Managing Debt For Dummies
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Federal laws and agencies govern lender behavior when you apply for and use credit, protecting you from creditors who engage in illegal or bad credit practices.

  • The Equal Credit Opportunity Act: This law prohibits creditors from discriminating against you because of your race, country of national origin, gender, age, religion, or marital status. Lenders are also prohibited from discriminating against you because you receive public assistance.

  • The Home Equity Loan Consumer Protection Act: This law requires lenders to give you specific kinds of written information about the terms of a home equity loan or home equity line of credit before you apply for it.

  • The Truth in Lending Act: This law requires creditors to provide you with specific written information about the terms of their credit offers in order to help you understand the cost of the credit and to make it easier for you to compare credit offers.

If you believe that a creditor has violated your rights under one of these laws, you can try to resolve the problem by

  • Writing a complaint letter to the creditor.

  • Contacting a consumer law attorney. Depending on the nature of your problem and the amount of money involved, the attorney may recommend filing a lawsuit.

  • Filing a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) if your complaint is with a creditor other than a bank, savings and loan, or credit union. You can file a complaint online at the Federal Trade Commission Web site or by calling 877-382-4357.

    It’s a good idea to complain to the FTC even if you sue the creditor. If the FTC receives a lot of complaints about the creditor or about a particular practice within the creditor’s industry, the organization may file a class action lawsuit on behalf of all consumers who have been harmed by the creditor. Also, sometimes as a result of consumer complaints, Congress passes new legislation or amends existing laws.

If a bank, savings and loan, or credit union has violated your legal rights, register a complaint with the federal agency or office that oversees the lender. Exactly who to contact depends on the kind of lender you want to complain about. Here are your options:

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book authors:

John Ventura: John is a best-selling author and a nationally boardcertified bankruptcy attorney. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law School and the director of the Texas Consumer Complaint Center at the Law School.
As a young boy, John dreamed of becoming a Catholic priest so he could help everyday people, and he spent his high school years in a Catholic seminary. After graduating, however, John decided to achieve his dream by combining journalism with the law. Therefore, he earned an undergraduate degree in journalism and a law degree from the University of Houston Law School. Later, he and a partner established a law firm in Texas, building it into one of the most successful consumer bankruptcy firms in the state. He subsequently began a successful consumer law firm in South Texas.
Today, as Director of the Texas Consumer Complaint Center, he supervises law students as they help consumers with their legal problems. He is also a regular speaker at law conferences around the country and serves on the Bankruptcy Council for the Texas Bar Association.
John is the author of 13 books on consumer and small business legal matters, including Law For Dummies, 2nd edition; The Everyday Law Kit For Dummies; Divorce For Dummies, 2nd edition; and Good Advice for a Bad Economy (Berkeley Books). John has been interviewed about consumer money matters by numerous national media including CNN, NBC, NPR, Bloomberg Television & Radio, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Money, Inc. Martha Stewart’s Living, Bottomline, Entrepreneur, Bankrate.com, CBSMarketWatch.com, and MSNMoney.com. In addition, his comments and advice have appeared in major newspapers around the country, and he has been a frequent guest on local radio programs.

Mary Reed: Mary Reed is a personal finance writer who has coauthored or ghostwritten numerous books on topics related to consumer money matters and legal rights. The books she has coauthored with John Ventura include The Everyday Law Kit for Dummies, Divorce For Dummies, and Good Advice for a Bad Economy (Berkeley Books). Mary has also written for the magazines Good Housekeeping, Home Office Computing, and Small Business Computing, and she has ghostwritten numerous articles that have appeared in national and local publications.
Mary is also the owner of Mary Reed Public Relations (MR•PR), an Austin, Texas-based firm that provides public relations services to a wide variety of clients, including authors, publishers, attorneys, financial planners, healthcare professionals, retailers, hotels, restaurants, and nonprofits.
Prior to starting her public relations business and writing career 20 years ago, she was vice president of marketing for a national market research firm, marketing director for a women’s healthcare organization, and public relations manager for Texas Monthly, a national award-winning magazine. She received her MBA from Boston University and her BA from Trinity University in Washington, DC.
In her free time, Mary serves on the board of a community development corporation in her neighborhood. She also enjoys long morning bike rides, road trips with her husband, gardening, working her way through the stack of books by her bed, taking care of her six cats, and spending time with her family and many friends.

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