All posts by Barbara Nevins Taylor

Online Job Search Scam

April 28th, 2016

Like everything else online, you can find the wonderful, the bad and the horrible in the Internet job search world. Online companies make it easier to tap into available positions, tougher for those who do best in face-to-face situations, and perhaps even trickier, thanks to dodgy business practices, to find a good job

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged Gigats.com, an education lead generator, with a kind of bait-and-switch that fooled job seekers. Gigats.com brags that it is one of the “ten fastest sites to reach one million users,” but the FTC charged it didn’t treat those users fairly.

In a complaint, the FTC said “…the company claimed it was ‘pre-screening’ job applicants for hiring employers when it was actually gathering information for other purposes, including lead generation for post-secondary schools and career training programs.”

That means Gigats.com allegedly took information that job applicants posted and sent it to schools and training programs that paid $22 to $125 for email addresses and other personal information of people looking for work.

If you did see an appealing post on the Gigats site, you might never connect with an employer. The FTC found that, “Many of the job openings were not current, and for those that were, the employers had not authorized Gigats to collect applications or screen or interview applicants. In addition, the defendants never sent the information they collected from consumers to the employers.”

Instead, the company steered job seekers to “employment specialists” who often claimed they were education advisors and recommended the schools and programs that paid for the leads.

While the FTC fined Gigats $90.2 million, it won’t collect all that money. Apparently, the company can only afford to pay a fine of $360,000.

The defendants include Expand Inc., also doing business as Gigats, EducationMatch and SoftRock Inc., and Ayman A. Difrawi, also known as Alec Difrawi and Ayman El-Difrawi.

Consumer News, Featured Stories, News

What Country Has The Highest Income Tax?

April 14th, 2016

News about the number of people who hide their income to avoid paying taxes continues to flow from the excellent reporting of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. And it raises questions about what law-abiding citizens of the world pay.

If you think you pay too much income tax in the U.S., you might take a look around the world to find out what others pay. Data from the international Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) puts the U.S. down the list when it comes to the highest income tax.

Out of the 34 countries that participate in the OECD, the U.S. ranks 24th in taxing someone with two children. European countries including Belgium, Germany, Italy and France tax their citizens at a higher rate. So do the Scandinavian countries and the countries with struggling economies like Greece, Italy and Spain. Out of the Asian countries, Japan taxes slightly more than the U.S.

Thinking about moving north to Canada? Canadians pay only slightly less income tax than U.S. citizens.

You will find more statistics at Statista

Why Women Don’t Get Equal Pay For Equal Work

April 12th, 2016

by Barbara Nevins Taylor

Equal pay for equal work sounds like the most reasonable thing in an era where a woman is a front-running candidate for President of the United States. But despite doors that have opened to opportunities that women fought for over the past hundred years, women still earn less than men.

In 2014, a women earned 79 cents to every dollar earned by a man. And in some jobs, like retail, you find an even greater disparity.

African-American and Latino women fare more poorly than white women in the job market. African-American women earned 64 cents and Latinas 56 cents when a white man made a dollar for the same job. Crazy, right? Makes no sense. Except that employers can get away with paying women of every color and ethnicity less.

The answer to why women don’t get equal pay for equal work shakes down to one thing: discrimination.

Even in 2015, when wages went up for many, pay increases for women remained lower. Men’s earnings increased by 2.6 percent while women’s pay increased by 0.9 percent, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

A federal law passed in 1963 bans discrimination based on gender or race. But the 57 percent of women who work outside the home still find themselves settling for jobs that don’t offer equal pay, often because they need the money and can’t afford to fight.

President Obama tackled the issue head-on in 2009 with the Lily Ledbetter Fair Play Act, the first bill he signed into law. It extended the time period to file a pay discrimination lawsuit. He has also made the issue of equal pay a priority and issued an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from going after women or others who inquire about pay disparity.

But we still face discrimination and settle for unfair situations because we fear losing the opportunity and the chance to earn a living.

The Department of Labor Produced this video:

Featured Stories

Women Moving Forward In The Military and Beyond

March 29th, 2016

As historic changes in the military move women forward, a generation of women wonder about careers beyond military life.

In March 2016, U. S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter opened all jobs, including combat, to women. In a post in Medium he said, “…we should also remember that the military has long prided itself on being a meritocracy, where those who serve are judged not based on who they are or where they come from, but rather what they have to offer to help defend this country.”

The decision opens about 220,000 jobs, mostly in the Army and Marine Corps infantry and armor units, to women. Carter said the Army and Marines will follow the successful Navy template and bring in women officers and senior enlisted women before lower-ranking women. He said, “This will help ensure that women officers play a key leadership role, set the right example, and enhance teamwork wherever possible.”

But several generations of women have already served in the military and the current crop of high-ranking military women who face retirement grapple with what comes next. They find themselves facing a change in status as they seek to forge new careers that will challenge them.

Retired Air Force Brigadier General Eden Murrie told ConsumerMojo.com, “It was a huge transition. I think the biggest thing is the interaction I had with young airmen and I made a difference. You make a personal difference as a mentor and then all of a sudden you are not that person any more.”

Career coach Carole Hyatt devoted her career to helping women figure out how to move from one career to the next. She recently turned her sights to military women and organized a series of seminars to help them figure out the transition and begin to build new careers.

She and her partners run these seminars several times a year and to encourage women to think beyond what they do now.

We spent time at one of Hyatt’s “Getting To Next” sessions and our video captures the essence of what the program offers.

Featured Stories

Top Companies Employees Like

March 24th, 2016

Would you recommend your employer to a friend or acquaintance? Statista and Forbes put the question to 30,000 employees at companies and non-profits that have more than 5,000 staffers.

Workers rated the employers based on working conditions, perks and benefits. They included things like the ability to balance work and home life and, of course, pay.

Marathon Oil, based in Findlay, Ohio, came in first. Google came in second and reviews from Costco employees put that company in third place.

Three medical centers, Wegman’s grocery chain, JetBlue Airlines and upstate New York’s SAS Industries, a manufacturer of industrial gaskets and sealing products, also made the list.

You will find more statistics at Statista

Featured Stories

Why Spring Begins On Different Days Each Year

March 20th, 2016

Our hibiscus bloomed just as the vernal equinox began. Happy spring, our season of renewal.

Spring begins on different days each year, March 19, 20 or 21, when the sun crosses the celestial equator. That’s the imaginary line in the sky above the equator that goes from north to south. This year the spring, or vernal equinox began on March 20 in the Northern Hemisphere. It doesn’t happen on the same day every year because of the way the earth orbits the sun. On the equinox, the earth orbits perpendicular to the sun’s rays. It usually just tilts toward the sun.

But spring doesn’t burst out all over the world at the same time. When the north celebrates the season, the southern hemisphere marks the autumnal, or fall, equinox.

The word equinox comes from the Latin and means equal day and equal night. It’s a slight misnomer, though, because we don’t exactly get 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night.

Whatever the length of a day of sun, enjoy.

All 55 Plus, Featured Stories, Video: Most Viewed

10 Makeup Tips For Any Age

March 10th, 2016

When I talk to makeup artist Richard Grandinetti he always gives me a tip that makes a difference. He suggests not too much, not too little, and like baby bear’s porridge the makeup turns out just right.

Richard knows how to help women enhance what they have without turning the look into a freak show. So I asked him to put together a list of 10 easy makeup tips for any age. And because I’m particularly interested in makeup for Baby Boomers and older women, I asked him to focus on us.

Lisa, who just turned fifty,

and Peggy, who is eightyish, volunteered their faces. I think you will find the tips easy to follow and agree that Lisa and Peg look great.

Richard Grandinetti’s 10 Makeup Tips For Any Age

Step 1

Brighten The Eye With A Base

Richard says, “Most people worry about eye shadow. All you have to do is brighten your whole lid and take away the darkness and redness as well.” He uses a neutral eye shadow base. In this case, it’s Trish McEvoy’s Bare Essential, Bare.

Step 2

Use Pencil To Fill In Your Lashes

Use a pencil and dot in between your lashes as you look in the mirror. Richard thinks this is better than drawing a line because you don’t have to worry about it coming out straight. He says, “You just hold your eye secure and you push it into your own lash line. It makes the lashes look longer.”

Step 3

Apply Mascara

Step 4

Brighten Under The Eye

Richard says most women have darkness, redness or thin skin under their eyes. He use Trish McEvoy’s Instant Eye Lift and applies it in a V from the corner of the eye near the nose down to just above the cheek bone and back up to the corner of the eye. But he brings it up a little higher on the outside of the eye to highlight the cheekbone.

He suggests using a product that is a shade lighter than your skin.

Step 5

Even Skin With Tinted Moisturizer or Foundation

Richard says, “You don’t have to put foundation all over. Look at yourself objectively and see where you have redness or discoloration.” He suggests starting at the bridge of the nose, using a brush, and blending out: “You want to even out the T-zone and blend a little around your mouth.” And he adds that if your chin seems red than you need some there too.

Using a brush, he says, helps lay down the thinnest amount possible.

Step 6

Apply Bronzer (Instead of Blush)

Richard thinks a bronzer will give you a more current look for every day instead of using what he calls “a blazing color.” He says, “Using a little bronzer sculpts the face and adds warmth. Most people make the mistake of using bronzer all over the face. You don’t want to do that. You apply it a thumb away from the eye and a thumb away from the nose just caressing your cheek bones.”

He also recommends that you brush a little under your eyebrow on the bone to contour the eye and a little under the chin and in the middle of the neck.

Step 7

Apply Lip Color

Richard suggests using a bright lip color, but not a dark color. “You want to be careful when selecting a lip color that you are not going too dark. Dark lips slim your lips the way black slims your figure. And we don’t want that,” he says.

He likes to use a brush, but also recommends putting lipstick on from the tube. “You are going to put it on again, and again. Women always say that their lipstick doesn’t stay on. That’s why you need to reapply it several times.

Richard cautions you not to blot the lipstick. “That’s the same as taking it off,” he says.

He also lines the lips after he puts on the lipstick to create definition.

Step 8

Fill In Brows

Richard suggests filling in the brows with a pencil starting at the thicker part near your nose. He likes to use a thin brow pencil to help define a natural brow. He says, “You always want to make your brows a shade lighter than your hair. Dark brows can make you look mean.”

After you fill in, brush up and smooth the hairs into place. “You always want to use a light hand with brows,” Richard reminds us.

Step 9

Apply Eye Shadow For An Evening Look

Richard likes neutral eye shadow colors like gray, beige and brown. He applies the shadow in the outside corner of the eye and blends it down into the lash line. He cautions us to keep the inner corner of the eye light.

Step 10

Apply Blush For An Evening Look

Richard likes small brushes to apply cheek color. He recommends that you start a thumb away from your eyes and a thumb away from your nose and just dust on a little color.

Richard Used The Following Trish McEvoy Products:

Bare Essential, Bare

Deep Aubergine Intense Gel Eyeliner Pencil

Precision Brow Shaper

Lash Curling Mascara

Instant Eye Lift Under Eye

Beauty Balm Shade 1

Golden Bronzer

Nude Lip Essentials on Lisa

Red Lip Essentials on Peggy

Long-Wear Lip Liner

Easy Going Blush

Richard Grandinetti works as a makeup artist for Trish McEvoy at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City. You can reach him @richardgrand@gmail.com.

Featured Stories

When You Stop Paying Off A Pension Advance

March 6th, 2016

by Barbara Nevins Taylor

John Greene, a California retiree, heard about a ten-year investment deal through his financial advisor that offered a 7.22 percent return. The advisor called it a “structured asset,” and it seemed “reasonable” to Greene. Apparently, he was unaware someone might stop paying off a pension advance loan and he might lose money.

At the other end of the deal, James Trujillo, a 43-year-old retired California police officer, suffering from PSTD and a compulsive gambling habit, needed money to pay off his debts. He found himself willing to trade his monthly disability pension payment for a lump sum of $117,000. And he too gave little thought to the possibility he would stop paying off a pension loan.

It seemed like a perfect marriage of needs. But the story of how this pension advance loan deal played out offers a cautionary tale for people at both ends of these kinds of transfers. Pension advances for people who need quick cash and structured assets for those who want monthly income can turn easily into financial disaster for the lender and the borrower.

For Trujillo and Greene it began in 2011. Voyager Financial Group (VFG) reached out to Trujillo, who told ConsumerMojo.com his PSTD-fueled gambling addiction racked up debts and made him feel “desperate.” He had lost his home and filed for bankruptcy.

Trujillo signed a contract with VFG to sell what it called his “structured asset.” The agreement called for him to sign over a portion of his rights to future pension payments for ten years.

Greene, described in court papers as “semi-retired and in the property management business,” learned about this investment possibility from his financial advisor Leo Bertucci in Rondo Beach, California. Bertucci, a licensed insurance agent, testified that he discovered the plan through a marketing company called Mainline Guarantee. He said he thought it was like an annuity but offered a better return because of California taxes on annuities.

Voyager Financial Group prepared the documents for Trujillo and Greene. It required Trujillo to take out a life insurance policy as security in case he died during the ten-year term of the contract. He also signed a special Power of Attorney that allowed a title company to distribute the money to Greene, and changed the direct deposit for his California pension from his bank to an escrow account controlled by the title company in Arizona.

Greene agreed to put up $215,000, although he did not know how much Trujillo would receive. He entered into the deal even though he and his financial advisor knew that Trujillo had filed for bankruptcy. Court papers say that Greene was told by his financial advisor that the bankruptcy covered only Trujillo’s previous debts.

In mid-February 2012, Trujillo received $117,000. The remainder of the up-front money apparently went to the companies that put the deal together. Green would get $2,496.00 for 120 months. But the deal spelled trouble for Trujillo. He needed more money than he made as a labor representative for a local of the California Teachers’ Union.

The bankruptcy settlement required him to pay certain debts. So he did what he’d done before. He gambled to supplement his salary.

The deal worked out as planned for almost two years.

Greene received 21 payments totaling $52,429.00. And then an error by the California pension system delayed a payment and got Trujillo thinking. He told ConsumerMojo, “I felt awful about it. I realized I couldn’t make ends meet between my gambling and my job and I needed that pension money.”

Trujillo asked the pension system to return the monthly direct deposits to his personal account. That left Greene out over $164,500.

Greene sued Trujillo in state court in Los Angeles to try to get the contract enforced, but that court ruled that Trujillo’s earlier bankruptcy filing protected his pension. Greene and his legal team considered suing Voyager Financial Group but they discovered the company no longer had any assets. They took the case to federal bankruptcy court and asked a judge to exempt the pension from the bankruptcy.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen L. Johnson in the Northern District of California considered Trujillo’s gambling addiction and his need for money. He found that under the 1974 Employment Retirement Security Act (ERISA), Trujillo’s pension couldn’t be reassigned. He ruled that the company drafted the contract to “circumvent ERISA’s prohibition on assignment of pension benefits as well as to provide a misleading sense of security to the buyer.” He said, “In reality then, the ‘purchase’ amounted to nothing more than an unsecured loan.”

That’s exactly what consumer advocates say when they warn against entering into these deals.

But still, the issue in the Trujillo-Greene case involved something else. The judge had to decide if the pension was protected under the bankruptcy law. Judge Johnson ruled that because Trujillo had declared bankruptcy, his assets and pension were protected. Trujillo got to keep his pension. Greene was left holding a mostly empty bag.

In the middle of all of this, Greene’s financial advisor Bertucci voluntarily gave up his insurance license in an agreement with the California Insurance Department in connection with an investment fraud that cost elderly Californians $1.5 million. Bertucci did not admit wrongdoing and his attorney told the Daily Breeze.com that his client “did not profit and in fact lost substantially in the process.” In addition, he said Bertucci “was extremely instrumental in obtaining the return of 80 percent of his clients’ losses.”

In April 2013, the Arkansas Securities Commission issued a cease and desist order to Voyager Financial Group and its Managing Member Andrew Gamber along with his partners Kevin McNay, Jonathan Sheets and Robert Henry for violating Arkansas laws and selling pension advances.

John Greene did not return our request for an interview, but James Trujillo told us he is in recovery from his gambling addition and said, ‘I was tremendously relieved by the judge’s decision. But the whole thing is pretty embarrassing.” He says he feels badly about Greene and, “didn’t realize that he had given the company more than $200,000.”

For consumer advocates who caution against these deals, the story serves as a warning to others. Stuart Rossman of the National Consumer Law Center told us, “It shows why the pension advance companies try so hard to keep the claims out of bankruptcy estate while avoiding the anti-assignment provisions of various statutes that protect pensioners. It is a tightrope that they try to walk and fortunately when challenged they usually fail.”

Danger of Pension Advance

Consumer News, Featured Stories, News

DNC Leader Wasserman Schultz Goes Against Consumers

February 28th, 2016 1 Comment

Consumers apparently no longer have a friend in the Democratic chairwoman, Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Schultz co-sponsored legislation aimed at reducing the power of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to rein in abusive payday lenders.

The Huffington Post first reported the story. But a wade through the dense language of congressional legislation reveals that HR 4018, a bill to “amend the truth-in-lending law,” would let weak state regulations override any new, tough regulations proposed by the CFPB. It would also delay new regulations to curb the worst abuses in payday lending.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to introduce the regulations sometime in 2016. But Republicans and banking lobbyists have lined up to block it. The Wasserman Schultz endorsement of the legislation seems to have come as a surprise.

Often, people who live from paycheck to paycheck and need cash quickly resort to a payday lender without realizing the consequences. In some cases, lenders charge 400 to 600 percent interest and it becomes very difficult for borrowers to pay off those loans.

A report by the Center For Responsible Lending found that a quarter of the people who borrowed money this way are on Social Security and took out an average of 19 loans.

Consumer groups including the Center for Responsible Lending, the Consumer Federation of America, the NAACP, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Consumer Law Center wrote letters to Congress opposing the legislation.

So why Wasserman Schultz and six other Democrats would sign on to the bill remains a mystery.

Citibank To Pay Millions For Debt Collection Fraud

February 25th, 2016

Have you ever wondered how a debt collection company gets the names and contact information for people who may or may not owe money? A recent action against Citibank by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sheds light on an often shady practice that seems especially shady in this case.

Citibank, according to the CFPB, from 2010 to 2013 sold credit card debt to 16 debt collectors and inflated the interest rates people paid from zero to 29 percent. When people actually paid their bills to the bank, Citibank failed to tell the debt collectors about the payments.

While Citibank did not admit wrongdoing, it did agree to repay $5 million to 2100 consumers and pay a $3 million penalty. And Citibank will pay additional penalties because two law firms, Falconi & Associates and Solomon & Solomon, PC, falsified court documents in connection with the collections in New Jersey. Consumers will get $11 million in this part of the case, and Citibank must stop trying to collect about $34 million from about 7,000 people.

CFPB Director Richard Cordray said the “. . . action provides redress to consumers who were victimized by slipshod practices.” He described the settlement “. . . as part of our ongoing work to fight abuses in the debt collection market.”

Makes you wonder why some people didn’t get jail time.

But as a result of the settlement, from now on Citibank will have to let credit card holders know what they owe, and tell them when the bank sells their debt. The settlement also requires companies that buy debt from Citibank to sign agreements that prevent them from reselling the debt.

IRS Warns About Tax Preparers and Scams

February 17th, 2016

by Barbara Nevins Taylor

When I think about tax preparers and fraud, I always remember a soft-spoken man who ran a storefront operation in East Orange, New Jersey. He and his team helped people prepare their tax returns. People trusted him. They told me about the big refunds he helped them get. But he also opened them up to prosecution for fraud.

Because of people like him, the IRS has issued an alert this year warning you to make sure no one involves you in a scam and falsifies income on your returns.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said, “Taxpayers should not falsify their income or other information on their tax returns to improperly claim tax credits. Misrepresenting facts is cheating and taxpayers are legally responsible for all the information reported on their tax returns.”

That means if you can face criminal prosecution and have to repay money that you received.

In the New Jersey case, a college student called me to blow the whistle. He said the preparer had listed 3 dependents on his tax return form. The 19-year-old worked at fast food restaurant and had no children or any other dependents. Yet the preparer claimed that with the dependents, the student was entitled to a refund under the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). He told the student the refund should come to his office and would serve as his payment.

Eventually, prosecutors went after the preparer and he went to prison. The student was not prosecuted.

But the scheme goes on, and that’s why the IRS urges you to choose your tax preparer carefully and offers the following tips:

1. Avoid fly-by-night preparers.

2. Use the IRS Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications. This tool can help you find a qualified tax return preparer and it allows you locate them by zip code and profession like CPA, lawyer or enrolled agent.

3. Check the preparer’s history. Ask the Better Business Bureau about the preparer.

4. Check for disciplinary actions and the license status for credentialed preparers.

5. For CPAs, check with the State Board of Accountancy.

6. For attorneys, check with the State Bar Association.

7. For Enrolled Agents, go to IRS.gov and search for “verify enrolled agent status” or check the Directory.

8. Ask about service fees. Preparers are not allowed to base fees on a percentage of their client’s refund.

9. Avoid those who boast bigger refunds than their competition.

10. Make sure that your refund goes directly to you – not into your preparer’s bank account.

11. Ask to e-file your return. Make sure your preparer offers IRS e-file. Paid preparers who do taxes for more than 10 clients generally must offer electronic filing. The IRS has processed more than 1.5 billion e-filed tax returns. It’s the safest and most accurate way to file a return.

12. Provide records and receipts. Good preparers will ask to see your records and receipts. They’ll ask questions to determine your total income, deductions, tax credits and other items.

13. Do not rely on a preparer who is willing to e-file your return using your last pay stub instead of your Form W-2. This is against IRS e-file rules.

14. Make sure the preparer is available. In the event questions come up about your tax return, you may need to contact your preparer after the return is filed.

Featured Stories

Poetry To Warm A Valentine’s Heart

February 14th, 2016

How do you say I love you? Poets often find images that give voice to our thoughts and express our deepest feelings about enduring love. I chose William Shakespeare, E.E. Cummings, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Maya Angelou and Pablo Neruda to lead us to the heart of it. (Pun intended)

Shall I Compare Thee To a Summer’s Day? (Sonnet 18)

by William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

(i carry your heart with me(i carry it in)

by E.E. Cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

How Do I Love Thee (Sonnet 43)

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right.

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

Touched By An Angel

by Maya Angelou

We, unaccustomed to courage

exiles from delight l

ive coiled in shells of loneliness

until love leaves its high holy temple

and comes into our sight

to liberate us into life.

Love arrives and in its train come ecstasies

old memories of pleasure ancient histories of pain.

Yet if we are bold,

love strikes away the chains of fear

from our souls

We are weaned from our timidity

in the flush of love’s light

we dare be brave

And suddenly we see t

hat love costs all we are

and will ever be.

Yet it is only love

which sets us free.

One Hundred Love Sonnets:XVII

by Pablo Neruda

I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,

or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:

I love you as one loves certain obscure things,

secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries t

he light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,

and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose

from the earth lives dimly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,

I love you directly without problems or pride:

I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love,

except in this form in which I am not nor are you,

so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,

so close that your eyes close with my dreams.

Spread Of The Zika Virus

February 5th, 2016

While international health professionals scramble to find an antidote to the Zika Virus pregnant women worry rightfully and travelers reassess their plans, the virus seems to have jumped ahead of us.

A new chart from Statista shows in warmer and temperate climates, the virus has a broad reach.

Listen To An IRS Phone Scam Call and Beware

February 2nd, 2016 1 Comment

Talk about timing. Just as I was about to post this warning about IRS phone scams, we received a call from a scammer. Listen to what he says:

In case you didn’t catch it, the man said his name is David Grey. The Seattle, Washington, phone number is 206-204-5025. I guess he thinks it is super clever to use a name like Grey from Fifty Shades of Grey, but he’s not trying to lure you into an S&M relationship. This Mr. Grey wants your money. If this number turns up on your caller ID, delete it. Whitepages.com gives it a 4 out of 4 scam rating.

These audacious, out-of-control IRS phone scams concern the IRS so much that the agency issued a new warning urging consumers to beware of callers working the fraud. The agency says it has seen a “huge surge” of calls by scam artists who claim they represent the IRS and demand money, threaten arrest and sometimes deportation.

Investigators say threatening phone calls by criminals impersonating IRS agents top the list of 2016 tax scams and have cost taxpayers more than $26.5 million since 2013 when the agency began to receive complaints.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said, “There are many variations. The caller may threaten you with arrest or court action to trick you into making a payment. Some schemes may say you are entitled to a huge refund.”

IRS agents never call you to demand money. Commissioner Koskinen explained, “We continue to say if you are surprised to be hearing from us, then you’re not hearing from us.”

The IRS Scam works like this:

1. The phone rings and an IRS caller ID may even show up on your phone. A caller will identify himself, or herself, with a fake name, title and perhaps a fake IRS badge number.

2. They may use your name and know your address.

3. They will demand that you pay a phony tax bill, money that you don’t owe. They will give specific instructions about how to pay it. They may ask you to use a prepaid debit card, or wire the money.

4. They may leave urgent messages through robocalls or through phishing (phony) emails.

Don’t fall for any of it. Don’t let them push you around. Don’t give them money.

The IRS says:

1. It will never call to demand immediate payment.

2. If you owe money, it will send a bill.

3. It will never demand money without giving you a chance to appeal or challenge the agency.

4. It will never require you to use a specific payment method like a pre-paid card.

5. It will never ask for credit card, or debit information on the phone.

6. It will never threaten to bring local police or other law enforcement agents to have you arrested.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU RECEIVE A CALL FROM THE “IRS.”

If you get a call from a so-called IRS agent, hang up.

Don’t give out any information.

Report the call and the number if you have it to the IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting Page, or call 1-800-366-4484.

You can also report it to the Federal Trade Commission.

Credit Reporting Company’s Rack Up Complaints

January 31st, 2016

If Equifax, TransUnion and Experian make you mad, you have plenty of company. The latest monthly report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) put the three major credit reporting agencies at the top of the list of most complained-about companies.

These for-profit companies compile and keep track of how you pay your bills, whether you pay on time, pay late or miss payments. The CFPB report doesn’t spell out what they did, or failed to do, to rack up the most complaints from August through December 2016. But we do know that many complain that they have to fight to get the agencies to correct errors on their credit reports

In the New York metro area, including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, JP Morgan Chase made the top three along with Experian and Equifax.

ConsumerMojo asked the individual credit reporting bureaus for comment and they referred us to the Consumer Data Industry Association. A spokesman criticized the publication of the data as unfair.

In an email, Norm Magnuson, Vice President of Public Affairs, told us, “…when consumers read a report about complaints they assume that the complaint has been verified and it means there’s been a failure to comply with law or to otherwise work with the consumer. That isn’t the case with the CFPB’s monthly complaint reports.”

And in a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray, the CDIA’s President and CEO Stuart Pratt asked the bureau to postpone publication of the monthly report until it analyzes the data.

He said that in some instances the credit reporting agencies did not receive and verify the complaints. In other cases, people complained about the credit reporting agencies when they should have complained about another company. And he said that the CFPB process for soliciting complaints may confuse consumers about where they should file a complaint.

Nevertheless, we know that many have legitimate complaints about the credit reporting bureaus and those complaints often take a long time to get resolved.

Ten Most Complained About

If you have had trouble getting your credit report online

Here’s why.

Featured Stories, Healthcare, Healthcare

Time For Procrastinators To Get Health Insurance

January 28th, 2016

You can’t put it off much longer. Time is running out for procrastinators to get health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, for 2016. You have until January 31st and that’s the last call for this year.

If you don’t sign up for health insurance you face a penalty of either 2.5 percent of your income or $695, whichever is higher.

Anyone who doesn’t have health insurance through an employer can enroll and should. You want to protect yourself if you get sick or if you get injured in an accident. And you never know.

If you have Medicare, you don’t need to worry about this. Medicare covers your needs.

While the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) oversees the sign-up and sets some of the rules, private insurers offer the plans.

Plans vary slightly from state to state and doctors and hospitals in different states treat plans differently, accepting some and rejecting others. That’s why, when you consider a plan, it’s a good idea to find out if your doctor or medical provider accepts the insurance.

ALL PLANS COVER BASIC SERVICES

Outpatient medical care
Emergency treatment
Hospitalization including surgery and overnight stays
Pregnancy, maternity and newborn care
Pediatric care
Mental health and substance abuse services
Rehabilitative services
Laboratory services
Preventive and wellness services
Birth control
Breast feeding services

Some plans may include dental and vision.

WHAT YOU PAY

Eight in ten people who apply in 2016 will qualify for financial assistance that will help you lower the monthly premiums. People with moderate and higher incomes, especially in small rural states, complain that the premiums and out-of-pocket expenses run high.

Poorer people pay less in most cases, and some pay no premiums at all. Many states increasingly realize the value of providing health care and have expanded or plan to expand Medicaid to cover a wider group of people. Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provide health insurance for millions across the country and the Department of Health and Human Services expects millions more to sign on.

You can apply online at Healthcare.gov, by phone at 1-800-318-2596 or with local in-person help. You can find that help here.

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