Mr. James Mobley, Outreach Coordinator, Md Insurance Administration with FHCA President Scott Pappas . (Courtesy Fort Howard Community Association)
Fort Howard community residents were represented at the July 31, 2018 Consumer Protection Forum. The Federal Trade Commission, Maryland Insurance Administration, Guidewell Financial Solutions, Office of the Comptroller, and Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc., offered a wide range of current departmental literature and advice addressing consumer protection.
Senator Chris Van Hollen (R) Scott Pappas (C) Attorney General Brian Frosh (L) (Courtesy Fort Howard Community Association)
Also on hand was U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, both offering updates on national and state trends in credit fraud and cyber attack counter-measures. Freezing your credit is the first line of defense once computers have been compromised and anti-malware, virus, and ransom ware, infected computers can be recovered today with-in reasonable costs.
Of great interest in the consumer protection dialogue was the alarmingly wide spread legal use of mandatory arbitration clauses usually buried in the fine print of contracts and product warranties ranging from financial services offered at your “friendly,” bank to the warranty on your roof shingles purchased from your local building product vendor.
These arbitration clauses severely limit or entirely preclude consumers with bonafide product failure claims filing civil court action against vendors leaving them at the whim of company warranty “specialists,” negotiating equitable warranty claim settlements.
Attorney General Frosh’s Office answered over 40,000 consumer complaints in 2017 alone. For more information to file a complaint call 410-576-6300 or email [email protected]
Both Senator Van Hollen and Attorney General Frosh were personally thanked on behalf of the residents of Fort Howard by Mr. Pappas for enacting and enforcing laws protecting their the consumers rights. And remember: “Caveat Emptor (buyer beware).”
“It’s our community, let’s take care of it.”
