Assembly Bill 261 -- ready for Congress?

What an experience! Today I testified before State Representatives Meyer, Lothian, Roys, Spanbauer, Hixon, Pope-Richards, and Soletski; the Committee Clerk, Chairman Hintz, and the Legislative Council in favor of Assembly Bill 261 on behalf of AARP (the reason for the red shirts) at the Wisconsin State Capitol. Surprisingly I wasn't nervous (much) and considered this to be less daunting than reading the liturgy in church -- at least there weren't any funky names of people or towns!

Assembly Bill 261 relates to soliciting purchases of goods or services using unsolicited checks or money orders. You may have received one of these in the mail. At first glance, the check looks like a good deal -- might even say that it's a REAL check but in a smaller font it instructs you to turn the paper over to read the fine print. What many people don't realize is that by endorsing the check, you are also agreeing to purchase a particular product or sign up for some kind of service. AARP (and myself) believe that this is a blatantly misleading business practice that is meant to confuse consumers.

The Assembly agreed with my statement and conviction; or at least they understood it, as there were no questions from the floor. I was followed by members of the banking industry who spoke against the bill. They felt that there is ample text describing this as a loan . . . on the back of the 'check'. The problem is that too many people get the 'check' in their hands and don't bother to read the small print on the back, cash the check, and may be too embarassed to admit that they made a mistake.

I showed an example of the check to my father-in-law and he agreed that if he hadn't heard my testimony beforehand he may have thought the check was real. This is Don, the man that doubts everything! How easy it must be for others that are desparate for cash or aren't able to read the small print? I could certainly use $1,519.89 (the amount the check was made out for), couldn't you? But certainly not at 33.16% interest!! Yikes!

So, if I was convincing enough we just might see this bill go to Congress -- hooray!! We can follow the progress by clicking on this link:

http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2009/data/AB261hst.html

What a day to sport a stress zit :-(