"Most consumers have no idea who can legal access their credit records," said attorney Burdge. The news article lets people know the answer to that question and lots more.

The state bar had not published any articles for the public dealing with credit rights and credit record information, Burdge's website on credit rights, OhioFairCredit.com, explains federal laws dealing with protecting your credit, monitoring your credit rating, how to get a free copy of your credit record, and more - so you can protect your good name.

Burdge has written other aritcles distributed by the Ohio State Bar Association to newspapers and media state-wide, including warranty rights and Rv lemon laws and other consumer protection laws.

There's a new study out that tells what area of the country is in hock the most and who owes the least

Analysts at Experian (one of the 3 national credit reporting agencies) conducted a nationwide study of consumers debt habits and turned up some interesting results. So, is your amount of debt higher than your neighbor's?

On a national average, the average amount of money owed per individual on revolving credit accounts, such as credit cards, and fixed payment accounts, such as car loans, but not including mortgages, is a total of $17,103. Also, the national average credit score of an individual is 693 on Experian's score card.

But if you live in the Pacific Coast region your debt load is nearly 20% higher than the national average while your credit score is only one point higher. Maybe that means west coast consumers have a highly optimistic attitude but no real excetional credit worthiness to support it. They have nearly twice the amount of debt per person than East South Central region residents like those in Alabama.

And the lowest area of the country that is in hock? The East South Central region, where the average person owes about twenty percent less than the national average but has a credit score that is nine points lower than the national average. So either those folks are living within their means or they just can't get the credit to outspend the west coast folks. More likely than not, it's the former we suspect.

Oddly, in spite of the survey's indications otherwise, numbers in the survey show that 14% of the population have ten credit cards or more, with New Jersey and New Hampshire leading the pack.

Meanwhile, Minnesota residents generally have the highest average credit rating.

If you'd like to know how you rate with your neighbors, Experian has a web page where you can plug in your zip code and see a snapshot of the statistics for your neighborhood. Click here to see how you compare: http://www.nationalscoreindex.com/AreaScore.aspx

For a state by state analysis, click here.

No doubt about it. Your credit use and your credit score matter more than ever in these tight economic times. If you live in a high credit score area, use your credit carefully. And if you live in a highly indebted area of the country, be very careful about your indebtedness. Having credit is great, yes, but it can also ruin you.

More than ever you have to be sure your credit record does not contain errors. Your family's ability to get by may depend on it.

For several years we've been advocating that giving consumers the right to "freeze" their credit record would go a long way to stop identity theft. After all, your credit record is what most identity thieves want to get at.

Now, more and more states are passing laws that require credit reporting agencies to do just that. Ohio has now joined the list.

For $5 you can lock your credit record down so that no one can get at it. If the thief can't use your personal info to open up a charge account and rip you off, then you have that much more protection.

This kind of freeze is different from a fraud alert because it does not have a time limit and is available to anyone, not just people who have become an identity theft victim. With the new law you can get a personal identification number to use so that you can remove or temporarily authorize the release of your credit file when you really do want to open up a new account, etc.

To take advantage of the new law and freeze your credit file, or to put a fraud alert on your file, just call the credit agencies at the numbers below or go online.

Equifax: 1.877.576.5734, www.equifax.com
Experian: 1.888.397.3742, www.experian.com/fraud
TransUnion: 1.800.680.7289 www.transunion.com

Protect yourself. Don't let credit thieves ruin your life.

You think you've heard of some pretty pushy collection calls and letters from aggressive bill collectors? Well, this one takes the cake.

A collection agency tried to collect a $16.96 debt with a letter that addressed the alleged debtor as "Dear S - - -", meaning a four letter word for excrement except that the word was spelled out in the letter. The letter itself was put in an envelope that was addressed to "S--- Face."

Nationwide Collections of Ft. Pierce, Florida bought about 350,000 old Columbia House accounts and promptly fired off demand letters for payments of pidley amounts like this one. For its part, Nationwide Collections says that all the letters were automatically generated by a computer and this one happens to be the name on the account. Yeah, right.

Under federal law, debt collectors are not allowed to use profanity to collect a debt. That's true whether the harassment comes in a letter or over the phone. Either way it's wrong. Federal collection laws were passed to require bill collectors to treat you with respect, whether you owe the money or not --- and sometimes (like this case) you may not owe the money at all.

There's a lot of "old" debt hanging around that banks (already hurting from their stupid greedy predatory mortgage practices) are dusting off and selling to collection companies like this. Why? Well, a couple of pennies for each dollar can amount to a lot of money for doing nothing but handing over a computer disk with data on it. Is it all really owed? The bank's answer might just be "who cares?"

The debt buyer (often called "bottom feeders" in the collection business) pay only pennies for the right to collect the debt because they know that most all of it is uncollectable. But they also know that harassment (legal or not) can turn those pennies into dollars from people who can't prove it was paid off or from people who just don't want to put up with the phone calls and nasty letters. So, they make money.

And true to form, as long as they can make money at it, you can bet collection companies will do it. But every once in a while they go too far.

So what can you do? You can either get a really thick skin and just live with it, or you can sue them to make them leave you alone. If you owe the money and they harass you, you might also be able to get them to finally wipe out the debt completely too. At the very least, you can make them treat you reasonable and fair.

Oh yeah, and you can make them pay you $1,000 just because they did it. Oh yeah, plus your legal costs too. Why did Congress pass that law? To keep piranha bill collectors in check because Congress knew the bill collectors could get crazy on you and that might drive more people into bankruptcy which, in the long run, hurts the economy even more than it's already hurting.

If bill collectors are harassing or abusing you, leaving messages at work, telling your neighbors you owe them money, or doing anything else that is unfair to you or illegal, call us Toll Free at 1-888-331-6422 or email us today.

Sure, we sue car dealers who lie to people and manufacturers who don't stand behind their warranties too. But when bill collectors are harassing you, we can make them respect you and treat you right again. Heck, we might even be able to make them go away for good.

Did you know that a guy working for a mortgage company thousands of miles from you can open your wallet or purse and look at everything? They can get your credit card names and balances, even your mortgage info. It's a little known loophole in the law that can result in identity theft. Here's how.

The outside of the envelope in your mail says "important notice about your bill" and the return address is some nondescript business name and a local address that you don't recognize. It's enough to make you wonder so you, quite naturally, open the envelope.

The letter tells you that they know "that you have a 1st mortgage balance of approximately" and the exact amount is printed there. They also know that you have a "revolving credit card balances of" and that exact amount is printed there too. Then they hit you with a sales pitch to let them refinance all your debt with a new mortgage with, of course, one lower payment "to protect your credit". Yeah, right.

If you're like me, you wonder how in the world did they know my mortgage balance and my credit card balances since you never applied for credit with them. Because they're blue-suited thieves, that's why. Sure they call themselves a legitimate business, but in my book anyone who I don't have an account with and who gets a copy of my credit record, is just a thief.

You may think they have no right and no way to get your credit record, but think again.

The law actually lets someone pull your credit record as long as they say they intend to make you an offer of credit, even if you didn't ask for it. Problem is, even when they send you that offer (like the one above) it's full of "we're gonna check your credit again if you apply" conditions that mean it really isn't a firm offer after all. That stinks!

No company should have the right to pull your credit information to "size you up" for their marketing department's loan solicitations. What, you don't get enough junk mail as it is? And who knows where your credit info will end up after that?

The credit reporting agencies have a right to sell your credit information without you knowing it, but you can stop it. You can stop it now.

You have the right to prohibit use of your credit file with any credit reporting agency in connection with any transaction that you did not initiate. All you have to do is notify the "Big 3" credit reporting agencies to stop it. But until you do, any Tom, Dick & Harry loan company (including the one those three cons in prison set up behind bars) can pull your credit file just by saying it's for a "legitimate" use, whatever that may mean to them. And who knows where your credit data goes from there.

You can stop it right now.

Write a letter to all the credit reporting agencies, telling them that you are instructing them not to allow any use of your credit file in connection with any transaction that you did not initiate yourself. Take control of your private data. It's a beginning step to stopping identity theft.

The Big 3 are:

Equifax Options, P.O. Box 740123, Atlanta, GA 30374
Trans Union, Name Removal Option, P. O. Box 97328, Jackson, MS 39288
Experian Consumer Opt-Out, P. O. Box 919, Allen, TX 75013

To learn more about your consumer credit rights, click here. If your credit info is misused or your identity stolen, we can help. Email us or call.

There's lots of places to find free advice on the web. You can hire professionals, sure, and you probably should when things get too complex or too difficult. But some free advice can at least get you started in the right direction. Here's a few common consumer problems and websites with free advice.

Credit Cards & Banking: Bankrate.com has tons of info on checking and savings accounts, mortgages, credit cards and a lot more about how it all works, including credit scores, budgeting and home buying.

Real Estate: Realtor.com is a commercial site run by the National Association of Realtors. It gives you the largest database of homes for sale that you can search in multiple waysand you can even zoom in or out of a neighborhood with its maps.

Personal financial planning: fpanet.org is the official website of the Financial Planning Association. Check out the links and info found under "Public Services" for brochures, articles, a retirment calculator and more. It's really quite cool.

Retirement: BenefitsCheckUp.org gives you info on public and private benefit programs for seniors in every state and DC. It even has application forms for more than 250 programs that pay for drug prescriptions and other health care costs.

And of course our own Consumer Rights: OhioConsumerLaw.com which has tons of info and links and how-to help on everything related to consumers, including common consumer scams, auto repairs, bill collectors, mobile homes, fraud explained, landlord-tenant rights, and much, much more. And don't let the title fool you. Much of the info generally explains consumer rights in all 50 states and DC, but of course you should always check with a lawyer for your own specific situation.

Defective Vehicle Law: UsLemonLawyers.com explains the Lemon Laws in all 50 states and DC, and has links to local lawyers that can help you get rid of that lemon car or truck.

Credit Rights: OhioFairCredit.com covers everything important to understanding how credit works and what your rights are when your credit goes wrong, including how to fix credit report errors, protecting yourself from identity theft, mortgage fraud, and lots more. And don't let the name fool you. Most credit rights come from federal laws so many of the most important credit protection laws are the same everywhere.