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The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is increasing its scrutiny of payday loan companies after the number of complaints about them soared.

In a report to the Government, the OFT revealed that the number of complaints received by helpline Consumer Direct about payday loan companies more than doubled to 1,535 in the 11 months to November.

In 2010, the number of complaints received by Consumer Direct in the whole year was just 700.

Complaints to the Financial Ombusdman have also increased – by 72 per cent this year, compared with 2010.

Payday loan companies have been found to be breaking advertising rules and the OFT is checking the websites of around 50 firms.

Payday lenders are also failing to check if customers can afford to take out a loan. <

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It is important for a consumer to work on a Get Out of Debt Plan once he/she finds it difficult to repay monthly installments for multiple debts. The debt may have been caused due to excessive spending on family by obtaining unnecessary loans and using Credit Card Service. The Get Out of Debt Plan makes use of Credit Services such as Debt Consolidation, Debt Settlement, Bankruptcy Management and Consumer Credit Counseling Service.

Get Out of Debt Plan – Debt Settlement

Companies offer consumers the relief of debt elimination within a fixed time frame according to a formal agreement. Some companies work for profits while other do this work for free. The ultimate result of using these services is that the consumer shall be free of threat calls and legal notifications from creditors any further. M

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This is the sixth article of a series dealing with the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (“Act”). For the first five articles, see:

Part 1 – Charitable IRA Rollovers
Part 2 – Estate Tax/Carryover Basis Election for 2010 Decedents
Part 3 – Temporary $5 Million Estate Tax Exemption
Part 4 – Temporary $5 Million Gift Tax Exemption: Use it or Lose It
Part 5 – Gifting Without Making Yourself a Pauper

Part 5 discussed methods for making gifts that do not decrease your cash flow. One significant blow to your cash flow could be Tennessee gift taxes. Tennessee does not have an exemption from taxable gifts. If you make a $5 million taxable gift, you will owe $463,400 of Tennessee gift taxes. A lot of our clients would be willing to make a significant taxable gift if they did not have to pay Tennessee gift taxes. This article w

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Americans reportedly spend an estimated $294 billion on out-of-pocket medical costs each year, according to a study reported by CNN Money. The soaring cost of health care has prompted more and more consumers to consider medical credit cards as a way to pay for these unforeseen and necessary expenses.

Recently, I became one of the millions of Americans faced with this dilemma. As I sat in my oral surgeon’s office staring at x-rays of my soon-to-be-removed wisdom teeth, I was presented with the cold hard truth. This procedure was going to cost me nearly $3,000, none of which would be covered by my dental insurance. Suddenly a medical credit card was looking like one of my only viable options.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, here are some questions to consider before deciding to pay with a medical credit card.

What is a medical credit card?

Medical credit cards function like typical credit cards and are offered to consumers with large out-of-pocket health care expenses. M

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This week the IRS published the following Private Letter Rulings relating to international taxation:

PLR 201201013: Late/retroactive PFIC QEF election

PLR 201201016: Gain on disposition of assets generating active financing income under Code §954(h) did not trigger Foreign Personal Holding Company Income