 Mixed in with the many honest businesses, I'm sad to say that there are a TON of ethically challenged businesses out there too. They especially prey on elders, offering them outrageously overpriced goods and services, using all the time-tested tricks of the trade, trying to make it look like they are doing you a favor, and that you might have to "qualify" to do business with them -- when the only qualification is excessive trust in strangers by you, and a willingness to give out private information to total strangers. These people will use any information they can get to take advantage of you (and they will sell and trade that information to similarly exploitation-minded outfits -- along with the key fact, that you were so foolish as to respond to their mailing).
There's a good saying that "Good deals don't call you on the telephone" and the same goes in spades for junk mail like this. Honest businesses don't try to make money off you by selling you wildly overpriced insurance. I wish there was a way to require outfits like this to put a skull-and-crossbones watermark on every page of every letter they send out, because then you'd have a chance of realizing what pirates they are.
Lots of people have their wages stolen -- not just undocumented immigrants (whom the wage laws also protect), but also fully-documented, legal-to-work immigrants and native US-born workers of every kind and color.
One of the most common ways unscrupulous employers try to steal wages is by pretending that someone is an "independent contractor" and using that fiction as they seek to evade the minimum wage laws.
If your boss is stealing your wages, get help. Contact an attorney.
 (hat tip to "The Housekeeping Report") NCOA Issues Updated Guide for Seniors Considering a Reverse Mortgage
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) today issued the 2013 version of Use Your Home to Stay at Home™, the official reverse mortgage consumer booklet approved by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). The guide is designed to help seniors understand the pros and cons of a reverse mortgage. Reverse mortgages allow homeowners who are 62 or older to convert home equity into cash while remaining in the home. Amy Ford, director of NCOA’s Reverse Mortgage Counseling Services Network, called the guide “an older homeowner’s best resource when it comes to examining whether a reverse mortgage is right for them.” A free copy of the guide is available (download the pdf by clicking here).
 Tomorrow is the first edition of my new attempt to consolidate conversations with people thinking about starting a nonprofit. If you want me to notify you when I schedule the second edition, shoot me an email at nonprofits@johngearlaw.com.Here was the original announcement for the January session: I am getting so many inquiries and having so many talks with people who are thinking of starting nonprofits that I am going to shift to a group format for meeting with people who are thinking about it, so I can help them know what they're getting into -- before they do. "Looking Before Leaping: The Pre-Startup Checklist for People Thinking About Starting a Nonprofit in Oregon" The first presentation will be [changed to my conference room]. Bring your whole team if you're working with others on your idea (note, if too many folks sign up, I may ask to reschedule your group if it's large). HOW TO RESERVE A SEAT: Seating is limited, so if you want to assure your seat, send me an email ( nonprofits@johngearlaw.com) letting me know you want to attend. Include the following information: - Name of each person to attend
- Best phone number to reach each person
- A brief description of the nonprofit you are thinking of starting:
- its mission
- kind of nonprofit (if you know)
- where you are in your planning
- whether you have a business plan
- and the existing nonprofits you would use as examples.
 From The Oregonian:The settlement, announced in February, sets aside $1.5 billion for direct payments to about 2 million borrowers nationwide whose homes were foreclosed between 2008 and 2011 by one of five participating mortgage servicers: Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
But nearly 10,000 Oregon residents haven't filed claims since notices were sent out in September. The deadline for claims is Jan. 18.
In Oregon, payments would be at least $840, though it depends on the number of claims. Claims can be filed by returning the forms mailed in September, or at nationalmortgagesettlement.com.
 The Federal Trade Commission is proposing to weaken the "Cooling Off Rule" that helps protect consumers from abuse by sellers who sell you goods away from their regular place of business (door-to-door, or the traveling shows that rent hotel rooms, etc.).For whatever strange reason, the FTC is proposing to allow more sales to escape the rule by raising the threshold dollar value from $25 to $130. This is dumb. Instead of weakening the rule, the FTC should strengthen consumer protection by making it clear that internet sales are covered by the rule. Here's the comment I submitted at the FTC comment site.
Rather than diminish the protections afforded by the cooling off rule, the FTC should instead make clear that all internet sales are presumptively governed by the rule, and require that sellers adhere to the rule for goods and services purchased over the internet except
(1) When the "goods" consist of software that is downloaded immediately upon conclusion of the purchase transaction; or
(2) when the buyer is informed, with a clear and conspicuous disclosure, that the cooling off period is limited to the lesser of three days or the period before seller delivers the goods to the delivery carrier for delivery to the consumer;
AND, if the seller does not transfer the goods to the carrier within the promised period, then the buyer may refuse the goods at delivery and receive a full refund of the total price paid, including delivery charges.
A student loan expert writes:
The Dept. of Ed has released a new form for borrowers who wish to select Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR), or the new Pay-As-You-Earn plan (available starting tomorrow). This form replaces the repayment section form AND the alternative documentation of income form (ADOI).
Borrowers should use this form; however, the Department of Education will continue to accept the old forms until April 2013.
Here is the Department’s announcement: http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN1222.html.
With luck, having only one form to complete will be easier for borrowers.
 Take special notice of how this works: you get a very official looking email from "Service@paypal.com" --
And that address (Service@paypal.com) is all that appears in the email reader.
It's only when you right-click on it to make it reveal the full address is the bogus actual address (peypal.com) revealed ... and some folks would miss the shift anyway (peypal vs. paypal). "Phishing" is where the scammer doesn't steal your information directly -- rather, the scammer "fishes" for information in such a way as to lure you into GIVING it to him/her. Don't fall for it!
Remember, simple online safety rule #1:
Observe the same safety precautions online as you do on the telephone.
Just as you would never give out personal information to someone who called you (RIGHT??), you should never give account information about yourself or your digital world to anyone who initiated the contact with you, particularly through an email.
 I'm skeptical of any bright-line rule that says that a nonprofit is no good because it spends too great a percentage of its revenue on administrative overhead. In fact, what I tend to see is the exact opposite: nonprofits that starve their administrative side in an effort to please the raters, which only sets them up for terrible problems of the gravest sort, including embezzlement, failure to find or retain good people, employment and wage claims, etc. The bottom line is that nonprofits are small businesses, and running small businesses is not easy, especially newer and smaller ones. So bright-line cutoffs are usually to be taken with a big grain of salt.
Ok, that said, here are some outfits that require a charitable interpretation of the word "charity" just to be considered as one. In other words, these aren't close -- these are the stinkers that cause good nonprofits such problems, because when the public gets a whiff of these stinkers, all nonprofits get a bad name. The best thing to do with this list is check it before you write your end-of-year gift checks -- and make sure you avoid these outfits. I'll just give the top three -- download the full list of 20 below.
Organization Average Annual Percent Spent
Expenditures Charitable Cause
Law Enforcement Education Program $2,299,994 2.7%
Troy, MI
Shiloh International Ministries $846,340 3.2%
La Verne, CA
American Medical
Research Organization $783,217 4.2%
Sarasota, FL
(I'm pleased to note that there are no Oregon nonprofits among this "Worst 20" list, although sad to see several in Everett, Washington.)
 | attorney_generals_20_worst_charities_2012.pdf | | File Size: | 100 kb | | File Type: | pdf |
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John Gear Law Office LLC; 503-339-7787; John@JohnGearLaw.com. My office is in Suite 208B of the Security Building in downtown Salem. That's at 161 High St. SE, across from the Elsinore Theatre, just a block south of Marion County Courthouse. There is abundant, free, 2-hour on-street parking throughout downtown. #### #### #### Lawyerly fine print: Licensed in Oregon. This site may be considered advertising under Oregon State Bar rules. There is no legal advice given or intended on my site. I'm not your attorney unless we have met in person and entered into a representation agreement; while I hope you will consider me when you seek an attorney, you should not hire any attorney based on brochures, websites, advertising, or other promotional materials.