The US Government is the Number 1 source of consumer credit education and awareness information through any number of government websites.
This page provides a directory of some of the more relevant government offered consumer credit information:
FTC Consumer Education Resources
The Federal Trade Commission or FTC is charged with protecting America’s consumers. They provide an incredibly rich resource for consumers interested in educating themselves on every consumer credit topic imaginable.
Here’s a few ideas on how to get started on the path to becoming an educated, wise-credit using consumer:
FTC Credit Education Resources
- Consumer Education and Awareness in English
- Consumer Education and Awareness En Espanol
- Consumer Education and Awareness for Kids
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The mandate of the FDIC is to provide insurance for our deposits in insured banks. They also maintain and extensive list of resources dealing with Consumer Protection.
Visit the FDIC Consumer Protection site for advice on
- Banking & Your Money – How to protect your bank accounts and money.
- Loans & Mortgages – Pick the right loan or mortgage for your financial circumstances.
- Financial Education & Literacy – Are you financially literate? Inform yourself on financial topics.
These are a few of the financial and consumer protection topics you can access on the FDIC site.
The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) – The US Government set up this program to help struggling homeowners stay in their homes by offering assistance with mortgage modification as well as foreclosure alternatives. They also offer a learning center with access to regularly scheduled webinars discussing specifics, qualifications and how-tos for their mortgage relief programs.
The IRS – With estimates ranging from 15,000 to 70,000 pages, the US tax code is so complex that we can’t even find an accurate estimate of its size. Small wonder that we employ over 1.2 million professional tax preparers to help us muddle through at tax time. Oddly enough, one of the better resources, for dealing with taxes is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) itself.
The IRS provides extensive online tax preparation and employs a small army of experts to handle telephone inquiries. And, for low income and elderly preparers, the IRS provides the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) and the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) Programs offer free tax help for taxpayers who qualify.
IRS Links
- Tax Information for Individuals – a comprehensive index of information that individuals need to file their taxes and answer their tax related questions including…
- Live Assistance with Your Tax Questions (Available 7am – 10pm, Monday – Friday)
- Tax-payer Forms and Publications – beginning in 2011 the IRS is no longer automatically mailing out tax forms. You can order forms for delivery by US Mail or download them at the Forms and Publications page.
