MilConsumer Blog Feed

Are you a Coast Guard service member who needs help with managing your personal finances? Have you tried to access certain resources to no avail? Are you currently having problems with budgeting, paying bills on time, accumulating debt, divorce and/or retirement planning? Well, you are in luck, Coast Guard has a Personal Financial Management Program dedicated to serving the great men and women of the Coast Guard to include their family members.

Because of their steady income, their highly mobile lifestyle, and the fact that they are held to higher standards of debt repayment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, servicemembers can fall prey to a variety of scams including identity theft, telemarketing and phishing (which is when crooks attempt to get personal information from you that they can then use to defraud you). Scammers take advantage of those who are financially vulnerable and lacking in financial education.

As more individual investors consider adding futures and off-exchange foreign currency (forex) trading to their investment portfolios, it is essential that they find out as much as they can about a firm before opening a trading account. That’s why National Futures Association (NFA) has been working diligently to upgrade our investor research capabilities in an effort to provide greater transparency for futures investors and assist them in conducting due diligence.

Identity theft is an unfortunate fact of modern life. Do you know what to do if your identity is stolen? How can you make identity protection part of your routine? Get answers to these and other identity theft questions during our Twitter Chat July 10 at 2 pm (EDT). FTC staff will host a one-hour session with our partners at DoD’s Military One Source and Military Saves.

Today marks the 10 th anniversary of the opening of the National Do Not Call Registry. What a fitting day for the FTC’s announcement of the biggest civil penalty ever collected in a Do Not Call case. Mortgage Investors Corporation has agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle charges that its telemarketers called more than 5.4 million current and former U.S. service members whose phone numbers were on the Do Not Call Registry. According to the FTC...

Military Consumer Protection Day is right around the corner! Mark your calendars for July 17. To get in gear, we’re hosting a Twitter Chat June 26 at 2pm (EDT)

Are you a servicemember who’s curious about credit? Or are you dealing with debt? Maybe you’re a military spouse who wants some tips on managing money. Then join us for a Twitter chat about consumer protection issues on June 19 at 2 p.m, Eastern.

Calling all military families and veterans! Are you looking to protect yourself or your family from fraud, identity theft, and scams? Maybe you’re curious about the best way to use credit, shop for a used car, or maximize your security online. Military folks are consumers, too – and critical to the economy. Just ask the 1.4 million men and women on active duty or the 1.1 million in the National Guard and Reserve forces. But the unique challenges of military life – frequent relocation, separation from family and friends, and the stresses of deployment – can make military households an attractive target for scam artists. In fact, during 2012 the Federal Trade Commission logged more than 62,000 complaints from servicemembers, veterans, and spouses about their experiences in the marketplace. That led the FTC and its partners to sponsor Military Consumer Protection Day on July 17, 2013.

Our Robocall Challenge generated advice we wanted to share, from consumers who say they’re using certain tricks to stop these harassing calls now. Here are some tips to help you reduce robocalls.

Last year, we asked people about their experiences with 17 types of fraud, and learned that nearly 11 percent of U.S. adults, or an estimated 25.6 million people, had paid for fraudulent products and services in 2011.