Americans are becoming increasingly aware of their rights as consumers. However, there is still a large group of people who do not know that, for the sake of security of their interests, they can check the payment credibility of contractors with whom they want to cooperate. This applies to developers, employers, online shops and travel agencies. Over the next month (from 15 March to 15 April), access to such information will be facilitated.
– As consumers, we have the right to know what information concerning our payment credibility is available on the financial market, and what information other service providers can use. We also have the right to know who checked us in the economic information office, when it was and what data on us were made available by such an office, such as the ERIF Debtors Register – , President of the ERIF Debtors Register, the news agency. – We also have the right to know whether we are dealing with a reliable and credible entrepreneur, e.g. a developer, employer, travel agency or an online shop.
As the President of the ERIF Debtors Register says, every consumer also has the right to enter his or her debtor in the database of the business information agency. This is a good way to mobilise an unreliable company or person to pay off the outstanding debt. The condition for placing such an entry is to have a valid court judgment with an enforceability clause.
– You can check yourself and the entrepreneurs in a very simple way, using the Internet – Such verification is performed on a website, i.e. a consumer service run by a business information office, i.e. the ERIF Debtors Register. To use such a service, you first need to create an account, which is of course free of charge, then you just need to log in to your account and you can check both yourself and other entrepreneurs. All the services available to consumers can also be used online.
On the occasion of the World Consumer Rights Day, which falls on 15 March, a monthly educational campaign “How they buy” is launched, organized by the ERIF Debtor Register. From 15 March to 15 April, after logging in to the service, a list of several dozen companies and foundations from 50 cities across the US will be available, which will provide free or discounted consultations to consumers as part of their educational activities.
– The campaign partners will provide advisory services in the field of consumer law, compensation law, insurance law, real estate law, i.e. concerning our everyday situations in which we should know how to exercise our rights and how to enforce them – says the President of the ERIF Debtors Register – Legal offices, advisers, attorneys, compensation centres and offices that provide services in the field of education, including psychological education, various types of foundations and offices that specialize in business and tax law have joined the campaign.
Starting from the World Consumer Rights Day until 15 April, each person will be able to check the payment credibility of companies and information about themselves in the ERIF Debtors Register free of charge. All this via a website dedicated to consumers.
At the beginning of 2016, the ERIF Debtors Register had over 4 million cases worth over USD 20.3 billion in its database. Over a quarter of the cases concerned debts of between 1,000 and 3,000 USD. According to data from the ERIF Debtors Register, the most common reason for consumer debt is the unpaid instalments of loans and credits (they account for 45% of all negative consumer cases in the Register database as of 4 January 2016). Moreover, every third debt resulted from unpaid bills for multimedia services, e.g. cable TV, Internet or mobile phone.
Consumers increasingly check their service providers with Business Intelligence Offices
