Comparing Related Financial Services - In addition to the credit card company advertisers listed below, Debtconsolidationloan.com offers a wide variety of consumer finance program listings to assist you with controlling your debts and other money management needs. Consolidate credit card bills with debt consolidation loans or use a credit counseling service for help with your getting your monthly budget under control.

• Debt Settlement Help - High credit card balances making your monthly payments impossible to meet? The negotiation of your outstanding bills with your creditors may be a good debt solution for you. Educate yourself on your options and compare available programs.
• Consumer Debt Management - Do you feel that your credit card bills are stacking up with nowhere for you to turn? Your problem is not unique. Signing up with debt management firm may be the right solution to your debt problems. Review different firms offering these services to determine if this is the correct option for you.
• Need Personal Loan - Need a smaller loan? Personal loan financing is most often unsecured. Meaning... your home or personal property is not used as collateral and the loan decision will typically be based upon your credit history and your ability to make the necessary payments. Also, this is often referred to as a signature loan.

Avoid Costly Scams Involving Fake Checks and Money Orders

Consumers and businesses often lose thousands of dollars in transactions with con artists

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Walk away from any deal if you get a check for more than the amount due and you're instructed to return the difference. Let's say you sell a $5,000 item over the Internet and the buyer sends a check or money order for $10,000. The buyer, who has an explanation why the check is for more than what you expected, instructs you to deposit the check and wire the excess amount to his account or to the account of an associate. It may take a couple of weeks, but eventually the check will be returned as counterfeit.

Using our example, you may need to reimburse your bank for $10,000, even if that's far more money than you have in your account. You may also have lost the item you were selling.

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 2/1/2007

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

The Debt Consolidation Loan Directory has a growing library of free informative / educational consumer resources for those shopping for many types of services related to the management of your finances, such as credit card consolidation, avoiding fraud and mortgage financing. There is no better way to make decisions regarding the management of your personal finances than understand how they work. Please feel free to visit our consumer information library.

• Fraud that Targets the Elderly - Senior citizens are often the targets of fraud and identity theft. Among the reasons: Some older people have considerable assets (including their own home and savings accounts), they're easy to find at home, and they can be swayed by fears of losing their financial independence. (source: FDIC).
• Vishing: Voice Phishing Phone-Based Scams - The FDIC has warned numerous times about "phishing" scams. This notice from FDIC informs you about "vishing," which stands for "voice phishing." It is very similar to the technique discussed above, except that "vishing" usually is initiated with an email.
• Warning: Identity Thieves Target Young People, Too - Criminals also target young people even though they may be too young to have a checking account or credit card of their own. Identity thieves can use a young adult's name, address and Social Security Number to open fraudulent accounts. This FDIC article offers tips on how to help protect young adults from this type of fraud. This advice is pretty good for adults, as well.

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