Purchasing a new or used automobile is a major investment for the average American today. The last thing an auto buyer should expect when buying a new or used car is to be cheated by the car dealer and/or the finance company that is providing the funding for the car. Unfortunately, auto fraud is happening every day in car dealer showrooms and finance offices across America.
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The use of Binding Mandatory Arbitration clauses in almost all consumer contracts has systematically stolen the right of average Americans to use our public justice system to fight back against Corporations who have cheated and defrauded them. Want a job, want health insurance, want a loan, a credit card, a car? You often have no choice but to give up your right to a day in court.
In the past decade, your credit report has become the single most important collection of information in consumers obtaining any type of credit. Unfortunately, it has become quite clear that millions of Americans have inaccurate information on their credit reports potentially costing millions of consumers hundreds of millions of dollars in higher credit costs.
The growth of consumer debt in our country has grown to astronomical proportions and with it has grown the billion dollar debt collection industry of debt collection, designed to scare, intimidate and embarrass consumers to pay debts that often they do not owe. Even if you owe a debt (or think you owe a debt) your rights are being trampled everyday by debt collectors who ignore federal and state consumer law designed to protect you.
The privacy and safety of your private financial information has been compromised beyond all imagination during the past decade. While the number of identity theft victims rise each and every year, the actual ability of consumers to fight back against the bad practices of Corporations and the Credit Bureaus that have either enabled the identity theft or profited from it has substantially decreased.
Each day consumers across the country buy a new or used car that turns out to be a “lemon”. Every state has a law (some much better than others) that protect consumers when they have purchased a defective vehicle. Typically, a lemon law requires a manufacturer to provide a refund or replacement for a defective new vehicle that is not repaired within a reasonable number of attempts.
Soldiers are ideal targets for consumer fraud and abusive lending practices. They have a steady income from the government, often with little to spare, at an average of $1,200 per month for new recruits. With the need for transportation to meet their family needs they are incredibly vulnerable to auto fraud. At deployment time, when military families are faced with extra expenses at home and abroad, they are perfect targets for the awful payday lending industry. Recently a law has been passed that would protect military borrowers from small loan abuses but much more needs to be done.
Since the quiet deregulation of credit during the past 25 years and the practical elimination of usury statutes across our country (yes, despite over 2000 years of our common tradition there are few effective usury laws left), lenders, both small and large, have found ways to overcharge and cheat Americans out of our hard earned dollars. From small loans to mortgages, from credit cards to automobile loans predatory lending is alive and well and thriving.
As the cost of financing our children’s higher education increases, the amount of student loan debt continues to rise at alarming rates. Students, upon graduating from college are often left with a mountain of debt and employment options that are simply insufficient to help make a real dent in the money they owe. Because of these loan payments, students are often prevented from becoming homeowners, saving money and building assets. Further contributing to this problem is the growing problem of aggressive and abusive student loan debt collectors.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONSUMER ADVOCATES ©2007 NACA