Privacy Digest

Kansas City infoZine News - Legislators Urged to Strengthen Consumer Credit, Do-not-call Laws - USA: Consumer advocacy groups urged senators Tuesday to stiffen legislation that protects consumers from incompetent credit repair agencies and persistent telemarketers with fraudulent motives.

Washington, D.C. - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire - infoZine - The Senate Commerce Committee took at look at the effectiveness of the Credit Repair Organizations Act - which protects consumers from fraudulent credit repair agencies - and the National Do-Not-Call Registry, used to protect consumer privacy and vulnerability against unwanted telemarketing calls.

The committee is planning to vote to reauthorize the laws before the August recess, which starts next week. Critics say the laws' broad and vague language has allowed scam artists to use these laws to their advantage, especially against elderly targets.

Legitimate credit monitoring services and telemarketing companies are seeking exemptions from federal mandates. But legislators and consumer agencies fear that language that is too broad could create even bigger loopholes for those seeking to misuse them.

Federal Trade Commission officials, who are responsible for monitoring the Do-Not-Call Registry, said research shows the program has been somewhat effective since its inception more than three years ago.

Lydia Parnes, director of the FTC's Bureau Consumer Protection, said with more than 146 million telephone numbers in the registry, the program "is really working and working well."

But Parnes said there are some missing links in enforcement and compliance.

Seventeen telemarketers have challenged the registry, Parnes said, and the FTC has charged 27 telemarketers with violating registry rules.

And while telemarketers are required to pay for the registry lists, Parnes said the price structure is not stable enough to catch telemarketers who try to get out of paying to avoid being monitored by the FTC.

Parnes said the certainty of a set fee in the law would be helpful to the FTC and the Federal Communications Commission in enforcing the law and catching those who use it in deceptive manners.

Some credit monitoring service companies believe amendments to the existing law should allow them to be exempt from the strict guidelines of the credit repair bill, which are used to combat credit repair services that take people's money without helping improve their situation.

Parnes said this could also be a fine line between giving legitimate businesses the room to do fair transactions and creating another opportunity for fraudulent operators to squeeze past federal laws.

"Drafting an appropriate legislative clarification is difficult and poses challenges for effective law enforcement," Parnes said in a prepared statement.

(Read Original Article - Via Kansas City infoZine News .)