By Kenneth Long on May 17, 2012

Tax Lady Roni Deutch allowed reprehensible activities to occur at her former law firm. Despite a $34 million lawsuit, allegations of destruction of evidence and contempt of court charge, she has defied authorities in so many ways that it seems there is no limit to her audacity. That arrogance is now firmly in the hands of her successor firm, the Juceam Group.

Roni Deutch intentionally diverted assets away from her victims in violation of court order. She failed to make a $435,000 payment to her victims even though she withdrew $241,000 for her own personal use. Sales leads were diverted to Juceam Group, which is a successor law firm that she controls.

The Juceam Group paid $72,350 in a settlement to the state of California in a Final Judgment to settle allegations that sales leads from Deutch's former firm were given to Juceam Group even though Deutch was prohibited from transferring any assets by the court. Roni Deutch created Funtax, Inc. which does business as Juceam Group.

The amazing results touted by large tax representation firms like the Roni Deutch Tax Center are based on the Offer in Compromise program that is sometimes available through the Internal Revenue Service. The problem with the claims of huge tax settlements is that most customers will not qualify for this program. Despite this, tax settlement firms continue to make empty promises and take fees from clients that should be paying their taxes.

If you are thinking about doing business with the Juceam Group, you should thoroughly research the firm before signing any contract. Consider the many regulatory actions taken against Roni Deutch for what then California Attorney General Jerry Brown described as "orchestrating a 'heartless scheme' that swindled thousands of people facing serious and expensive tax collection problems with the IRS." Her quoted 99% success rate was actually only 10%. In 2011 she was charged with diverting funds away from victim refunds for her own benefit.

Simply looking at the tax settlement industry as a whole will show you that it is dominated by numerous tax relief scams by industry leaders, including Roni Deutch, JK Harris, TaxMasters and American Tax Relief. So far newer firms Blue Tax and Juceam Group appear to be maintaining favorable ratings with the Better Business Bureau initially. It remains to be seen if they will be able to avoid regulatory problems and maintain positive ratings.

Still, with the ties of the Juceam Group and Roni Deutch Tax Center, it would be a pretty big leap of faith to entrust the firm with your case, not to mention the thousands of dollars in fees you would have to pay. Then again, finding a national firm to provide an accurate assessment of your prospects and honest support is a crap shoot at best.

The best options are to either contact the IRS yourself, or to hire a reputable tax attorney to represent you. At least that way you can get support from an actual attorney rather than an office of paper pushers and sales reps who rarely even see the attorneys that skim the profits from these types of operations.

By Kenneth Long on May 1, 2012

Online transactions normally require a debit or credit card. Now Walmart allows for online shoppers to create their order without using plastic. After placing your order, you can simply take your "Pay with Cash" confirmation to your nearest Walmart store and pay the cashier using cash.

The benefit is clear. You can now shop at Walmart.com without having to use a credit card, bank debit card or prepaid debit card. Each of these cards have fees that tend to affect lower income households more. Instead of paying fees for the privilege of shopping online, you can now place your order and then pay with cash at your convenience.

It is possible that what you want might not be in your nearest Walmart store, but instead still available at Walmart.com. This could be due to closeouts, limited quantities or regionally available merchandise. It also allows you to compare products online rather than searching product shelves.

Of course, the plan is not perfect. You still have to go to a Walmart store to activate your order. You also must pay for your order within 48 hours of placing it or risk having your "reserved" items released for other customers.

So what is in it for Walmart? They clearly are looking for ways to sell more merchandise to their customers. Walmart estimates that 81% of customers that do not have credit or debit cards do have online internet access. This allows them to shop online and pay with cash, thereby avoiding having to pay the fees to obtain a prepaid debit card commonly used by unbanked households.

Another advantage is that their average paycheck-to-paycheck customer can now place an order prior to payday. Instead of waiting until the 15th, a customer can place an order on the 13th, get paid and then go to Walmart that day to complete the transaction. Their order can either be shipped home or in many cases, picked up at their neighborhood Walmart.

Walmart's "Pay with Cash" option is a new twist on the old "Cash on Delivery" or COD method of payment that has largely been phased out by retailers. Let's see if Walmart expands on their "Pay with Cash" option by including a layaway payment plan.

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Image adapted from original by Darren Deans

By Kenneth Long on April 24, 2012

A lost laptop with private patient data may have been just the tip of the iceberg. Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson has since pointed the finger at Accretive Health for placing collection agents between patients and emergency room caregivers.

The charges are appalling. Swanson's office has claimed that Accretive Health arranged to have its own collection agents staff front line positions at hospitals' emergency rooms. Collection agents who called themselves "financial counselors" were required to press for patients to pay up before they would be treated.

Indeed, there are allegations that treatment was delayed while Accretive Health's debt collection agents would pressure emergency room patients to come up with payment before they would be allowed to see a doctor. In some cases, the patient would be expected to cough up money owed from a previous visit. In other cases, agents wanted the patient to prepay for today's visit. Some patients whose names appeared on "stop lists" faced intense collection attempts prior to treatment.

Accretive Health had hospital permission for its agents to staff the hospital premises. Its agreements mandated that agents would be able to fill certain front-line positions in order to keep costs down.

According to the attorney general, the arrangements are a clear violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Patients' records were not carefully protected by hospital staff.

Not everyone insists that a crime has been committed. Some believe that the costs of healthcare are already high because of repeat visitors that are uninsured and refuse to pay. Many poor patients go to high-cost hospital emergency rooms because they believe they will be turned away from regular doctors that require upfront payment. There were even allegations of some patients faking an emergency so that they could get a $600 ambulance ride to the hospital and therefore avoid having to pay for a taxi.

Still, a line must be drawn somewhere. If the person is employed by the hospital and subject to hospital procedures and oversight, then they should appear as a hospital employee. Anyone else should be easily distinguishable from regular hospital staff. Furthermore, they should not be handling patient records with such ease and recklessness.

To that end, Swanson's office did file a lawsuit against Accretive Health in January 2012. Swanson accuses the company of violating patient privacy laws. Both Minnesota and federal debt collection laws may also have been violated.

The practice may be quite widespread. Accretive Health has agreements with several of the largest hospitals in the country. Other medical debt collection agencies may employ similar strategies, which would make them likely targets of regulatory scrutiny. Only time will tell if other states get involved as this investigation unfolds further.

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Note: Patients can get legitimate help with medical bills, including that from actual hospital staffers.

By Kenneth Long on April 20, 2012

Existing Capital One checking account holders may have recent received a letter that provides a choice, and an ultimatum. You must choose which type of new checking account arrangement you want, unless you want to automatically begin incurring a $14.95 monthly checking account fee.

The ultimatum date is June 5, 2012. You must make a choice and notify Capital One before they will select your option for you.

Capital One's choice by the way is the Premier Rewards Checking account. This account includes a $14.95 monthly maintenance fee, which adds up to a whopping $179.40 annually. If you would prefer not to pay this fee you do have some options.

How to Avoid Paying Monthly Maintenance Fee

If you do want to earn "DOUBLE rewards automatically for everyday banking activities" (whatever that means), then you may want to stick with Premier Rewards Checking. There are a couple of ways that you can select this account and still qualify for a $14.95 fee waiver.

• A monthly direct deposit of at least $1,000 can reverse the fee. Note that the requirement is for at least a single direct deposit of $1,000 or more. Multiple smaller direct deposits apparently do not qualify, so this will keep most lower income customers out of this category--not exactly consumer friendly.
• Maintain an average monthly balance of at least $1,500. It is OK if your balance drops below this, since it is not a minimum balance requirement, but you must maintain an average balance of at least that amount to avoid paying the fee. Again, most lower income customers will not qualify.
• Maintain an average of $3,000 in combined monthly account balances. That allows you to move some into a higher earning savings account (hardly a benefit) and still qualify for a fee waiver. Again, strike three for the lower income families that bank there.

A scaled back version of the Premier Rewards Checking account is the Rewards Checking product. It only has regular rewards rather than double rewards (so sad), but it is easier for lower income families to qualify for a waiver of its $8.95 monthly fee.

• Receive at least one monthly direct deposit of $250 or more. This should help most lower income families qualify as long as their employer offers direct deposit (and they are not paid weekly).
• Maintain a $300 minimum daily balance. Rather than an average balance, this means that allowing your balance to drop to $299.99 for just one day can cause you to incur the $8.95 monthly fee.

Finally, you may select their basic product, the High Yield Free Checking account. It has no rewards but most importantly, no monthly fee either. In case you are thinking this is definitely the one for you, think again! The High Yield Free Checking account requires one of the following:

• Maintain least $5,000 in average monthly balances (may be combined across checking, savings, and investments).
• Have a mortgage loan serviced by Capital One.

If you cannot meet one of the two requirements for High Yield Free Checking, then your account will be automatically closed or converted to one of the other fee-based checking accounts. If you don't choose, then Capital One will choose for you.

In case you are wondering, Capital One is not the only "bad guy" that is trying to eliminate free checking for unprofitable accounts. Almost every big bank has been trying to find the right balance of increasing fees without sending the customers running for the hills.

Of course, if you can handle the switch to a community bank or credit union, then you can lock in free checking privileges. Move to a community bank or discover the benefits of credit union membership and leave the big banks that do not appreciate your business behind.

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Note: This article is provided for informational purposes only. Debtors Unite is not related to, nor does it endorse any product or service by Capital One.

By Kenneth Long on April 18, 2012

The largest collector of medical debt in North Carolina fought tax assessments on three corporate jets for five years. Now it has agreed to pay up after losing appeal after appeal. Does that make Absolute Collection Service a victim of its own game?

Why a collection agency needs three corporate jets is a mystery to me. Of course, I am sure the executives love having access to them for personal use.

Regardless of their use, the firm owed back taxes to Wake County, NC where the planes have been based. After rounds of appeals, the firm has finally agreed to a payment of $189,000 to settle back taxes owed on the aircraft.

Absolute Collection Service fought the county tooth and nail about the tax assessments. It used numerous appeals, yet does not provide the same level of protection for the debtors that owe it money.

Through a combination of mailed notices and collection calls, the company contacts those whose medical and other debts have been placed with the firm. Debtors who are unable to pay are not given any relief. Instead, just like at any collection agency, they are told to pay up.

Watching a collection agency refuse to pay a legitimate tax debt is quite entertaining. One must also wonder how much was spent in legal bills as they tried to get out of paying less than 200 grand in back taxes over the course of a five year dispute.

In order to get out of future taxes, the firm initiated a sale and lease back of one of the aircraft just to evade county property taxes. It is apparently legal, and was done intentionally in response to a change in tax law.

Debtors who owe Absolute Collection Service might want to see if the firm will allow them to dispute their collection bills through numerous appeals. Clearly the firm believes that a debtor has the right to fully appeal any debt over an extended period of time. By the way, the statute of limitations on private debt in NC is only 3 years, making an extended appeal process advantageous to the debtor!

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Contact information for the firm is: 919-755-3900

If you are having difficulty paying medical debt with any debt collector, see how you can get help with medical bills.