CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

A comprehensive credit primer that engagingly informs consumers about their responsibilities as well as their rights under current law. And timely it is since, as Walker says, ""About twenty-five cents of every dollar earned in this country now goes to pay off consumer credit debts and mortgages."" In a comparatively brief format, he covers women's credit rights in theory and practice, means of securing access to and rectifying mistakes in files at credit bureaus, what to do when credit cards are lost or stolen, ways to revive rejected credit applications, how to correct billing errors, and procedures for registering complaints with government agencies (among others). For the improvident, there's a wealth of detailed intelligence on staving off bill collectors, dealing with creditors bent on repossession or wage-garnishment, non-profit counseling services, and going into as well as sidestepping personal bankruptcy. Numerous case studies and a generous sampling of strong letters (to enforcement authorities, importunate creditors, recalcitrant merchants, et al.) help illuminate areas of potentially expensive misunderstanding. For example, unwary customers who withhold payments due on defective merchandise can still be brought to book--despite FTC regulatory reforms--if they have signed sales agreements, subsequently sold to third parties, which do not specify that the contract purchaser also is liable for legitimate claims. Also helpful are the appendixes, which list FTC regional offices and other monitoring agencies, and provide excerpts from key credit legislation of the past few years. Though Walker merely expands on material included in family financial guides like Everyone's Money Book (p. 374) and Your Money (p. 563), his focus on the intelligent use of credit in toto earns this the right to separate space on the household financial shelf.