If receive a debt validation letter, please read the fine print on both the stationary and envelope!

Debt collection tactics in the AE case:

• The top of the letter contains an address, but no company name.
• In small type at the bottom right of the letter are the initials DBAMEXBS….as in, Doing Business as American Express BS!
• The envelope contains no company name or address.
• The date of the letter is different than the official “post office” date on the envelope.  The date on the envelope reveals that it was mailed ten days later. Why the time lag?
• The sender gives the intended victim 30 days to dispute the debt “from the date of this letter” (or else!).  By holding the letter for two weeks, the debt collection group hopes to heighten fear in the heart of the recipient – convincing them to call the phone number listed on the letter.
• Even the amount of the disputed debt is wrong.
• The zip code included on the stationary and envelope are not even close.

If you receive an American Express debt collection letter that appears fraudulent, don’t call the number listed! If the sender failed to include your full credit card number, they don’t have it. Don’t provide it.

Phone American Express directly to validate your debt.  If you owe money but don’t wish to phone American Express, you should: 1) contact an attorney; or 2) respond in a few sentences stating that you dispute the debt. Full stop. No more.  Type your name, but don’t sign the letter. Don’t give your signature to crooks.

How could such a debt collection group get their hands on American Express credit card dispute cases?

The following article by Jeffrey Horowitz of the American Banker provides insight.

Bank of America has sold collections agencies rights to sue over credit card debts that it has privately noted were potentially inaccurate or already repaid.

In a series of 2009 and 2010 transactions, Bank of America sold credit card receivables to an outfit called CACH LLC, based in Denver. Co. Each month CACH bought debts with a face value of as much as $65 million for 1.8 cents on the dollar. At least a portion of the debts were legacy accounts acquired from MBNA, which Bank of America purchased in 2006.

The pricing reflected the accounts’ questionable quality, but what is notable is that the bank could get anything at all for them. B of A was not making “any representations, warranties, promises, covenants, agreements, or guaranties of any kind or character whatsoever” about the accuracy or completeness of the debts’ records, according to a 2010 credit card sales agreement submitted to a California state court in a civil suit involving debt that B of A had sold to CACH.

In the “as is” documents Bank of America has drawn up for such sales, it warned that it would initially provide no records to support the amounts it said are owed and might be unable to produce them. It also stated that some of the claims it sold might already have been extinguished in bankruptcy court. B of A has additionally cautioned that it might be selling loans whose balances are “approximate” or that consumers have already paid back in full. Maryland resident Karen Stevens was the victim of one such sale, which resulted in a three-year legal battle (see related story).

Bank of America declined requests to comment for this story, other than to say through spokeswoman Betty Riess that it works with credit card customers to try to resolve delinquent debt issues. CACH did not respond to several phone and email messages seeking comment on the terms of its purchases.

Some industry observers said that the language in Bank of America’s sales documents should be regarded as standard legalese intended to protect it against a disgruntled buyer’s legal claims. And even though Bank of America refused to stand behind the accuracy of the records it sold, debt buyers are the ones who make the call to sue.

Protecting your rights,

Dr. Joyce Starr

Related Post:

Credit Card Company Beats Wall Street Estimates by Raising Interest Rates

Master Card and Visa have been gouging cardholders for years, while American Express remained consumer and small business-owner friendly. Not any more. American Express raised interest rates about a year ago. Rates were hiked by over 5 percent annually in our low interest economy. The purported reason: Too many cardholders were walking away …

American Express Credit Fraud Alert – Phony Debt Collection on Behalf of American Express originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on May 14, 2012.

…instead of arguing about dignity, the justices disagreed about the practical question of whether invasive strip-searches are reasonably necessary to serve the interests of the jails and prisons. Kennedy’s majority opinion said that they were. Justice Stephen Breyer, in dissent, pointed to studies finding the opposite. In one, conducted in New York under the supervision of the federal courts, one prisoner out of 23,000 searched had hidden contraband in his body in a way that would have avoided detection by X-ray and a pat-down. A California study found three instances out of 75,000 prisoners strip- searched.

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the strip-searches, however well-intentioned when first instituted, now function to humiliate people being put behind bars, sending the message that they are now essentially nonpersons, under the full control of the state.

Bloomberg – Noah Feldman, April 8, 2012

The line between politicians and Supreme Court Justices grows thinner.

“There are two main drivers pushing privacy into the dustbin of history, and both are related to technology. One is the increasing effectiveness of government surveillance. Cameras follow you in most public places in London today, and New York is catching up. Diffusion scanners at the airport already show you essentially naked. The coalition Conservative-Liberal Democratic government in the U.K. is preparing to allow the state to collect, without a warrant or even suspicion, all information on calls or texts except the content. The government’s ability to do all of these things causes many of us to think, irrationally, that it is reasonable for it to do so.”

Further wisdom about our esteemed “rulers”:

The problem with political jokes is they get elected. ~Henry Cate, VII  (The problem with Supreme Court Justices is that they don’t.)

We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. ~Aesop

If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these acceptance speeches there wouldn’t be any inducement to go to heaven. ~Will Rogers

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~Plato

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. ~Nikita Khrushchev

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I’m beginning to believe it. ~Clarence Darrow

Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you. ~Author Unknown

Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel. ~John Quinton

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. ~Oscar Ameringer

I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them. ~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952

A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country. ~Texas Guinan

Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so. ~Gore Vidal

I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. ~Charles de Gaulle

Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. ~Ronald Reagan

Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks. ~Doug Larson

Don’t vote, it only encourages them. ~Author Unknown

There ought to be one day – just one – when there is open season on senators. ~Will Rogers

Ode to Politicians & Supreme Court Justices: Sacrificing Your Dignity for Their Principles originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on April 16, 2012.

Rusty Shopping Carts

Rusty grocery shopping carts endanger your food and health – along with children who sit in the carts and touch the rusty edges.

Our local grocery chain offers dozens of filthy, rusty shopping carts at any given time.  I line the bottom and small top shelf with pages from the small newspaper the grocery store provides for free. I can’t stand the thought of my groceries – including the bags – touching the rust.

One day I asked the manager: “Why is your company putting our food and lives in danger?” He responded that they pressure cleans the carts every few months and replace about a third of the carts once a year. That’s not good enough.

Basically, our grocery chain (and most) believe that rusty grocery shopping carts are a way of life – your life, to be exact.

If they dramatically cleaned – or recycled carts – more often, we’d be safer, but their bottom line would be reduced.  Alternatively, they  pass the costs on to consumers, it could also hurt their bottom line.

It’s too bad that doing the right thing isn’t more obvious for grocery chains.

Let your local grocery store know that rusted carts are not acceptable.

Here’s looking at you, Publix and Winn Dixie.

Food Insecurity: Rusty Grocery Shopping Carts Endanger Your Food, Health & Children originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on March 7, 2012.

Let’s make one joint resolution for 2012.  We won’t let toxic people – persistently negative personalities – dictate our lives.

I chanced on a book that can’t be judged by the black border that swallows the cover…or the year it was first published (1999). The content is more current than the evening news. Stop suffering! Here’s the link to learn more + reviews.

How to Hug a Porcupine: Dealing With Toxic & Difficult to Love Personalities

How to deal with Toxic People

5.0 out of 5 stars Life-Changing Book, April 22, 2001

Dr. Lund’s book is one of the most influential books I have read. The subtitle to the book is “Dealing with Toxic and Difficult to Love Personalities.” His prior book “The Art of Giving and Receiving Criticism,” contained some of the information in this current book, but “How to Hug a Porcupine” is better organized and more concise.

The book spends a large amount of time in identifying the characteristics of “emotional porcupines.” These emotional porcupines are usually people that seek to control their lives and the lives of others. They constantly throw emotional quills and consequently are difficult to hug without impaling one’s self. The most interesting part of the book is on how to live with a “porcupine.” The strength of this self-help book is that it gives you concrete ways to protect and arm yourself from the damaging quills of emotional porcupines.

Soon after reading this book, I changed my cell phone to read “No Critics”, to remind me of the damage that any criticism (there is no such thing as constructive criticism according to Lund) can do to others and to remind me to not criticize.

Dr. Lund’s book is full of insight and, most importantly, methods on how to improve yourself if you are a porcupine and also on how to deal with porcupines without damaging your own ego. Dr. Lund also has a tape out that covers similar material, but I believe was recorded well before he wrote this book. This is a book that can help anyone in their relationships with children, siblings, parents or spouses.

How to Hug a Porcupine: Dealing With Toxic & Difficult to Love Personalities

___________________

How To Hug a Porcupine should be read by every person who is in or has been in a toxic relationship. I found this book to be one of the most inspiring self-help books I have ever read. I found it difficult to read at times, because I felt I was reliving my past. Dr. Lund starts out with a very detailed Table of Contents, outlining every chapter. There are numerous case studies, I appreciated the fact that they didn’t always work out like the textbook said they should. There are quizzes to take. Specific step-by-step directions on how to help you become a more healthy person despite the porcupines in your life. Dr. Lund helps you learn how to use “armored gloves and other tools” in dealing with any toxic person – young, old, spouse, child. I have found many useful ideas in helping me become a more healthy person. This book is awesome, I highly recommend it!

How to Hug a Porcupine: Dealing With Toxic & Difficult to Love Personalities

___________________

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr Lund helped me survive living with an abusive person for so long….

Dr. John Lund, in his book How to Hug a Porcupine outlines the steps to living with someone who is difficult to love, toxic to be around and or abusive to you and others. 

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book! Potential life changer.

Great book for content. My wife and I are reading it and we are learning some good things to try in or marriage. Read more.

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow…

I love this book. It discusses all types of people, & situations. I bought it primarily to gain some thoughts & insights about one of my daughters…

How to Hug a Porcupine: Dealing With Toxic & Difficult to Love Personalities

How to Hug a Porcupine: Dealing with Toxic People originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on January 12, 2012.

I wrote the following letter to our property manager following an incident with our condo security company.  The security company owner apologized and the guard in question was removed from our property.  Both the property manager and owner agreed that his behavior was unacceptable.

Do you have security guard stories to share?  Please use our comment form.  We’d love to hear from you.

I want to file a complaint  against the security guard who was on duty last night.

I used the flashing lights on my car  around 6:15 pm, but failed to turn them off.  The lights were flashing when I returned to the condo at 6:30 pm (when it was still light out) until 9:00 pm, when a resident phoned me.  She noticed the lights from her window and warned that my battery was draining.

In fact, by the time I reached the car, the battery was dead.

It was impossible for the security guard to miss the flashing lights, since I’m parked near the entrance to the building.

He undoubtedly saw them blinking for several hours while he circled the parking lot.  But he didn’t bother to phone me.

I found him riding around in his little vehicle, no more than 30 feet from my car. I demanded to know why he failed to alert me. The guard replied: “It’s not my job. My job is to stop cars that shouldn’t park here.”

WHAT?  I then said, “It’s your job to warn residents if their lights are on.  You work for us.  WE pay your
salary.”

He said: “No, it isn’t my job.  If I have free time, then I might do something.  But it’s the resident’s problem, not mine.”

I waved down a passing cab and asked for help.  Our security guard watched with amusement while the cab driver jumped my car with cables I had on hand.

Another owner left her parking lights on several months ago.  But the guard on duty that night never phoned.  How much effort could it possibly be?  Clearly, our security guards think they work for bricks and mortar, not for the people who pay their salaries.

A security guard also plastered a visitor’s car with the type of warning stickers that can’t easily be removed.  What’s wrong with this picture?  The visitor had a temporary parking permit hanging in clear site!

Imagine if there was a life-threatening emergency? How fast would our guard would he drive his little cart in the opposite direction?

Respectfully,

Dr. Joyce Starr

Condo Security Guards: Your Rights – Their Responsibilities originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on December 21, 2011.

I was shocked, because there was no public connection between us.

Our “private” communications were limited to a half-dozen recent emails about my latest book project.

He had a LinkedIn account/profile, but hadn’t updated it for over a year.

When I told him about the LinkedIn email, ” he promptly deleted his account.

We concluded that LinkedIn might be using spyware to: 1) harvest my email contacts and/or 2) scanned my recent emails when I clicked a link in one of their emails.

And then it happened again.

LinkedIn sent me an email asking if I knew the tech support person at a company that hosts one of my websites.

I wrote and asked him how LinkedIn could possibly know about our recent “private” communications. Again, there is no public connection whatsoever.

He wrote back with a bombshell: “A few days ago I went on the LinkedIn webpage to start an account. The last step shows a list of people you may know based on the e-mail address that you have entered — which means that it must go through the e-mail history in order to see who else from those email addresses matches a LinkedIn account. I actually decided not to join Linkedin because of the fact that I didn’t like it was already making suggestions for me before I even signed up for an account.”

How could LinkedIn could suggest his name to me – and my name to him – us unless they scanned my email history and preserved the information in a database, or alternatively, could somehow scan his email contacts without even sending him an email.

I don’t have answers, only questions.  If you know more, please share it with our readers.

Related Posts:

LinkedIn Abused Trust – Said, Oh So Sorry – Rights Radio™ with Dr …

LinkedIn was hijacking user photos and reputations to advertise third-party products.The default option hidden under settings. Users could .

How to Counter Cyber Threats and Identity Theft Attacks: Homeland Security Begins at Home

Rights Radio.com features “Homeland Security Begins at Home” with Cyberterrorism Expert David Gewirtz on November 5, 2008. Topic: Stop Cyber Threats & Identity Theft Attacks on Your Home or Office. Guest: Dr David Gewirtz (ZATZ.com), prolific author, Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals and a columnist for …

Warning: Is LinkedIn using spyware to harvest private email contacts? originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on December 16, 2011.

Europeans ban US body scanners.

The controversy over airport body scanners – and how safe they are – is taking on new urgency after European authorities this month banned the machines after studies linked them to a small number of cancer cases.

The same type of backscatter scanners, which emit low-level radiation, are used at dozens of U.S. airports, including Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Orlando international airports.

Sari Koshetz, spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, said it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on the Nov. 14 decision by the European Commission, which affects all airports in Europe. But she maintains the scanners are safe, even for pregnant women and children.

“We rigorously test our technology to ensure it meets our high detection and safety standards before it is placed in airports,” she said.

Still, Steve Landes, director of the South Florida Airline Commuters Association, which has several hundred frequent flier members, said those who have to fly two to three times a week might want to avoid the scanner.

“Let’s put it this way, I would have to be a fool to say I wouldn’t have any concerns,” said Landes, of Boyton Beach.

The backscatter scanners use low-level radiation to detect dangerous items, notably explosives, on passengers. The TSA also uses a second type of scanner that relies on millimeter-wave technology, or radio waves, to search for dangerous items.

Those machines, which health authorities consider to be safer, have been installed at eight commercial airports in Florida, including those in Miami and Palm Beach.

Koshetz said the decision to install the radiation-emitting backscatter scanners in Fort Lauderdale in May 2010 was “complex” and involved numerous factors, including checkpoint configuration and the availability of those scanners at the time.

Helping to convince European authorities to impose the ban was a recent PBS Newshour/ProPublica report, which said: “Research suggests that anywhere from six to 100 U.S. airline passengers each year could get cancer from the machines.” Scientific American also ran a story, detailing the results of the PBS/ProPublic investigation.

The report follows previous studies that had also concluded the scanners could trigger cancer cases among the tens of millions of passengers who pass through airports each year.

 

Only 300 dangerous or illegal items

With more than 250 backscatter scanners at 100 of the busiest U.S. airports, only 300 “dangerous or illegal” items have been identified since January 2010.  The TSA doesn’t won’t tell us how many were actually dangerous.  What were the costs in dollars and cancer risk per each dangerous item?

Airport Scanners – European Commission Bans US Backscatter Scanners – Cancer Risks originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on December 1, 2011.

Rates were hiked by over 5 percent annually in our low interest economy.

The purported reason: Too many cardholders were walking away from their obligations. Or so American Express said.

Naturally, the company beat recent estimates with a fantastic quarter in October, 2011 by borrowing low and charging high. (What a surprise.)

Small business owners tend to carry a higher monthly balance, with carry-over.  Those who continued to pay their monthly bill on time were penalized, and economic life became even more difficult.  With the increase in rates, hundreds of thousands (or perhaps millions) of cardholders might never catch up to their debt.

American Express made out like a …bank… on the backs of loyal cardholders.

While American Express rates still remain substantially lower than the competition, there is no excuse for a 15 to 22 percent/plus interest rate by any credit card company – especially on customers with excellent payment records.  But who is going to stop them?

American Express told cardholders: If you don’t accept the increase, you can close the card,  but you must pay the remaining balance due – with heavy interest of course.

Perhaps it’s time for closer scrutiny.

Here’s what American Express said in 2010:

“We still face the challenge of high unemployment levels, depressed real estate values, and shrunken household balance sheets, but the overall economy and our company are in stronger shape than they were a year ago,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth I. Chenault.  Shares  were trading at $41.81.

By October, 2011, earnings had risen to over $1.00 per share, the company was worth more than $5.7 billion and their stock prices exceeded $52 at it’s October high – more than a 30% percent increase.  Shareholders were celebrating.  Cardholders….not so much.

Credit Card Company Beats Wall Street Estimates by Raising Interest Rates originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on November 6, 2011.

Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:  “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property – until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

THOMAS JEFFERSON…

At 5, began studying under his cousin’s tutor.

At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French.

At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.

At 16, entered the College of William and Mary.

At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.

At 23, started his own law practice.

At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.

At 31, wrote the widely circulated “Summary View of the Rights of British America ” and retired from his law practice.

At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.

At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence.

At 33, took three years to revise Virginia s legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.

At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry.

At 40, served in Congress for two years.

At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.

At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.

At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.

At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party.

At 57, was elected the third president of the United States.

At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation’s size.

At 61, was elected to a second term as President.

At 65, retired to Monticello.

At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.

At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president.

 At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence.
John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: “This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.    Thomas Jefferson

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.    Thomas Jefferson

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.  A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.    Thomas Jefferson

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.      Thomas Jefferson

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.      Thomas Jefferson

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.      Thomas Jefferson

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.      Thomas Jefferson

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.      Thomas Jefferson

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.      Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson said in 1802: I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.  If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property – until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.

Thomas Jefferson – Banks are more dangerous than standing armies. originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on October 18, 2011.

However, less widely known is a Pride of lions, a Murder of crows (as well as their cousins the rooks and ravens), an Exaltation of doves and, presumably because they look so wise, a Parliament of owls.

Now consider a group of Baboons. They are the loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive and least intelligent of all primates. And what is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons?

Believe it or not . . . a Congress!

You just can’t make this stuff up.

“Life’s tough . . . it’s even tougher if you’re stupid.” — John Wayne

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.  — Mark Twain

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.   — John Adams

(Courtesy of Dr. David Goldenberg.)

Pride of Lions, Gaggle of Geese, Exaltation of Doves & Congress of… originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on October 18, 2011.