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National Consumer Protection Week underway
March 3, 2014 – National Consumer Protection Week is underway as NCUA, the Federal Trade Commission, federal banking agencies and others join in efforts to encourage consumers to take advantage of their consumer rights and make better-informed decisions.
.jpg?n=4311 "Carrie Hunt") Carrie Hunt |
NAFCU Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt said the event fits perfectly with credit unions' focus on meeting the needs of their 97 million member-owners. "This is a great time to reach out to members and nonmembers to highlight the benefits of obtaining services from credit unions," said Hunt. Consumers can use CULookup.com, NAFCU's credit union locator website, to find a credit union near them.
Hunt is a member of the board for the Consumer Federation of America, which is also a National Consumer Protection Week sponsor.
NCUA's consumer website, MyCreditUnion.gov, is among the resources highlighted by the National Consumer Protection Week campaign site. The site also links to an FTC web page with tips on how to avoid fraud. In addition, FTC last week published its list of top 10 consumer complaints for 2013. Again, identity theft was the most-cited complaint.
The commission said ID theft was cited in 290,056, or 14 percent, of last year's more than 2 million consumer complaints received in 2013 and entered into the Consumer Sentinel Network, a secure online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal agencies nationwide.
FTC also said that in the more than 1.1 million fraud complaints (classified separately from identity theft) received, 61 percent of consumers reported an amount of money they had paid, which collectively added up to more than $1.6 billion.
National Consumer Protection Week runs through Saturday.