Kmart Corporation will reimburse dormancy fees charged on gift cards as part of its settlement with the FTC. The FTC filed a complaint that charges Kmart with deceptive practices in the advertising and selling of the cards.

According to the FTC, Kmart charged a dormancy fee of $2.10 for each month the card was not used after 24 months. If not used for two years, the dormancy fees would be $50.40. Kmart also advertised that the gift cards would never expire, but dormancy fees could quickly eat up the balance of a card and in the case of those with a value under $50.40, the card could become worthless in two years if not used. Kmart stopped charging dormancy fees after May 1, 2006.

The proposed settlement requires Kmart to reimburse the dormancy fees for consumers who provide an affected gift card’s number, a mailing address, and a telephone number. Kmart will publicize the refund program on its Web site, including a toll-free number, e-mail address, and a postal address for eligible consumers to contact Kmart to seek a refund.

The FTC has established a Consumer Hotline at (202) 326-3569 for consumers who have questions about the refund program. The Hotline will be updated as necessary.

You see the ads everywhere on the net - Free Credit Report. The problem is that consumers who sign up for their free reports often find themselves enrolled in a continuing program, one that charges fees for all subsequent services.

Recently Consumerinfo.com doing business as Experian Consumer Direct agreed to pay $300,000 to settle charges by the FTC that the company’s ads for its “free credit report” offer failed to disclose adequately the fact that consumers who signed up would be automatically enrolled in a credit-monitoring program and be charged $79.95.

The company had already paid $950,000 in August of 2005 to settle similar charges. Consumers were asked for credit card numbers to establish their accounts and automatically billed the $79.95 annual membership fee after a 3-month trial period. The FTC charges that following this settlement, the company continued to run deceptive ads about “free” reports.

Again, every consumer is entitled to one free credit report annually. These can be obtained by going to www.annualcreditreport.com.

The Federal Trade Commission has released its annual report on fraud complaints filed by consumers. As expected, identity theft tops the list at 36% of all complaints filed. But the actual number of instances of identity theft could be much higher, as for every reported instance and complaint, there may be a dozen others who have been victimized.

Here’s the top 5 listed complaints from the FTC’s Consumer Fraud and Identity Theft Complaint Data report.

1 Identity Theft - 246,035 - 36%
2 Shop-at-Home/Catalog Sales - 46,995 - 7%
3 Prizes/Sweepstakes and Lotteries - 45,587 - 7%
4 Internet Services and Computer - 41,243 - 6%
5 Internet Auctions - 32,832 - 5%

See the full list at The FTC website.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act exists to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive and abusive debt collection actions. The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against a Florida operation that it alleges violated the act with illegal and abusive debt collection practices.

The FTC’s complaint claims that the operation used misleading and threatening letters and telephone calls. They collected debts for beauty schools, truck driving schools, bail bondsman, fitness centers and other small businesses. According to the complaint, consumers were falsely threatened that lawsuits were being filed against them, that their property would be seized and wages garnished and even threatened that consumers would be arrested. The debt collectors often erupted into shouting and profanity during telephone calls to consumers.

The defendants operated from Florida using a series of names and mail drops in other states as well as Florida. They are charged with violating Section 5 of the FTC Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which bars deceptive, unfair and abusive debt collection practices.

The defendants are Rawlins & Rivera Inc. of Florida, Rawlins & Rivera Inc. of Georgia, Ryan & Reed Inc. of Florida, Ryan & Reed Inc. of Georgia, RRI Inc., their officers, Janis Brust, Joe L. Hunt, Sr., Joe L. Hunt, Jr., and Shannon Hunt, and a Florida lawyer, Robert W. Bird, whose letterhead was used for many of their collection letters.