I would like to welcome Professor Pamela Foohey as a blogger to this site!  I am so very pleased to have her on board, to share her insights and research.  Professor Foohey teaches at Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, Indiana, where her research centers on bankruptcy, commercial law, and consumer law. She has become a pioneer in her empirical studies of bankruptcy and related parts of the legal system, combining quantitative and qualitative, interview-based research. Her work in business bankruptcy focuses on non-profit entities, with a particular emphasis on how churches and other religious organizations use bankruptcy. The results of this research have been featured in media outlets such as the New York Times, Bloomberg, CBS News Moneywatch, and Reveal. Professor Foohey also is a co-investigator on the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, a long-term research project studying persons who file bankruptcy which has been the leading empirical study of consumer bankruptcy for the past 35 years.

Welcome to Professor Foohey!

AJS

Traveling to other countries to get treatments or surgeries not fully covered here by your insurance or health plan may seem like a good idea that can potentially save you money. And in some cases it can be. However, before making that big decision it’s important to know the risks.

Know the Regulations of the Country you’re Seeking Treatment in

Many countries have different health regulations than the United States. For example, doctors in the United States have to go through extensive training and testing in order to get a license to practice medicine, in order to meet the high standards of care provided here. However, other countries such as India and Sri Lanka, don’t require the same licensing or testing procedures and as a result often may not be able to provide the same level of care as here in the United States. If you decide to seek treatment in another country make sure to know the required training, background and testing required of someone before allowing them to treat you.

Additionally, know the country’s competency evaluations procedures. Competency evaluations, in which doctors are examined for their performances on whether they’ll be able to continue to practice, are relatively strict in the United States. Other countries, however, may differ on and be less strict on who can continue to practice medicine after a less than adequate performance.  You should be careful to know these procedures of other countries to make sure you won’t get an inadequate doctor or one who has botched procedures in the past.

Finally, if privacy of your medical records is a concern check the country’s laws to make sure they do an adequate job of keeping your records private. Here in the United States HIPAA, maintains privacy over your health records, but other countries’ regulations may not do so.

Medical Malpractice Regulations

It’s also important to know the country’s medical malpractice regulations if something goes wrong, so you or your family can be compensated. Here in the United States patients can sue for compensation when doctors procedures harm them and that harm was due to them practicing outside of the standard of care. Some countries, however, do not even have malpractice regulations. If this is a concern for you, make sure to check the country’s medical malpractice regulations before  seeking treatment there.

Success and mortality rates

The next and most obvious thing to know, if available, is that country’s success and mortality rates. For obvious reasons, this can be important in evaluating whether you want to seek treatment in that country. 

Cleanliness of the Hospital

Finally, an important consideration is the cleanliness of the hospital. Many countries such as Mexico have had problems with anti-bacterial resistant infections Check for reports on how clearn certain hospitals are before deciding to seek

Have you recently received a new credit or debit card with a metal chip on it? You may have noticed some people inserting these cards rather than swiping in the checkout lane. Here are a few things you should know about this new chip technology popping up on cards.

The Good

For credit and debit cards to work, the cards must provide your “payment credentials” information to the merchant that takes your card. The merchant uses this information to authorize the transaction. This is what that magnetic stripe, also known as a “mag stripe,” on the back of your card currently does. However, mag stripes are vulnerable to “counterfeit fraud” which is when a thief copies the data contained in a card’s magnetic stripe. Using this copied information, the thief manufacture phony or counterfeit cards and use them for fraudulent purposes. However, it is far more difficult for a fraudster to make a fake chip card than to make a fake mag stripe card.

These chip cards are common internationally, where spenders dip their card rather than swipe it, because they make counterfeit fraud, which recently accounted for more than a third of all credit card fraud in the U.S., nearly impossible.

The shift to chip cards won’t affect your legal rights that protect you from credit card and debit card fraud. But to be fully protected, you must still review your credit card and debit card statements regularly, and report fraudulent charges immediately.

The Bad

Ultimately there is very little downside associated with these chips. The only real problem is that while these chip cards can provide consumers an extra layer of protection not all retailers have the necessary chip readers and it may be quite a while before we have universal adoption by retailers. Luckily we can still use the magnetic stripe on the back of our cards in stores without these chip readers.

We all hear about scams every day on the news or on a pretty regular basis from our friends, families, and co-workers. Lucky for us, the state of Colorado has created an index of information on common scams that be accessed whenever something seems shady. The Stop Colorado Fraud website has a wealth of information you can use to make smarter purchases or just to make you an expert to your family and friends.

It also has a link to report fraud and to understand specific consumer fraud issues for military and seniors.

http://www.stopfraudcolorado.gov/fraud-center/common-scams

• Affordable Care Act Scams
• Business Opportunity Fraud
• Counterfeit Products
• Foreign Scams
• Magazine Sales
• Super Bowl Ticket Scams
• Work at Home Scams
• Odometer Fraud (if you’re buying a used car, probably worth a read)

That’s just a small sampling of the information available. Here’s a sample of what is categorized as Sweetheart Scams-

“In today’s fast paced world of instant communication and social media, many adults have turned to online dating sites to find love, especially around Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, not everyone using dating sites is looking for romance; some are looking for money, your money. Thousands of people have been victimized by online romance scams and wind up not only embarrassed but with financial losses averaging more than $10,000 per person.”

Scams are a constantly evolving problem, but if you keep yourself informed on what these scams look like, you too can spot the most suspect of consumer deals or strange sounding scams.

As consumers, there is one good every one of us purchases, food. We all have our favorite restaurants and foods, but if you’ve been watching the news lately one your favorite restaurants may have been in the headlines. Last year outbreaks of E. Coli has scared customers and lovers of Chipotle alike.

If you’re interested in what the status of your favorite food might be, there’s an easy place you can go to right here on the internet and check, The Food and Drug Administration, their website is below… http://www.fda.gov/

Once you arrive, you can click on the link that reads, “Outbreak-Foods.” Here’s a picture below with what the website looks like and a red arrow pointing to the link. Click on the picture to see it at regular size.

Once you’ve arrived, you’ll see a list of recent investigations, but at the bottom you’ll see another link to older investigations. Click on that link and you will be able to find the Chipotle investigation conducted by your tax dollars. If you want to read the investigation on Chipotle, you can see it at the link below.

http://www.fda.gov/Food/RecallsOutbreaksEmergencies/Outbreaks/ucm470410.htm

Remember this tip, so when you hear of food outbreaks, you know exactly where to go to get the full scoop.

In Boulder County – contact the Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services to speak with a HUD-approved counselor.

Website: http://www.bouldercounty.org/dept/housinghumanservices/pages/default.aspx

Phone: 303-441-1000

Outside of Boulder County – contact the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to locate a housing counselor near you.

Website: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hcc/fc/

Phone: 1-800-333-4636

1. Refinance

Refinancing is when you get a completely new loan that will pay off and replace your current loan. It could be from your current lender or from another bank. There are costs associated with refinancing, the same as any other loan. You will also have to qualify for a new loan, which could be difficult if you are already delinquent.

Refinancing can be a good option if you are not yet behind on your mortgage payments but you’ve had a change in financial circumstances that makes your current mortgage payments unaffordable in the long-term.

2. Forbearance

Forbearance is an agreement with your lender to temporarily suspend or reduce your mortgage payments. These agreements can last 3–12 months, but not more than 12 months. Once your financial circumstances have improved you will have to make arrangements to pay off the amount that you delinquent.

Forbearance agreements are most useful for temporary financial hardships, like job loss or unexpected expenses. Forbearance is often combined with a loan modification or a repayment plan once the borrower’s financial situation has improved.

3. Repayment Plan

This is an agreement to pay off the amount you are delinquent on your mortgage within a certain amount of time. This payment is in addition to your normal mortgage payment.

Repayment plans are typically useful when the borrower is only a few months behind on the mortgage and had a temporary financial hardship that has been resolved. For example, a repayment plan might be useful after a short period of unemployment where the borrower is now making the same amount or more than before the job loss.

4. Loan Modifications

Loan modifications are a change to some terms of your current loan designed to make payments more affordable. Increasing the term of the loan or reducing the interest rate are a couple ways to achieve a lower payment.

Loan modifications are useful where the borrower has had a long-term change in financial circumstances that make the loan unaffordable. This could be a job loss followed by a new job that pays less, or a long-term increase in expenses, like a new child or recurring medical expenses.

No matter what the reason for the modification, it is only useful if it decreases your payment to an affordable level. Never agree to a loan modification that does not make your payment manageable! If the new payment is not affordable, then you have not solved the problem.

There are many different types of loan modifications. The federal government has loan modifications programs that have very specific requirements. Lenders might have their own private loan modifications programs too, with different requirements than federal programs. If you don’t qualify for a federal loan modification program, it is worth asking if the bank has a private loan modification program.

5. Pre-Foreclosure Sale

A pre-foreclosure sale is where the borrower sells the house before the foreclosure waiting period is over to pay off the mortgage. If the house is worth less than the borrower owes, this is called a “short sale” and has to be approved by the lender.

A pre-foreclosure sale is useful if you can’t or don’t want to stay in the home, but you do want to minimize your losses. Selling the house in a pre-foreclosure sale will generally mean you receive a higher price than if the home is sole in a foreclosure sale.

6. Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure

A deed in lieu of foreclosure is where the borrower offers the house to the lender in exchange for the lender forgiving the loan. Whether to accept the deed is up to the lender. The borrower cannot force the lender to accept the house.

A deed in lieu is useful if you can’t or don’t want to stay in the home, but you want to minimize your losses and speed up the process.

7. Bankruptcy

Talk to a bankruptcy lawyer if you are interested in bankruptcy.

For more information about foreclosure avoidance options, contact:

Boulder County Housing and Human Services

Website: http://www.bouldercounty.org/dept/housinghumanservices/pages/default.aspx

Phone: 303-441-1000

Colorado Foreclosure Timeline & Options fact sheet: http://www.bouldercounty.org/doc/hhs/foreclosure-timeline-options.pdf

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Website: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/avoiding_foreclosure

Phone: 1-800-333-4636

Locate a HUD-approved counselor near you: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hcc/hcs.cfm

Shopping online comes with at least some inherent risks. There’s a risk that the product you purchased doesn’t arrive, a risk that it gets damaged during shipment, or even a risk that the shirt that gets delivered is different from what the seller portrayed online.

Many credit cards offer protections that will cover you in the event any of these problems occurs. But what if you paid for your order using your debit card or an EFT from your bank account? Typically, debit cards and EFT transfers will not cover you if something goes wrong with your online purchase, which is a significant disadvantage if you are trying to be responsible and not use a credit card for every purchase.

Fortunately, there still are methods that you can use to reap still the protections that credit cards provide for online orders even with paying with your debit card or bank account. Services such as Amazon Pay or Paypal are excellent alternatives that will allow you to pay for online orders with your debit or bank accounts while minimizing the typical risks associated with those online purchases.

Both services offer virtually the same guarantees, just operate under different names. For Amazon, it is their “A-to-Z protection.” (Btw here is fun little tidbit for you, this guarantee is portrayed in their logo, with the arrow pointing from the A to the Z). For Paypal, the guarantee operates under their Purchase Protection Plan.

As you can see from the above chart, the two payment options are pretty similar to one another. The largest difference is that Paypal gives the consumer double the time to file claims on any problems they may have.

Since these services allow you to purchase your online orders using debit cards or your bank account, they are excellent alternatives to paying with a credit card, and still have some peace of mind when you buy online.

Shopping online comes with at least some inherent risks. There’s a risk that the product you purchased doesn’t arrive, a risk that it gets damaged during shipment, or even a risk that the shirt that gets delivered is different from what the seller portrayed online.

Many credit cards offer protections that will cover you in the event any of these problems occurs. But what if you paid for your order using your debit card or an EFT from your bank account? Typically, debit cards and EFT transfers will not cover you if something goes wrong with your online purchase, which is a significant disadvantage if you are trying to be responsible and not use a credit card for every purchase.

Fortunately, there still are methods that you can use to reap still the protections that credit cards provide for online orders even with paying with your debit card or bank account. Services such as Amazon Pay or Paypal are excellent alternatives that will allow you to pay for online orders with your debit or bank accounts while minimizing the typical risks associated with those online purchases.

Both services offer virtually the same guarantees, just operate under different names. For Amazon, it is their “A-to-Z protection.” (Btw here is fun little tidbit for you, this guarantee is portrayed in their logo, with the arrow pointing from the A to the Z). For Paypal, the guarantee operates under their Purchase Protection Plan.

As you can see from the above chart, the two payment options are pretty similar to one another. The largest difference is that Paypal gives the consumer double the time to file claims on any problems they may have.

Since these services allow you to purchase your online orders using debit cards or your bank account, they are excellent alternatives to paying with a credit card, and still have some peace of mind when you buy online.