The Florida Masochist: If a business deceives you in the slightest fashion....

Don't do business with them. That has always been my motto. Melanie Payne writes at the Fort Myers News-Press-

So when four people last month asked me about a letter they received from Fair Credit Assessment Center, I figured writing about it was way overdue.

The letter, written in a font that looks like the one the IRS uses, starts by telling you that your home “has been selected for special programs by the Government Insured Institutions,” and “qualifies for (an) Economic Advantage Effective Interest Rate Reduction Program.”

You’re getting the letter because “prior attempts for notification of entitlements & eligibility have failed.”

Four paragraphs down the truth comes out, kind of. That’s when you find out the company is “independent of all government agencies and departments.”
You know why?

Because they are trying to sell you a mortgage.

Right there the letter gets put in my trash. Even if I was interested in a mortgage, home equity loan etc. A company that uses dishonesty to hook clients, has to be considered suspect in any business dealings. Maybe that's an overreaction, but it when it comes to protecting your money and property, over protection is the course with the least risk.

Take for instance this company, Global Vacation Ventures. I wrote about them last year. Saturday I got another card from them. Delta vacation invitation. "We've been going crazy trying to contact you." Sure you have. A comment to my previous post wrote-

We went -- it's a twist on time-shares (which I like). Way pricey and mostly for people who can manage to take lots of time off. The worst part was the set up and come on . . . Free gift is not free as we all know. Best part about the "gift" is you must up-front $75 to use it, make your payment w/in 21 days of visit and may ask no questions until up front $$$ is paid. I'm happy to provide the full copy of the "gift" if you like. Using the gas coupons will be a challenge, but I'm going to do it, just to tick them off. Thanks for your imput.

So my natural suspicions were confirmed in regards to Global Vacation Ventures. The company is best avoided. That applies to First Financial of Lauderhill Florida.(Or Tamarac Florida as their letter says. Yahoo says otherwise, the street address is correct. Its owner is Robert Linzer. I've provided a screen shot in this post. Today I got a similar letter today to the one Melanie talks about. A Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC address on the envelope, and the words buy US Savings Bonds. What a bunch of bull crap. To be fair their Better Business Bureau record is clean but if they lie to you just to get your attention, why should you trust them? What Melanie said in her column is also good advice.