by Kathleen Munden

Home foreclosure is one of the biggest fears our Dallas and Fort Worth bankruptcy clients face. Potential foreclosure is often the triggering factor in causing people to contact a Dallas bankruptcy attorney. Now the federal government has taken a small step forward in helping homeowners attempt to avoid foreclosure.
In a bid to avoid an overload [...]

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Failure By Mortgage Companies To Modify Mortgages May Reawaken Bankruptcy Cramdown Legislation

Published on October 15, 2009 by Kathleen Munden

According to an article in the Journal of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the failure by mortgage companies to pursue voluntary modifications of mortgages may renew the push to allow judges to modify mortgages within bankruptcy cases. Since the “Home Affordable Mortgage Program” (HAMP) went into effect in March 2009, only about 360,000 homeowners have [...]

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Top 10 List of Consumer Complaints

Published on October 13, 2009 by Kathleen Munden

According to the National Association of Attorneys General, the top three topics for consumer complaints to state attorney general offices are debt collection, auto sales, and home repair/construction. Complaints regarding credit cards tied for fourth place with complaints regarding goods and services provided over the internet.
Complaints concerning predatory lending and mortgage practices were sixth, with [...]

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Housing Crash Not Yet Over

Published on October 6, 2009 by Kathleen Munden

Amherst Securities Group analysts predict that the crash in U.S. home prices will probably resume because about 7 million properties that are likely to be seized by lenders have yet to hit the market. The “huge shadow inventory” reflects mortgages already being foreclosed upon or now delinquent and likely to be, which compares to 1.27 [...]

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Democrats Seek To Move Up Credit Card Reform Deadline

Published on October 1, 2009 by Kathleen Munden

Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.) are proposing legislation that will advance the implementation date to December 1, 2009, for the regulations limiting credit card interest rates and fees. The regulations, approved by Congress and signed into law earlier this year by President Obama, were scheduled to take effect on February 22, 2010. [...]

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Find Out Who Is Really Calling You

Published on September 15, 2009 by Kathleen Munden

If you are receiving calls from debt collectors, telemarketers, or scam artists from a toll-free number, you can find out who those callers really are and read notes from other people who have had experience with those callers. The website 800Notes allows you to enter the phone number that has called you, and link into [...]

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Debit Card Overdraft Fees On the Increase

Published on September 14, 2009 by Kathleen Munden

A few years ago, if you tried to use your debit card and had insufficient funds in your bank account, the transaction would be denied. Eventually, banks realized that allowing the transactions to go through and charging overdraft fees for the transactions could  generate enormous fees. To increase such fees even more, banks typically [...]

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New Federal Program Addresses Short Sales of Homes

Published on September 10, 2009 by Kathleen Munden

National Mortgage News reports that the major mortgage servicers are preparing for the Treasury Department to roll out a short sale program and they are signing up vendors that specialize in handling these difficult real estate transactions that help troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure.
Loan Resolution Corp. chief operating officer Travis Olsen said one of the top [...]

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What Is a Reverse Mortgage?

Published on August 28, 2009 by Kathleen Munden

A reverse mortgage allows people 62 and older to convert equity in their homes to tax-free income without having to sell the home, give up title, or take on a new monthly mortgage payment. When the borrower leaves the house, the property reverts to the lender to pay off the loan.
Although reverse mortgages have been [...]

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