I looked back at my posts from 2018, and by a large margin, my most popular post was my post posing the rhetorical question: Is Home Title Lock legitimate?
This post generated over 500 views per Blogger's counter. (What can I say? This blog isn't exactly the New York Times.)
I still hear the advertisements all the time on Sirius XM radio. They still bug me because I think they are spreading fear far out of proportion to the problem. I still believe you are more likely to get struck by lightning than to have your home title affected by the fraud of a stranger. According to outsideonline.com, you have a 1/10,000 chance of being struck by lightning in your lifetime (80 years). Also about 40 people per year die from lightning strikes in the US.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Thoughts on Removing Yourself from Spokeo, Mylife etc.
I have seen a number of articles lately about removing one's self from information aggregation websites like mylife.com and spokeo.com. I even experimented with removing myself. My first impression is that it's a waste of time, and I'm not sure it's worth the effort, and I'll tell you why.
In the United States at least, the First Amendment to the Constitution protects the right of free speech. The government cannot pass a law that restricts the right to post true information on the web, and for mass media defendants, even false information is protected unless it is published with knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth.
Moreover, there is no real remedy at law for posting false information that is not defamatory. There is a state law tort of invasion of privacy, but bringing an invasion of privacy case is rarely economical.
Mylife.com has something it calls a reputation score. They can put anything they want on that because their assessment of your reputation is an opinion, and that is constitutionally protected.
The bottom line is that living in a country with a right of free speech is a two-edged sword, you can pretty much say any true factual information to anyone you want as well as voice your opinion about anybody you want, but other people also have the right to say stuff about you as well. You can try to remove yourself from these sites, but don't be surprised if your efforts aren't rewarded by results.
BTW, you can comment on this post, but please don't email me on this topic. I have nothing more to add, so you would be wasting your time.
In the United States at least, the First Amendment to the Constitution protects the right of free speech. The government cannot pass a law that restricts the right to post true information on the web, and for mass media defendants, even false information is protected unless it is published with knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth.
Moreover, there is no real remedy at law for posting false information that is not defamatory. There is a state law tort of invasion of privacy, but bringing an invasion of privacy case is rarely economical.
Mylife.com has something it calls a reputation score. They can put anything they want on that because their assessment of your reputation is an opinion, and that is constitutionally protected.
The bottom line is that living in a country with a right of free speech is a two-edged sword, you can pretty much say any true factual information to anyone you want as well as voice your opinion about anybody you want, but other people also have the right to say stuff about you as well. You can try to remove yourself from these sites, but don't be surprised if your efforts aren't rewarded by results.
BTW, you can comment on this post, but please don't email me on this topic. I have nothing more to add, so you would be wasting your time.
Saturday, December 29, 2018
Update on VFG Pension Advance Schemes, Cash Flow Investment Partners, and Pension Viaticals Structured Cash Flows
I have written before about Voyager Financial Group. I am still getting calls from people who sold their pensions to Voyager Financial Group (VFG) even five years ago. I don't think VFG still exists Incredibly, there is still a Voyageur Financial Group website, but note the spelling:Voyageur. This appears to be a different company, one that spells "voyager" like the Canadians do. Different spelling or not, in my opinion, they picked a lousy name, and they ought to consider changing it in light of the problems with the pension-advance VFG. I spent an hour looking at their stuff before I realized it was probably another company entirely.
How bad are these pension advance companies? In September of this year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit against another group of pension advance companies. Here is the text of the CFPB press release:
The Virginia attorney general also secured a default judgment in a separate lawsuit against some of the same entities. https://www.consumerfinancemonitor.com/2018/11/21/virginia-attorney-general-obtains-judgment-in-lawsuit-against-pension-advance-company/
As I have said earlier, I believe virtually all of these pension advance contracts entered into by consumer/employees and private investors are illegal. We have successfully protected pensioners who have decided to stop making payments on the contracts.
If you are a pensioner who is losing some of your pension every month, I suggest you talk to an attorney before ceasing payments, but that can be an option worth considering in a given case.
If you invested in a pension annuity, you might have a right to sue the individual or company that sold you the annuity. Keep in mind, it is harder to get back money that you put out than it is for the pensioner to keep from losing additional money beyond what has already been lost.
I came across a great article at consumermojo.com titled "when you stop paying off a pension advance" that looked at a lawsuit between an investor in a pension advance and the pensioner. The long and the short of it is that the investor walked away empty handed.
Below are the names of some companies that have been associated with pension advances. I have not examined the contracts of all of these companies.
How bad are these pension advance companies? In September of this year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit against another group of pension advance companies. Here is the text of the CFPB press release:
The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP) has filed a complaint against Future Income Payments, LLC (FIP), Scott Kohn, and the following related entities: FIP, LLC; BuySellAnnuity Inc.; Cash Flow Investment Partners LLC; Pension Advance LLC; Cash Flow Investment Partners East LLC; Cash Flow Investment Partners MidEast LLC; Lumpsum Pension Advance Atlantic LLC; Lumpsum Pension Advance Southeast LLC; Lumpsum Settlement West LLC; PAS California, LLC; PAS Great Lakes, LLC; PAS Northeast LLC; PAS Southwest LLC; Pension Advance Carolinas LLC; Pension Advance Midwest LLC; and Pension Loans South LLC.What is notable about this lawsuit is that it was the first enforcement lawsuit filed by the CFPB under the the supervision of acting CFPB director Mick Mulvaney. Mulvaney never met a corporate scam he didn't like. He has even advocated dismantling the very agency he purports to head.
The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in the Central District of California, alleges that the defendants violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, 12 U.S.C. § 5536(a)(1)(B), by representing to consumers that their pension-advance products were not loans, were not subject to interest rates, and were comparable in cost to, or cheaper than, credit-card debt when, in actuality, the pension-advance products were loans, and were subject to interest rates that were substantially higher than credit-card interest rates. The Bureau also alleges that Defendants violated the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), 15 U.S.C. § 1638(a)-(b), by failing to disclose a measure of the cost of credit, expressed as a yearly rate.
The Virginia attorney general also secured a default judgment in a separate lawsuit against some of the same entities. https://www.consumerfinancemonitor.com/2018/11/21/virginia-attorney-general-obtains-judgment-in-lawsuit-against-pension-advance-company/
As I have said earlier, I believe virtually all of these pension advance contracts entered into by consumer/employees and private investors are illegal. We have successfully protected pensioners who have decided to stop making payments on the contracts.
If you are a pensioner who is losing some of your pension every month, I suggest you talk to an attorney before ceasing payments, but that can be an option worth considering in a given case.
If you invested in a pension annuity, you might have a right to sue the individual or company that sold you the annuity. Keep in mind, it is harder to get back money that you put out than it is for the pensioner to keep from losing additional money beyond what has already been lost.
I came across a great article at consumermojo.com titled "when you stop paying off a pension advance" that looked at a lawsuit between an investor in a pension advance and the pensioner. The long and the short of it is that the investor walked away empty handed.
Below are the names of some companies that have been associated with pension advances. I have not examined the contracts of all of these companies.
- LumpSum Pension Advance
- Pension Funding LLC
- Pensions Annuities & Settlements LLC
- Pension Income LLC
- Cash Flow Investment Partners
- DFR Pension Funding
- Veterans Benefit Leverage
- Voyager Financial Group LLC (Pension4Case/Cash Out My Pension/Buy Your Pension)
- First American Finance Corporation
- Investing Forward (Termbrokers LLC)
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