Lawyers.com Blog

My husband and I recently found a kitten on our doorstep.  We first inquired around the neighborhood and then took him to the Humane Society.  When we dropped him off, we asked that they let us adopt him if no one came forward to claim him.  We are now the proud parents of Schrödinger cat!

I grew up surrounded by pets: dogs, cats, hamsters.  Schrödinger is my husband’s very first pet.  That said, there are some things about the adjustment period with our kitten that are much easier for me than for him.  For example, I’m not surprised when a little black ball of fluff decides that on top of my keyboard is the best place in the entire world to play.  What has been interesting to me has been going over with my husband some of the things that you need to be aware of as a pet owner.  You have a responsibility not only to your pet but also to people your pet will come in contact with.  Dogs and cats bring a lot of joy into our lives.  Unfortunately, that bundle of joy comes equipped with teeth and claws and instincts that are geared toward survival. 

While you may accept behavior in a four pound kitten that you would instantly put a stop to in a forty pound dog, you should be aware that bad behavior, especially biting, is more than just a nuisance.  Pet owners are responsible when their pet bites someone else.  Although your dog might not be vicious and is unlikely to turn up on the 6 o'clock news, even small nips can be dangerous and get you into legal trouble.  If your dog injures someone, you could end up in court and may even have to pay medical bills.

Homeowner's and renter's insurance often covers you if your dog bites someone.  However, be very careful to check your policy.  Some policies specifically exclude certain breeds of dogs which are considered higher risk.  There are several things you can do to help minimize risk.

Choose a pet that is friendly and even-tempered.  Some breeds are more easy-going than others.  Getting a pet from a breeder instead of a store can also give you the opportunity to meet one or both of your animal's parents and see their personalities and temperaments.

Make sure your pet is well-behaved.  Obedience classes can help with this.  Correct bad behavior immediately without delay every single time.  The rules should be easy to understand and consistent.  If you don't want your dog on the couch, then remove him every time he jumps up regardless of what else you are doing at the time.  The more consistent you are the happier and more obedient your pet will be. 

Make sure your pet has regular vet check-ups.  It is important to keep up on their vaccinations and just as important to be proactive when it comes to your pet's health.  Not only can you help your pet live a long life this way, but you can also prevent problem behavior that occurs when an animal is sick or injured.

Take steps to secure your animals when people they don't know or don't like are at your house.  This goes double for when young children are around.  Children and animals, although cute together, can be a recipe for disaster.  Children are exploring their world and that can include pulling ears and tails, hitting, or squeezing too hard.  Your dog or cat will either fight back or run away.  If they choose to run and the child is still holding them, a bite or a scratch will help secure the pet's escape.  It's difficult to reason with an animal or a young child and nearly impossible to provide the intensity of supervision required when they are together.  It is best to make sure that no one is in a position to get hurt and that means keeping baby and pet far from one another.

Plan for your pet’s long-term health and happiness.  Consider getting pet health insurance so that unexpected illness or injury doesn't cost you an obscene amount of money.  Also, consider what to do with your pet when you are not around.  Find a good, responsible pet sitter who can make sure your pet receives quality care when you're away from home on vacation or business.  Some people even set up trusts for their animals or make provisions for them in their wills.  It might sound strange, but your pet is a member of your family.  If you have children, you should already have figured out who you want to raise them in your absence.  Do the same for your pet.  Don't just assume that your family will figure it out.  This can lead to abuse, neglect, or even the putting to sleep of an otherwise healthy and loving animal.

Remember, when choosing a pet, choose wisely.  Think about their long-term needs and yours.  Choose an animal based on personality and health as opposed to looks.  Also, don't forget that you have responsibilities to your pet, your family and anyone who might come into contact with them. 

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Related Links:

• Check out the National Animal Interest Alliance.
• Understand the liability of dog owners.
• Find out more about setting up pet trusts.

The world is obsessed with my credit.  Okay, not mine personally, but credit in general.  You can't rent an apartment, buy a car or buy a house without it.  Some companies won't even let you get a cell phone plan without checking it.  Every time I turn on the television or radio there's yet another company offering to give me a free credit report or fix my credit or monitor my credit.  I can't surf the web without having credit ads pop up all over the place and flash at me from huge banners.  It's overwhelming and annoying.  Of course, all that paled in comparison to my annoyance when I actually had to pay for a credit report, only to find out I'd have to pay an even steeper fee to find out my credit score.  I'd already coughed up the price of a dinner out to read pages of information, but to get the actual numbers would cost me yet another dinner out!

It seems to me that the people that truly benefit from credit reports and scores are the companies reporting them, specifically Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.  It's in their best interests to make the consumer paranoid about their credit and businesses obsessed with it.  Every time that report gets pulled someone pays, and half the time that cost gets passed on to me.  I think it should be the other way around.  I think TransUnion and associates should have to pay me each time they make money when someone looks me up. 

Apparently I'm not the only one who's angry about this.  A class action suit that's been going on for years against TransUnion was just settled.  The complaints were much worse and more specific than mine.  TransUnion had been accused of illegally selling too much information about consumers to credit issuing companies.  The settlement has two aspects: cash and services.  The money will have to be distributed amongst all the class members and will be a few dollars at most.  The services aspect is something more people can really sink their teeth into.

You can register at the website https://www.listclassaction.com/ to claim one of two free service packages, each of which includes a few months of free access to your credit report AND score and free credit monitoring.  Best yet, when your months are up, it automatically cancels it for you!  Like me, you've probably had at least one experience where a "free trial" of something suddenly ended and the company started charging your credit card before you could cancel the subscription.  Not the case here.  You do, however, have to register by September 24th.  You will be notified when the court grants final approval of the settlement and your free access begins.

Sign me up!  My hat's off to the men and women who stood up several years ago and went after TransUnion for their activities.  Now I'm just thinking, is Equifax next?

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Related Links:

• Read all about the lawsuit and register to receive benefits.

Insurance.  Let me guess, you have (or have had or will have) health insurance, car insurance, homeowner’s insurance, and/or renter’s insurance.  You may have had wedding insurance, life insurance, pet insurance, malpractice insurance, or trip insurance.  But have you ever even heard of above average snowfall insurance, kidnap and ransom insurance, or image protection insurance?  A couple of these took me by surprise and got me wondering, what exactly can you insure?  It turns out, just about anything.  There are, however, a couple of general rules. 

First, you can't insure against something that is certain to happen.  For example, you can't insure against the sun setting.

Second, you can't insure against something when you have no personal stake in the outcome.  That means I can't insure against Johnny Depp dying.  While I might be very sad to not be able to see more of his movies, I would suffer no monetary loss if he died.  A film production he was working on, however, could get insurance for this because they would be financially damaged if he died.  Many times celebrities or companies they are working with take this one step further by insuring a star's physical assets.  Tina Turner’s legs, Keith Richard’s hands, and Madonna’s breasts have all been insured at one point or another.

You don't have to be a celebrity, though, to insure your physical assets.  Craftspeople who rely on their hands as the tools of their trade can have them insured.  That way, if something happened to injure their hands, they wouldn't be financially ruined while they were unable to work.

Businesses of any size can obtain stop loss insurance for specific events.  For example, if your mom-and-pop ski shop depends on a certain amount of snowfall or a minimum number of days that the slopes are open, you can insure against a below average snowfall.  Average is the key.  You won't be able to get insurance that will cover you for anything less than record breaking snowfall, but an insurer will look at what the average snowfall for the area is and you can collect if the snowfall is far enough below average.

If you depend on your hands for your livelihood, have a small business that could be impacted by outside factors, or have another need like this, think about getting insurance.  It might take some shopping, but you should be able to find it.  A good broker should be able to help you and you can also do quite a lot of research online.  If all else fails you can try Lloyd's of London.

Lloyd’s of London has made a name for itself insuring what would seem uninsurable.
They’ve insured space shuttles, two-headed albino rattlesnakes, and the race horse Secretariat against failing a fertility test.  In the earlier days of film, they even insured moviegoers against death from excessive laughter!  More recently, they've insured someone against seeing a ghost.

In addition to the fanciful and the work-related, there are very real modern day threats that you can get insurance for.  These include terrorism and identity theft.

Getting insurance is all about taking the risk of loss and putting that burden onto someone else.  You might pay car insurance for twenty years without ever having an accident, but when you do, the protection will be worth it.

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Related Links:

• Get wedding insurance.
• Find out more about insuring special risks such as kidnapping, lottery ticket errors, judicial delay, and food borne illness.
• Read about some of the things Lloyd's of London has insured.
• Shop for and buy health insurance online.
• Buy identity theft insurance.
• Find out more about the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007.

If you’re like me, the thought of someone stealing your identity sounds like a nightmare.  When researching this topic recently, though, I was stunned to discover just how much of a threat it is and how many different things thieves can use your identity to do.

I knew that they could open credit card accounts and that they could even take control of my existing credit card accounts.  What I didn’t know was that they can also open phone service, make calls that look like they came from my cell phone and are billed to my account, obtain Driver’s licenses, and even get a job! 

Even more numerous than the ways in which my information can be used are the ways in which my information can be stolen.  Small, hand-held devices can be used by a restaurant worker or a cashier to grab all of my information from that card.  One swipe takes the blink of an eye and—just like that—my information is in their hands.  Thieves can also rig the machines of legitimate businesses with tiny devices that can gather information from hundreds of users.  These can be placed in a variety of places such as ATMs and the card reader at the gas pump.  We give out our information all the time when paying for something either over the phone or online.

The more I found out the more I wanted to protect myself.  There are a host of consumer protection companies out there.  Ironically, one of the companies that advertises heavily on television, Lifelock, is being sued by people in three different states who have had their identity stolen.  Even the spokesman, the one who confidently shows his social security number in the commercials, has had his identity stolen.  While these companies seem to be quite good at protecting your credit accounts, keeping tabs on your credit reports so they know when people try to open new lines of credit or change existing ones, that only protects from one form of identity theft.  The Department of Motor Vehicles, for instance, doesn’t run your credit when issuing a Driver’s license.  So while credit-protection companies may serve a good purpose, they cannot completely protect you from identity theft. 

That’s the bad news.  Ready for the really bad news?  Nobody can.

While it’s impossible to completely protect yourself against identity theft, there are many things you can do to limit your risk.  Here are a few I found.

• Always shred or otherwise thoroughly destroy credit card receipts, bank slips, and other unneeded documents once you are finished with them.  Also, when you cut up a credit card or get rid of checks from an old checking account, make sure that you do so in such a way that your account numbers can’t be lifted off of them. 
• Don’t carry your social security card with you or leave it in a place in your house where somebody could see it.
• Never give out personal information over the telephone unless you initiated the call or are otherwise 100% certain of who you are talking to.
• Check bank and credit card statements each month for suspicious activity.
• Check your credit report at least once a year to look for unauthorized activity.  Ideally you should check more often than that.  The faster you can detect signs of identity theft, the better off you are.
• If a credit card statement doesn’t show up when you expected it, call the company to make sure that no one has changed the mailing address on your account.
• When shopping online, know who you’re doing business with.  Don’t give your information out over an unsecured site.  When at all possible, go with big name companies or try to pay using PayPal to minimize the number of places who have your financial information.

All of these things are great, but what happens if you find out your identity was stolen?  Here’s what you should do.

• Contact all of your creditors and banks to alert them.
• Contact the three credit reporting agencies—Equifax, Transunion, and Experian—to alert them.
• Fill out a police report.
• Notify the Federal Trade Commission.
• Work with credit card companies and banks to get new cards and, where necessary, close accounts.
• If you believe someone is using your social security number to apply for a job, report it to the Social Security Agency’s Fraud Hotline at 1-800-269-0271. 
• If you think someone is using your social security number to obtain a Driver’s License or ID card, contact your Department of Motor Vehicles to alert them.
• Monitor your credit reports for the next several months and immediately report any unauthorized activity.

Identity theft is an epidemic.  Sooner or later you or someone you know could be a victim.  Protect yourself as best as you can.  Remember, though, the faster you can detect the problem, the faster you can repair any damage that’s been done.

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Related Links:

• The Social Security Administration has helpful tips on what to do in the case of identity theft.
• Report identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission.
• Equifax
• Experian
• Transunion

They say nature abhors a vacuum and I’ve been watching that principle playing out around me.  Within the same four week period one of my friends announced his pending divorce and another one of my friends announced her engagement.  Although they are at completely opposite ends of the marriage spectrum, they do have one thing in common:  an intense need to look closely at a prenuptial agreement.  One friend needs to make one while another one needs to enforce one.

A prenuptial (or premarital) agreement is basically a document explaining the understanding between two people on how they will handle divorce.  Issues covered can range from division of assets to agreements about the payment of spousal support.  It is essentially a contract, so, generally speaking, as long as the terms are clear and not completely one-sided they have a good chance of being recognized as valid.  Not everyone needs or makes one of these agreements prior to marriage, but it never hurts to know all you can about them before deciding whether you want to get one and what you want to include in it. 

Here are some things you should think about if getting married:

• Amount of Assets and Debt – If you and your intended are just starting out in life and have pretty much nothing in the way of things you own and little or no debt, then a prenuptial agreement isn’t as pressing an issue.  However, if you’re particular about money or just want things set down in stone in case you get divorced, consider a prenuptial agreement.
• Age – The older you are, the more you might want to consider getting a prenuptial agreement.  Age raises issues beyond death and divorce, including admission to nursing homes and medical costs that should be addressed prior to marriage.
• Cost – Getting married is a costly endeavor.  Prenuptial agreements are not necessarily cheap.  One can run around $1500 and the partners should be represented by separate attorneys.  If you have to make a choice between the wedding you want and the prenuptial agreement ask yourself which you would rather have.  That leads us to the next point.
• Level of Discomfort – This goes way beyond the financial discomfort of a prenuptial agreement to also cover the emotional discomfort.  You probably think your marriage will last forever and, hopefully, you’re right!  With that in mind, don’t be afraid to be honest with yourself and your partner (which is a good way to start off a marriage!).  If you’d rather have an amazing bash and gamble on not ever needing that prenuptial agreement (roughly a 50-50 chance) then know what you’ll be facing down the line if you lose.  If you don’t want to deal with the discomfort and legal hassle now, fine, but know that you risk greater discomfort and hassle later.  Some people are gamblers, some aren’t.

What if you’re on the other side, preparing for divorce?  What should you do with that prenuptial agreement?

• Give it to Your Attorney Right Away – I know, a no brainer, but make sure that everyone is aware of what they’re dealing with.  Also make them aware of anything that may have changed since it was drawn up, like an asset that is mentioned that you no longer own.
• Know the Likelihood of Enforcement – Not all terms of your agreement may be honored by the courts.  There are many possible reasons for this.  Make sure you discuss this with your attorney early on.
• Remember, You Agreed to This – You might hate the terms of the prenuptial agreement that you signed.  That’s fine, hate away.  Just remember that this is what you agreed to in advance.  Unless you can prove that you were certifiably insane or somehow coerced into the agreement, remember that you can and will be held responsible for what you contracted to do or not do.  It’s a tough truth, but face up to your responsibilities.

Divorce is an unhappy subject whether it comes at the end of a long, trying marriage or the beginning of a short, blissful engagement.  A few intense, honest conversations can help everyone immensely.  A prenuptial isn’t for everyone, but don’t just assume that it’s not right for you.  Make an informed decision that you can live with regardless of what happens.

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Related Links:

• For more information on premarital agreements, click here. 
• Be aware of prenuptial agreements and estate planning issues, especially in regard to older couples.  
• Click here for a checklist of things you should think about or do in preparing to divorce. 

My husband and I finally finished looking at all the houses on the market in our area that were even remotely within our price range. We short-listed three and began looking at how we were going to get a loan to buy one of them. With the mortgage industry in financial chaos, lenders are taking a hard, close look at applicants. They’re more than willing to loan on our first choice of a home, however, if we can come up with enough of a down payment to sooth their fears. There’s just one tiny problem. We only have about half of what they would like us to have in the way of a down payment. Fortunately, there is a solution. Our favorite house was just reduced in price and the possibility of a lease-to-own option was raised.

Bingo. Three weeks later and we just started unpacking boxes in our new house. It’s ours, yes, but technically we’re renting it for the next twelve months. At some point before this time next year we will exercise our option to buy it.

So, this is how the process works:

• First, you’ll make an offer similar to the kind you would make in a straight purchase. They’re asking a certain amount of money, you offer less, they counter somewhere in the middle (if you’re lucky!). With the offer, though, you also submit your intention that this be a lease-to-own. You will fill out papers that look a lot like a standard rental agreement. When all parties agree on the terms, a lawyer will draw up a contract which everyone signs. This means that legally you have the right to buy the house during the time period when you are renting it and the owners can’t sell it to someone else in the meantime.
• Next, you’ll put down some cash up front which will go toward your eventual down payment. An agreed-upon amount of each month’s rent will also be applied to your down payment. When you exercise the option to buy you will then produce the rest of the cash needed for the down payment on the house. If at the end of your lease you decide you don’t want to buy the house, or can not get a loan for it, then you lose the money you’ve already paid towards the down payment and the monthly rent. That’s the risk.

So, why take such a gamble? Simple. Twelve months can buy you the time you need to make the whole process go smoothly (or happen at all). In twelve months you can finish saving up the money for your down payment and shop for the perfect loan. If needed, you can clean up your credit, too. You also get a chance to test drive your new house and new neighborhood and make sure that it’s all you thought it would be in the first place. It helps eliminate buyer’s remorse because you’ll know a lot more about the quirks and pitfalls of the house you want to buy before making a long-term commitment to it. Think of it like an engagement period. Sure, you can always break off the engagement if you have to. It will be messy and costly, but far less so than ending up trapped in a relationship that’s all wrong for you.

In formalizing the lease to own agreement with a contract, make sure you have a title company handle things. They can ensure that your right to purchase the house is recorded on the title, which helps protect you by preserving a record of your rights in relation to the house.

Not all sellers will agree to a lease-to-own arrangement. However, if you find a house you love and need a little time to make the financial end of the transaction work out, it never hurts to ask. The good news is that right now it truly is a buyer’s market and the longer things continue the way they are, the more desperate—and flexible—sellers will become.

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Related Links:
Find out more about purchasing a home in your state. http://real-estate.lawyers.com/residential-real-estate/Purchasing-a-Home-in-Your-State.html

Find out more about landlord duties. http://leases-and-leasing.lawyers.com/landlord-tenant-law/What-To-Expect-From-Your-Landlord.html

To buy or not to buy?  That is the question that plagues renters.  Whether ‘tis better to suffer the whims and rent raises of landlords or to stake all on the ability to pay a mortgage?  My husband and I, who have always been renters, have decided that this is the year we are going to change our status to that of homeowners.  A number of factors have contributed to this decision ranging from the need for the tax break to the overwhelming desire to have walls that are not white or that even more hideous cream color that most landlords prefer.

With the current crisis in the mortgage industry it might seem like insanity to even think about buying right now.  For those who can swing it, though, this is a great time to snag a house for a lot less than you would have paid a year ago or might pay a year from now.  For anyone trying to decide whether to rent or buy there are several factors to take into account.

Intention to remain in the same place – Do you intend to stay in the same area for a long period of time, or do you only plan on staying for a couple of years or as long as it takes to get that undergraduate or graduate degree or put another line on your resume or save up the money to move?

Price – What will be the price difference in your area between renting and buying something?  Shop around.  If you can rent a two bedroom house or apartment for $1,000, but a mortgage on a similar sized two bedroom place will run you $2,000, then you need to seriously consider whether or not owning that place is worth paying twice as much a month to you.  For some the answer is yes, for others no. 

Stability - Is your income 100% predictable and are your expenses fixed so that you know each month what’s coming in and going out?  If so, then buying, if you can afford it, is going to be an attractive situation, especially given that you are investing your money in the property.  However, if you have income or expenses that are more unpredictable, you might want to opt for the cheaper rent so that when one of those low-income, high-expense months comes along (and they always do) you don’t have to dip into savings or borrow from a relative or friend to cover your housing costs.  There’s a lot to be said for being able to be independent.

Likely future change in your housing needs – If you know that there are events coming up in your future that will drastically affect your housing needs, then you might want to consider renting until then.  When you know exactly what you need in a house in terms of space, location, and amenities, then you’ll be able to make a more informed purchase.  If renting just doesn’t appeal to you, you can still purchase, but do so with an eye to what you are going to need five years from now and not just five months from now.  Likely future changes include planning for children or downsizing for retirement.

Amount of time and money you have – They say that when there is a problem you can throw either time or money at it.  When something goes wrong with the house you own, you have to fix it which means spending money, spending time, or in all likelihood, both.  When you rent and something goes wrong it is your landlord’s job to spend their time and money fixing the problem.  If you need to find a plumber on a holiday weekend it’s good to not be the one footing the bill.  On the other hand, not all landlords are as responsive as we would like or need which can mean extra time living with something that’s broken before it gets fixed.  It can also mean that you have to be something of a nag to get things done.

Amount of control you need – If you are the type of person that needs to exercise a lot of control over your environment then you’re going to want to buy.  When you own something you get to make all those decisions that landlords do when you rent.  This ranges from cosmetic things (like what color to paint the walls) to more important things (like when to schedule appointments you need to be home for).  I have some friends who are very happy with the layout of the apartment they are currently renting, but have serious problems with the level of control exercised by the management.  At least once a month the landlord schedules different events (inspecting sliding glass doors, etc.) without regard for anyone else’s schedule.  My friends, like many people, don’t like strangers walking around their place unattended, and often must take unpaid time off from work to be present for these maintenance calls.  Ideally, they need to either find a place to rent where they can exercise more control over their space or they need to buy a house.

Buying a house is a huge step, and certainly isn’t for everyone.  If you decide to take that plunge, make sure you get a real estate agent or broker you trust (HINT – the good ones won’t make your skin crawl!)  Research the area to find the best deal that’s right for you.  Know what you can do today and what you will need to do down the road to keep the house once you get it.  Happy house hunting!

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Related Links:

• How much are your payments going to be?  Check out this online mortgage calculator.
• What do I need to know if I’m looking at buying a bank-owned house? 
• As a renter, what rights do I really have?

Toys. Everyone is obsessed with them. Children want them. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles rush out to get the biggest, best and coolest ones. Toys are meant to entertain and educate the young and a company’s fortunes can rise and fall with the latest crazes and must-have gifts. Some people worry about giving too many toys and spoiling a child. Nowadays, it seems, what they should really worry about is giving the wrong toy and killing a child.

Now I know what some of you are thinking. Whoa, slow down there, most dangerous or recalled toys don’t kill anyone. So, why focus on this extreme—if unlikely—threat? There are two reasons.

1. They can kill. Some of the headlines from the last couple of years look like this:

"Playskool Voluntarily Recalls Toy Tool Benches after the Death of Two Toddlers"

"Kolcraft Recalls Play Yards After the Death of a 10-Month-Old Child"

"Child's Death Prompts Replacement Program of Magnetic Building Sets"

2. Most people need to see the ultimate threat before they’ll respond to something. "Harming" could mean bumps, cuts, and scrapes. While we would prefer that toys not cause further risk of these things, bumps, cuts and scrapes are ordinary hazards of childhood. However, when we realize that defective toys can cause extreme injuries and even death, we pay attention. Here's a good example. In the time I've had my current car there have been four safety recalls on it. Because I am busy (and lazy, I'll admit it) I've looked at each one of those and thought, "Oh, that won't kill me" and tossed it in the trash. “Harm” is easy to overlook. “Death” is not.

Okay, so we’ve established that dangerous toys can kill. How does this happen and, more importantly, what can be done about it?

In 2007 the number of toy recalls was staggering and it reached into nearly every area of the toy store. One of the biggest problems was toys manufactured in China that were coated with lead paint or other, harsher toxins. These toys could cause problems ranging from seizures to death. Even though the Chinese government has attempted to rectify the situation, the outcome is not promising. Of the roughly 9,000 Chinese toy manufacturers, only 20% have attended government training courses on product safety and quality.

From a legal standpoint there is very little that can be done to hold the Chinese manufacturers responsible. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to identify specific companies or factories which produce a given item. Going after a company in China is unlikely to accomplish anything. Instead, lawyers target U.S. distributors and retailers for deaths and injuries related to these faulty toys. This means that from the large stores like Wal-mart to the local mom and pop grocery, those who sell toys in this country can potentially be held responsible for the injuries they cause. If your child has been seriously injured by a defective product, consider consulting an attorney about your options.

Of course, as they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It is far better to protect our children from harm in the first place than to sue someone if the child is killed or injured.

So, what can you do to protect the children you love? There are a few simple things you can do quite easily.

• First, determine where the toy you wish to buy was made. “Made in the U.S.A.” means something. It ensures that the standards used in making the toy conform to consumer protection laws in this country.
• Second, keep abreast of the latest toy recalls and issues by visiting www.cpsc.gov, the website for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. You can even sign up for email alerts that will let you know when new recalls occur.
• Third, use common sense. If you can see one way to destroy a toy or render it dangerous, a child can find three.
• Fourth, consider home testing of toys. A local hardware store can sell you a kit that you can use at home on your child’s toys to check for lead paint. Although several government agencies are concerned that the tests aren’t accurate enough , it’s at least a start.
• Fifth, be aware of the types of hazards. Lead paint has received a lot of headlines lately but there are also many other types of hazards that toys can present. Make sure you check for small parts that are loose or easily broken since they can be swallowed. Check to see if a toy has any sharp edges or could be broken in such a way to create edges that could cut a child. If the toy runs on batteries, make sure the batteries won’t come into contact with your child.
• Sixth, remember to adequately supervise younger children. Even the safest toy and the calmest child could still be the makings of an accident. Proper supervision helps ensure that if something goes wrong, you’ll know about it in time to do something about it.

Ultimately the responsibility for protecting our children lies with us, the ones who love them enough to shop for them. So, is it safe to go back into a toy store? The answer depends entirely on you. Toy stores carry both safe and potentially dangerous products and a little research and care on your part goes a long way in keeping your child from becoming a statistic.

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• Check for the latest in safety concerns and recalls. www.cpsc.gov
• April 2008 Recalls to date http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prerelapr08.html
• FUNTASTIC fake hillbilly teeth – lead
• Interchange Robot Toys – lead
• Little Builder Children’s Board Book Sets with Toys – choking hazard
• Fun ‘N Games Magnetic Dart Boards – aspiration and intestinal hazards due to magnets
• Dollar Tree Stores Cuddly Cousins

You know how this works.  You type in your credit card information online, read it to an operator on the phone, or swipe it through a machine.  Bingo!  Your credit card company gives out money and then sends you a monthly bill reminding you how much you owe them with interest.  In return, you get something.  You get an item, an experience, a reservation, or to keep having cable television.  Most items we receive immediately or within a couple of business days.  Vacations, though, are often paid for well in advance and all you receive in return for that money is…a promise.  A promise of a hotel room.  A promise of activities and tickets.  A promise of a car to drive around.  And, of course, a promise of an airplane to take you there.  A promise is a promise is a promise.  Unfortunately, a promise can’t fly you to Hawaii, only an airline can.  But when the airline that promised you that flight can’t deliver, what do you do?

As I discussed in my last posting, if you paid for your ticket with cash or check, you can consider bringing a claim against the airline and many months later you may or may not see some money back.  If, however, you paid by a credit card, you may have another option that is both faster and more likely to keep you from being out all the money you spent on that airline ticket.

On the back of your credit card statement you should see an address you can write to if you wish to dispute a charge and receive a chargeback.  You can dispute several types of billing errors including: charges you did not authorize; charges for goods or services of different quality or quantity than what was represented; and charges for undelivered goods or services (as in plane tickets from airlines no longer flying).

So, that plane ticket you paid for on Aloha, ATA, or Skybus that you didn’t get?  Let your credit card company know right away so you don’t have to pay.  Here’s what you do:

1. Find the credit card statement where your charge for the flight appeared.

2. On the back of the statement, find the address to which you are supposed to report billing errors or disputes.

3. As soon as possible, send a letter to your credit card company at that address explaining that you did not receive the service that you paid for.  Time is important here.  In most cases, you’ll have sixty days from the date of issue of the statement where the charge first appears to make this claim.  Occasionally this can be extended, but don’t count on it.  That said, if 60 days pass before you realize that you can or should try to chargeback your airline tickets, send in the claim anyway.  You may also need to check to see if you should then submit the request for a “claim and defenses” chargeback instead of a “billing errors” chargeback.  Unlike billing errors, you have a little more time, usually a year, to submit a claim and defense chargeback.  Some other restrictions will likely apply, so check with your credit card company.

4. Confirm with your credit card company that you do not have to pay the disputed charge (but do pay the rest of the bill!), if you have not already done so.

5. Provide the credit card company with any information they ask for, such as copies of itineraries, etc.

6. Make sure your credit card company received your claim.

7. Wait for their response.  This might take a couple of months while your credit company researches everything to verify that you are entitled to a chargeback.  While it may seem like a no-brainer given the airline situations, they’re going to need to make sure you weren’t one of those lucky few who had another airline, such as Hawaiian, honor your ticket.  The companies are willing to help out, but they’ve got to protect themselves from dishonest people who might try to get a completely free flight out of the whole fiasco.

8. If your credit card company denies you a chargeback and you can confirm that you have met any required conditions, consider filing a complaint with your Attorney General’s office.

The bottom line is that you shouldn’t have to pay for what you didn’t get.  The way the system works, though, it can be very difficult to get your money back.  If you used a credit card instead of cash or a check your chances of recovery increase greatly.  Good luck and hopefully we’ll all be flying again soon!

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Related Links:

• Click here to get the facts on fair credit billing.
• Click here to read an advisory on chargebacks from the California Attorney General's Office.

As a consumer, you have rights, and power. Specifically, the power of the almighty dollar. However, what happens when the company has your dollar, and goes out of business before giving you what you paid for?

Legally speaking, those who held tickets on the bankrupt airlines or gift cards to Sharper Image may have a claim for the money they spent, but recovering even a dime of that money is probably going to take more work than it’s worth. Say you take the time and effort and actually submit your claim to be added to all the others in the bankruptcy proceeding. Even if your claim is acknowledged, you may see little to no money for it. A large part of the problem is that a company goes bankrupt precisely because they don’t have the money to pay everyone they owe. If they did, they’d still be in business. During the bankruptcy process, anything that the company owns (land, buildings, equipment, etc.) can be sold to raise funds to pay some of what is owed. It is very unlikely, though, that this will provide enough money to cover every debt.

If you feel you have a claim and have the stomach to ride out the process, you may still want to go for it. This is especially true for the airline tickets if you paid by cash or some form of check. If you paid by credit card, there is another option available to you which I will discuss in my next posting.

When gift cards suddenly become worth less than the plastic they’re printed on, the consumer is often out of luck. For those of you holding Sharper Image gift cards, however, there is some good news. The Sharper Image has issued an advisory that gift cards purchased before February 19, 2008, can be redeemed online. But there is a catch: you have to spend twice the amount of the gift card. As they explain it, if you have a gift card for $25, you must spend $50 on merchandise in order to get the $25 credit. Customers who don’t wish to do that can opt to become a creditor in the bankruptcy proceeding or hold onto their gift cards in the hope that they might be honored in the future. Neither option guarantees the card holder will receive anything.

So how can you protect yourself ahead of time? Here are some tips:

• Do your homework. The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection exists to protect consumers from fraudulent, deceptive, or unfair business practices and to educate them about their rights and possible dangers. Checking with them and the Better Business Bureau is a great way to determine the legitimacy of offers or companies.
• Hedge your bets. Worry over losing money spent on gift cards is driving some consumers to use services such as those offered at www.leveragecard.com – a place where you can buy and then trade gift cards.
• Pay by credit card. Many credit cards offer extra protection after you’ve made your purchase. I’ll discuss one of these options in my next posting.

As far as airlines go, it still feels a little bit like playing a game of Russian roulette. Pick your airline, buy your ticket and pray that everything goes according to plan. Or just ask a flight attendant. Two days before ATA quit flying, one of the flight attendants on my friend’s flight was making dark predictions about the future of her airline. Next time my family and his will take such warnings very, very seriously.

Next time: Flying the Empty Skies IV: To Charge…and to Charge Back

Related Links:

• To view the Sharper Image announcement about online use of gift cards click here.
• For information on filing a claim against Sharper Image, click here.
• Bureau of Consumer Protection
• The Better Business Bureau

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It seems like bankruptcy is a word we’re hearing a lot these days.
Most people probably know someone who has gone or is about to go
bankrupt. When it happens to a family it’s difficult and often painful.
Generally speaking, though, the drama of the event is contained within the
family. When a business goes bankrupt, however, the trauma is shared by owners,
workers, and customers alike. We’ve all seen the signs. Real estate developers,
furniture stores, huge chains, and mom and pop stores go bankrupt. Recently the
trend has been for airlines to go bankrupt. When a business goes bankrupt, how
does it affect the consumer? The answer is that it affects the consumer in many
ways, not all of them readily visible.

My husband and I have been looking at buying a house, our first. We found the
perfect townhouse in a beautiful, friendly community. Only two problems. First,
the developer had gone bankrupt. Normally that might not have been a problem
were it not for the second problem. The homeowner’s association was suing the
developer for back association dues and some defects in the exterior paint,
driveways, and roofs. We still felt we were okay. After all, the particular
unit we wanted to buy had none of the roof or driveway problems and we were
more than willing to repaint the outside ourselves. However, no bank was
willing to loan on the property because it was currently involved in the
homeowner’s association lawsuit. So, you have an owner stuck with a house he
can’t sell, a hopeful young couple wanting a house the bank won’t let them buy,
and a long-suffering realtor who is not going to get any money for dozens and
dozens of hours of hard work.

Of course this starts a trickle-down affect that’s bad for the whole community.
Unable to buy the home we want, we will not be going to the furniture store,
the appliance store, or even Costco where the really big flat panel television
screen has been calling my name. When no money changes hands, the economy comes
to a screeching halt.

Aloha Airlines, ATA, and Skybus have all declared bankruptcy and ceased their
passenger flights. This resulted in thousands of people being stranded for one
or more days when they didn’t necessarily have the time, or the money, to be
stranded. People who paid for their airline tickets with these companies by
cash or check are worst off. They can name themselves as a creditor in the
bankruptcy proceeding, but when the whole mess is finally over they’re likely
to get only a fraction of their costs back. Those who paid by credit card are
far luckier; they can call their credit card company and get a charge back
(something I’ll talk about in detail in a later post). However, that doesn’t
help them buy a new ticket on a new airline today. If they don’t have the
available cash or credit to do so, they will remain stuck on the ground. If you
are at home this means you’ll be spending your vacation in your own backyard
(you know, the place you were trying to escape). If you are on vacation, or
visiting family, and can’t afford to instantly buy a new ticket then you’re
stuck with hotel and restaurant bills which you probably don’t have the cash
for either. Worse yet, once you’ve used your vacation time, all that’s left is
sick time standing between you and unpaid time off.

Ticket-holding customers are obviously not the only ones affected by the
bankruptcies of these airlines and the sudden cessation of flights. Passengers
on remaining airlines have experienced delays, overcrowding, and difficulties
in scheduling flights when they need them. Prices on the remaining airlines
have gone up due to consumer demand and to cover the costs of helping out
stranded passengers. Vacations had to be juggled, affecting family, friends,
and coworkers. Tired, frustrated people presented more of a danger on the
roadways. More devastating than all of this, employees of these airlines
suddenly found themselves out of work. That puts financial pressure on many
families and increases competition in the job market. There are fewer jobs to
be had. Some might have to move in order to find a new job. Others could face
the daunting task of starting over in a whole new industry.

For one frustrated passenger, our friend whose visit was unexpectedly extended
due to the cancellation of his ATA flight, the bankruptcy of that business had
a terrible impact on his family, his studies, and his pocket book. To make him
feel better we told him all about the house we couldn’t buy because someone who
didn’t own it had gone bankrupt. We thought about driving by and showing it to
him, but there had already been enough anger and frustration for one day.

Next time: Flying the Empty Skies III: I’m a Consumer, Don’t I Have Rights?

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Related Links:

• More information about corporate bankruptcy.
• Aloha Airlines - get answers to your questions about tickets already purchased, miles, and money owed.
• ATA - get answers to your questions about tickets already purchased, miles, and money owed.
• Skybus – Skybus ceased operation.
• Price trip insurance.
• Champion Air – also declared bankruptcy and cessation of operations, but with ample warning; read their press release.