Tips for Wise Money Management
To help you make wise decisions about spending your money, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann has put together top consumer tips in five major categories: cars; credit cards; home improvements; payday loans; and predatory lending. Following these tips will help you avoid scams, save money and navigate your way through the financial danger zones of life. Click on a category below for practical tips and useful information to make your financial decisions.

 

Rules to Live By
Apply these consumer “rules to live by” for ALL of your transactions:

There's more than one talk to have with your kid 3
Thanks to MoneyAndStuff.info, the "money talk" can be the easiest of all the talks you have with your kids. Go to MoneyAndStuff.info for helpful tips, educational games, financial lessons for kids of all ages, and all sorts of other useful stuff to help you prepare your kids for a stronger financial future.

IRS warns of new e-mail and telephone scams 4
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) warns taxpayers to beware of several current e-mail and telephone scams that use the IRS name as a lure. The IRS cautions taxpayers to be on the lookout for scams involving proposed advance payment checks.

Be a wise utility consumer 5
Learn to manage your utility bills. Don't let them manage you. The Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel (OCC), the residential utility consumer advocate, urges you to be a wise utility consumer

Don't be faked by scammers. Take the test 6
Think you can't be faked by a scam. Check out the National Consumers League's (NCL), the nation's oldest nonprofit consumer organization, as a central source of information and advice about fake check scams, FakeChecks.org Web site and test your knowledge of prevalent scams and how to avoid them.

Foreclosure: Don’t Let It Happen To You 7
Home foreclosures are at an all time high in the United States. Ohio is at or near the top in various ratings of states with the highest percentage of foreclosures. Fortunately, borrowers living in fear of losing their homes can sometimes prevent foreclosure by acting quickly to contact lenders and taking other steps to reduce their risk. Many lenders understand that individuals and families can face temporary job loss, serious illness or other major life events that can impact their ability to pay the mortgage. These lenders are willing to work with borrowers who notify them as soon as they are experiencing financial trouble.

Foreclosure Prevention: “Work Out” Resolutions 8
Before you fall behind in your mortgage payments, call your lender or the company servicing your loan as soon as possible and explain your circumstances. Don’t procrastinate! Lenders are much more willing to work with borrowers who contact them than those who do not.

Investor Education Publications 9
A well-informed investor is usually a well-protected investor. Your best defense against investment scams and sales practice abuse is to become a well-informed investor. All investments carry risk, but losses from fraud are not acceptable. Unfortunately, millions of dollars are lost by Ohio investors through securities fraud. Frequently these losses are from savings that have been painstakingly accumulated over many years, or retirement funds that can't be replaced. Victims are of all ages and levels of sophistication. In the majority of these losses, none of the investors money is ever recovered.

The Division of Securities is committed to protecting Ohio investors from investment scams and abusive sales practices. Check out the Division's publications and investor alerts to help you distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent opportunities, and to help you make investments that are appropriate for your goals.

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