If you received a statement from a creditor for a product or service you never purchased or subscribed to, it’s important to take action immediately. If the debt was incurred through misrepresentation or by fraud, you’re not legally liable for it. State and Federal laws ban businesses from cheating or deceiving consumers. Specific laws described as unfair and deceptive acts and practices (UDAP) have been enacted to protect consumers. These regulations apply to most privately owned businesses.
There are many other types of consumer protection laws specifically directed at certain types of businesses for services such as gyms and warranty companies. If you can’t find a particular law that addresses your problem, you may find some relief by checking into the UDAP laws. UDAP address such issues as deceptive contracts with unfair terms, false or misleading oral and written financial representations, and false claims of repairing a product when it’s still malfunctioning.
Sometimes a business can be so polished in the art of deception; you may not discover it until it’s too late. It’s important to be aware of these red flags when undergoing a transaction:
1) A representative rushes you through the document signing process, directing you to sign here and there without allowing you the opportunity to read over the paperwork in private.
2) A representative who skirts your questions about what your total contract costs are and what happens when you default-but continues to hammer in the point of how low your beginning payments and interest rate will be.
3) The representative assures you how great everything will be but neglects to go over the lawfully required disclosures, dismissing them as insignificant.
4) You can’t get someone to offer you an intelligible explanation of the service or paperwork.
5) The employees seem focused on engaging you in conversation for hours on end until your resistance wears down.
6) The agent avoids answering your basic questions of what the total cost will be and diverts your attention to something positive.
7) The representative tries to befriend you and wants you to believe they are sympathetic to your circumstances or an expert in the field.
You observe a business taking advantage of helpless people such as young children, consumers where English isn’t their native language, foreigners with limited knowledge or education, people who haven’t completed much schooling, individuals suffering from physical or mental disabilities, and senior citizens. Just remember, if an offer seems unbelievable, it probably is.
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