You are Here: CreditReporting.com > Archived News

National Consumer Protection Week March 17, 2010

By: Ellen Lawson
Published January 15, 2010

 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) joins with federal, state and local government agencies and consumer protection organizations to announce the launch of their web site and blog supporting the 14th annual National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW).  This year the week chosen to celebrate sound money management choices is March 7-13.  

The theme, “Dollars & Sense: Rated ‘A’ for All Ages,” is a call for consumers to practice good financial sense from grade school to retirement. 

NCPW partners are promoting free resources on timely subjects.  Their goal is to encourage people to take full advantage of their consumer rights.  The site will offer helpful tips on how consumers can protect their privacy, manage money and debt, avoid identity theft, understand credit and mortgages, and steer clear of frauds and scams.  Additionally, NCPW partners are reaching out to kids in a bigger way than in previous years, by focusing on sites, videos and games designed for young people.    

The FTC, created in 1914 under President Woodrow Wilson while in the midst of debate on trusts and antitrust, is today perhaps best known for enforcing a whole range of consumer protections including credit laws, among those the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  The Commission is also responsible for establishing the National Do Not Call Registry, which offers consumers the ability to stop telemarketers from calling.

New this year for NCPW is the site’s blog, designed to provide thought-provoking information on how consumers can better guard their resources by inviting guests to participate with their feedback and by posting questions.  David Vladeck, Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection Federal Trade Commission, and guest blogger says, “through a blog, we can be a little bit less formal than a traditional government website and hopefully, quicker and more responsive.” 

Partners with the FTC on the presentation of the week-long event include AARP, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Consumer Federation of America, the Better Business Bureaus, the Federal Citizen Information Center, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Trade Commission, the National Association of Attorneys General, the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators, the National Consumers League, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Postal Service.