January 2011 Archives

Would it scare you to know that debt collection companies employ people who have criminal records for identity theft, rape, check forgery, assault, and drunken driving offenses? That's what is happening and it's quite alarming. It appears that even though...
Sunday night a Tulsa woman received alerts from her identity theft protection company notifying her that she had applications out for two different cell phone providers. What she found next is jarring--someone had come by her home and placed a...
Arkansas homeowners Kendra and Todd thought they were living the dream when they became homeowners in August of 2010.  Now they are living a mortgage servicing nightmare. In a story that eerily mirrors my battle to overcome lender errors and...
Under the sunny skies of southern Florida--specifically, those of Palm Beach County--more than two dozen conspirators spent the past four years stealing away some $10 million from 10 banks in the area through all manner of fraud and corruption.That's according...
WE magazine says they searched high and low, posted on social networks and asked their readers to submit their favorite women bloggers for possible inclusion in their 101 Women Bloggers to Watch for 2011. I am honored and delighted to...
A recently released report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration shows potentially hundreds of millions of tax dollars are stolen every year by prison inmates filing tax returns for work they never did asking for tax refunds they...
It appears driver's licenses and credit cards stolen across the country were being sent to South Florida where they were used to make fake identities. Fort Lauderdale detectives say this is an extremely organized ring of crooks that send cards...
Andrea Z has decided to stop fighting to save her home. She's had enough anguish. Her many attempts to obtain that elusive loan modification or any help from EMC Mortgage has  has caused Andrea to lose faith in home ownership...
Some things never change.  When I sued my mortgage company, many years ago, all I wanted to do was get them to correct their repeated accounting errors.  I wanted to get them to handle my mortgage properly. I wanted my...
As I've noted on many occasions, predators of all sorts lurk behind computer screens, slithering through profiles and personal data searching for a vulnerable target.  We've heard of identity thieves, fraudsters and even sexual predators whose sole task seems to...
I am proud to support our men and women who have enlisted in the military.  I feel that they protect my rights, my freedom and my way of life, so I do whatever I can to show them that I...
The number of ways criminals can get their hands on your identity has just expanded by one.  Fraudsters can open a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) in your name and leave you holding the bill. As reported on MSN,...
It pleases me no end to see my friend Casey Jones, a victim-turned-advocate, launch her new website Women Against Con Men (WAC-M.com), a site aimed at supporting  the victims of con-artists. WAC-M takes a proactive role in the prevention of women...
You bought the plane tickets, a bathing suit, and twenty bottles of sunscreen - you're all ready for your vacation.  But before you leave for the airport, you update your Facebook profile page, letting your friends know that you will...
Homeowner advocate and friend, Richard Zombeck, published another great article over at the Huffington Post highlighting Friday's Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling that upheld the March 2009 decision of the lower court saying: a bank can't foreclose on a home...
The Identity Theft Resource Center recorded 662 breaches on its 2010 ITRC Breach List. It is apparent, with few exceptions, that there is no transparency when it comes to reporting breaches.  Other than breaches reported by the media and a...
A series of independent reports have revealed that the number of student loan defaults is rising at a pace faster than the national consumer credit card debt level. The cost of a college education is also rising sharply.These kind of...
A memoir exposing the steep price consumers pay when facing mortgage servicing errors, inaccurate credit reporting, illegal debt collection practices, identity theft and weak consumer protection laws. THE BOOK » DENISE'S STORY »