Related Financial Services - The following Debt Consolidation Loan Directory listings of companies are offered to assist you with gaining control of your personal finances and the management of your money. Also, feel free to review the rest of the sub-directories on DebtConsolidationLoan.com to shop for other finance products, such as credit cards and mortgage refinancing.

• Debt Consolidation Help - Learn about the debt consolidation process and review detailed listings for lenders and services offering to help consolidate your debts.
• Personal Loan Financing - Looking for a smaller loan for the consolidation of debt? Start your search at the directory of personal loans, where you can compare and apply online with different lenders and related companies.
• Debt Management Counseling - Having trouble keeping up with your monthly credit payments? Compare debt management companies in this online list that can try amd help you get a grip on your personal financial situation.

Protect Against Bad Deals and Scams that Arrive by Phone, Letter and the Internet

Beware of crooks impersonating legitimate businesses, charities and other organizations

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Marketers have lots of ways to find out who you are, where you live, and how you're likely to spend your money. While many unsolicited offers may be good deals for you, others may be costly or inappropriate… or even scams. In particular, crooks have become very good at impersonating legitimate businesses, charities and other organizations to trick people into giving out valuable information that can be used to commit identity theft, which involves stealing money using someone else's name.

"The amount of fake products, investments and services advertised online, by e-mail or by telemarketers is staggering," said David Nelson, a fraud specialist at the FDIC.

While laws and industry practices may limit losses for fraud victims in many cases, innocent victims sometimes end up losing money or spending many hours clearing their good name.

Here are a few ways you can be better prepared to know a good deal from a bad one and protect against a variety of scams, including ID theft. (For special guidance on avoiding counterfeit check frauds, see the Avoid Costly Scams Involving Fake Checks and Money Orders.)

Never divulge personal information in response to an unsolicited call, letter or e-mail. Just having information about your checking account may be enough for a thief to obtain a bank draft that deducts funds from your account. So unless you initiate the contact with another party and you know it's reputable, don't provide details such as your Social Security Number, bank account and credit card numbers, personal identification numbers (PINs), date of birth, or your mother's maiden name.

Also don't provide personal information via phone or e-mail in response to an unsolicited e-mail or an Internet advertisement, no matter how legitimate it may appear. That's because there are fraudulent, copycat e-mails and sites that are designed to appear to be from well-known companies. If you want to follow up with a company, use an e-mail address or phone number from a reliable, independent source that you go to on your own.

FDIC Consumer News is published by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

FDIC Consumer News is produced quarterly by the FDIC Office of Public Affairs in cooperation with other Divisions and Offices. It is intended to present information in a nontechnical way and is not intended to be a legal interpretation of FDIC or other government regulations and policies. Mention of a product, service or company does not constitute an endorsement.

Find current and past issues of FDIC Consumer News at http://www.fdic.gov/consumernews. Refer to this same index to locate the issues that are specially formatted for being reprinted in any quantity.

To receive an e-mail notice about each new issue of FDIC Consumer News posted on the FDIC Web site, with links to stories, follow instructions posted at www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html.

Last updated on 2/2/2007

Make better decisions when shopping for banking, debt consolidation and related financial services. Educate yourself!

The Debt Consolidation Loan Directory has a growing library of free informative and educational financial resources for consumers shopping for many types of financial services related to the management of your finances, such as the consolidation of credit card debt, fraud alerts and life insurance. There is no better way to make decisions regarding the management of your personal finances than to read and understand how they work. Please feel free to visit our consumer information library to learn more.

• Do You Know the Warning Signs of Too Much Debt? - Take control of your spending as soon as you recognize any of the warning signs cited by this article provided by CitiFinancial.
• What Do Banks Do? - A bank is a private, for-profit business that offers a variety of financial services to the public.
• Learning about Bank CDs (Certificates of Deposit) - Learn about the different types of bank CDs and how to choose the type that is right for you.
• Pros and Cons of Internet Banking - Review some of the positive and negative aspects of Internet online banking.

DebtConsolidationLoan.com is a service of Infinamic, Inc. All debt consolidation and financial services information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. Infinamic, Inc. is not responsible for the content and services, that may be provided to you, by following the links from this web site. Use this service at your own discretion.