Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is alerting consumers to Pacific Publications, an online company that purports to sell a “genuine” employment opportunity, in which consumers can make money from home by stuffing and mailing envelopes.

Using two Web sites, www.pacificpubs.com and www.funsimplework.com, Pacific Publications claims that for $42-$50 consumers will be paid $5 for each envelope they stuff and mail, when they enroll in the company’s “Free Mailer’s Program.”

However, consumers, including two in Arizona, who purchased the program say they either never received anything from the company, or they only received a booklet outlining other work-from-home opportunities.

BBB in Western Washington, where the company is based, reports that in the past year Pacific Publications has received 21 complaints originating in 12 states, and has racked up over 9,000 consumer inquiries.

BBB Tips:

• When considering any online purchase always read the terms and conditions, and make sure you’re clear on what the company’s refund policy is.
• Beware of upfront fees. Legitimate employment opportunities will never require that you pay a fee before being hired.
• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If you come across an offer that promises easy money for not a lot of time or effort, there’s a very good chance it is not a legitimate offer.
• Be extremely wary of any company that asks you pay via money order for their services. These types of transactions are extremely hard to trace, and tend to be the favorites of fraudsters and scammers around the world.
• Before doing business with any online company research the company with BBB by calling (520)888-5353 or visiting www.tucson.bbb.org.

Have you gotten an email forwarded to you by one of your friends lately saying that one day very soon the list of all cell phone numbers is going to go public and you will be spammed by unwanted sales calls?  Actually, it’s not going to happen.

There are some rumors that just will not die, and this is one of them.  Since at least 2004 there’s been an email making the rounds that says that all cell phone numbers are about to go public and be released to telemarketers.  According to the email, you will be spammed by sales calls (and they will go on your cell phone bill) unless you call a special number at the national Do Not Call (DNC) Registry to get your cell phone number blocked for the next 5 years.

So, what’s the real deal?  Well, there is a national DNC Registry, and there’s no harm in registering your cell phone number on it, but there is NO national release of cell phone numbers scheduled or planned.  According to the Web site snopes.com, this rumor started several years ago when some of the major wireless companies planned to create a 411 national directory.  In the end, the directory never happened – but the rumor that it’s out there and telemarketers will soon have access to it just won’t go away.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a special Web page about this story-that-will-not-die.  On it they say that:

• Cell phone numbers are NOT being released to telemarketers, and you will NOT soon be getting (more…)

On July 1st new rules went into effect concerning overdrafts on your debit or ATM cards. You now get to choose in advance what happens when you make a charge on your debit or ATM card and don’t have enough money in your account to pay for it.

Let’s say you buy something with your debit or ATM card but haven’t been keeping track of how much you have in your account.  It turns out you don’t have enough money in there, which means the withdrawal will lead to an overdraft.  According to the Federal Reserve Board Web site there are usually two ways that banks deal with an overdraft:

• Standard overdraft practices. Your bank will cover your transaction for a flat fee of about $20-$35 each time you overdraw your account. For example, if you make a purchase with your debit card for $150 but only have $100 in your account, your account will be overdrawn by $50 and your bank will charge you a fee. If you then make an ATM withdrawal for $50, your account will be overdrawn by $100 and you will be charged another fee. In this example, if the fee your bank charges for its standard overdraft practices is $30, you will pay a total of $60 in fees on $100 in overdrafts.

• Overdraft protection plans. Your bank may offer a line of credit or a link to your savings account to cover transactions when you overdraw your account. Banks typically charge a fee each time you overdraw your account, but these overdraft protection plans may be less expensive than their standard overdraft practices.

So what’s different under the new rules?  Basically, your bank has to give you the option to choose how the bank will deal with an overdraft from you.  In the past, some banks automatically enrolled you in a standard overdraft program when you opened an account with them.  Now, the bank has to ask your (more…)