Business Blog

Cell phones, email, social media, auto-dialers, databases, and payment portals.  This ain’t your Father’s debt collection business.  That’s why an April 28, 2011, FTC workshop, Debt Collection 2.0:  Protecting Consumers as Technologies Change, will focus on the impact developments like these are having on the consumer debt collection system.  As the agenda shows, the conversation will center on how technologies affect debt collectors’ compliance with the law and the consumer protection concerns these new methods

Science, studies, and statistics. There’s a reason advertisers feature them so prominently. When used accurately, they can be powerful tools for distinguishing your product from the competitors. But scientific claims — especially health-related ones — need solid proof.

It may have happened to an employee, one of your customers, or a member of your family.  Someone calls to report “You’re a winner!” of a foreign lottery.  To collect, all they have to do is wire money to cover the taxes and fees.  Or the caller impersonates a grandchild or other friend-in-need and says they’re desperate to have money wired now.  Both are examples of the elaborate schemes scam artists have come up with to try to convince people to wire cash to someone they don’t know.

According to the FTC’s recent settlement with Google, when people declined to sign up for Google Buzz, the company’s new social network, Google nonetheless enrolled them in certain features without their consent.

But what about people who clicked the link that said “Sweet! Check out Buzz”?  The FTC’s complaint alleged that they, too, weren’t adequately informed that certain information that had been private — including the people they chatted with or emailed most often — would be shared publicly by default.

“Sweet!  Check out Buzz.”

“Nah, go to my inbox.”

That was the intriguing choice facing Gmail users last year when Google launched Google Buzz, its social network. But according to a settlement announced this week by the FTC, the company violated the privacy promises it made to Gmail users and used deceptive tactics in the Buzz rollout.

No, not those unpleasant former colleagues, but the resurgent bane of the business traveler:  bedbugs.

Bedbugs are coming out of the woodwork — followed closely by opportunists peddling iffy products aimed at on-the-go professionals.  Although bedbugs don't carry disease, their bites can cause itchy, annoying welts.  But before you shell out money for an unproven remedy, find out more about what will (and won't) protect you from these pests when you travel.

Incessant phone calls to consumers, often about accounts that weren't theirs.

Repeated autocalls to wrong numbers.

Illegal disclosures to other people that a consumer owes money.

Two hot topics in the advertising arena:  affiliate marketing and consumer testimonials.  The FTC’s settlement with Legacy Learning Systems touches on both of those buzzworthy issues.

In place since 1977, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act gives consumers rights in the debt collection process and sets standards for members of the industry.