Do you need help with a broken lease? Is your landlord demanding that you pay more rent than you owe? Is your landlord refusing to return your deposit? Is your broken lease showing up on your credit report? Financial Warranty is here to help! First, we need to figure out exactly who broke the lease. Did you break your lease or did your landlord? This can be difficult, but it’s an important distinction. If you willingly broke your lease without having a good reason then it can be more difficult for you to take care of the situation. If your landlord broke your lease, then, depending on your city or state, we might be able to help. In some cities and states, landlords have to have a really good reason to break a lease. They also have to comply with laws about when and how to inform a tenant. Financial Warranty’s team of legal and financial professionals will go over your case and make sure that your rights – and money – are protected.

It’s hard enough being in debt without receiving dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of harassing collection calls and collection letters. So what do you do when your creditors won’t stop calling you? The most important thing to remember is that your creditors have to follow the law – just like everyone else. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA prohibits debt collectors from engaging in abusive behavior. The FDCPA covers debt collectors who work for collection agencies. Sometimes, depending on the circumstances, debt buyers – businesses that regularly buy debts and try to collect on them – are covered as well. This law stops debt collectors from collection agencies calling you repeatedly, contacting you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., or calling you without identifying themselves as bill collectors. Harassment is illegal. They’re not allowed to threaten you or try to trick you into paying them more money than you owe. And those letters you get in the mail? It’s illegal for debt collectors to send you a paper that resembles a legal document. The FDCPA also tells collection agencies what to say in their letters and they can get in a lot of trouble for not saying the right thing. So how can you stop these harassing collection calls and collection letters? The credit, debt, and legal professionals at Financial Warranty can provide you with the debt help and credit help to stop the harassment and hold these debt collectors and collection agencies accountable.

What do Walmart, Microsoft, Starbucks, and Financial Warranty have in common? They don’t pay thousands of dollars a year to the Better Business Bureau (BBB). While many people view the BBB as a consumer watchdog or even a government agency, it’s actually just a company like Yelp that charges a fee for membership and “accreditation”. Many of the companies who pay the BBB and have A- or higher ratings have been ruled flat-out scams and were shut down by the government, but still kept their high BBB grade. Some have already been required to pay multimillion dollar penalties. And others have recently been rocked by big government lawsuits. Some even have founders or former CEOs facing years behind bars. Meanwhile, respected Fortune 500 companies, like Microsoft and Starbucks, don’t pay the organization’s membership fees and are among the BBB’s lowest-rated companies. Military Credit Services of Norfolk, Virginia, for example, recently settled government charges that it went after service members with illegal debt collection lawsuits. The BBB clearly acknowledges on its website that the company’s settlement – which required Military Credit Services and two other companies to refund $2.7 million to thousands of borrowers hit with these lawsuits – has been factored into the company’s grade. But even with this black mark Military Credit Services, a paying BBB member, still boasts an A-. Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, who prosecuted the case against Military Credit Services along with federal regulators, says that he thinks the BBB “may want to take a second look” at the company’s high rating. So, why doesn’t Financial Warranty pay the Better Business Bureau? “[The BBB isn’t] here to protect the consumer,” said Missouri resident Joel Brotherton, whose complaint about an electrical company was thrown out after the business told the BBB it was planning to sue Brotherton over a payment dispute. “They’re here to protect the businesses who pay their dues.”