The Department of Veterans Affairs has come up with several ideas to eliminate the backlog of veterans claims for benefits.

It previously has announced a move to electronic claims processing and said it would expedite claims that have been pending for a year or more.

The latest plan, announced last week, calls for workers to put in longer hours.

"This increased overtime initiative will provide more veterans with decisions on their claims and will help us achieve our goal of eliminating the claims backlog," VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said in a statement, which you can read here.

While the goal is noble, I wonder how the workers feel about this. And I worry that the longer they work, that  the quality of their work may suffer.

The average time to process a benefits claim is 286 days, according to the VA. That's up from 161 days in 2009.

As of August, two-thirds of all benefits claims — about 568,000 out of about 856,000 — were considered backlogged, meaning they were pending for more than 125 days, according to the Government Accountability Office. That includes claims for disability benefits for injuries suffered or aggravated during military service and claims for pension benefits, which are available to veterans based on their income.

I wasn't able to attend Monday's committee hearing on Senate Bill 444, which proposes the first significant revisions to the state Right-to-Know Law since it was rewritten five years ago.

But in the spirit of open government, the Senate has posted video of the hearing and links to the testimony.

I wrote about the changes (read my column here) earlier this month. Some are good, including specifying that more government bodies such as campus police and economic development authorities are subject to the law.

I'm not crazy about other proposals, including allowing governments to seek a court order to avoid filling what they consider "unduly burdensome" requests for information.

There was testimony on both points at Monday's hearing, as well as another significant proposed revision, allowing governments to charge businesses that seek to make a buck off government information.

You can read more in Senate Bill 444 here and in Sen. Dominic Pileggi's sponsorship memo, here. And you can watch the hearing and read the testimony here.

It's one of the hottest stories in Washington this week, how the IRS was caught targeting Tea Party and other conservative organizations. You've read about the backlash. Now read the full report.

If you use a Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 browser, you could be at risk of having your computer hacked and taken over, the FBI warns. Microsoft has offered a fix.

The Better Business Bureau says the FBI issued a cyber security advisory last week warning that a "vulnerability has been discovered in Microsoft's web browser ... which could allow an attacker to take complete control of an affected system."

You can read the rest of the BBB's warning here.

Here's what Microsoft has to say about it. It has released a temporary fix, which you can find here. The vulnerability does not extend to other versions of Internet Explorer.

“BBB recommends that everyone with Internet Explorer 8 apply the temporary fix immediately,” said Ben Steinberg, chief information officer of the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

“If you are not sure which version you have, try running the fix. If you don’t have IE8, the fix will stop running and let you know that your system is not at risk. Microsoft will let you know when the patch is available, and you need to download that as soon as it is.”

There always will be debate over just how common it is for mistakes to appear on credit reports.

The industry, of course, tells us errors are minimal. Consumer advocates, as you'd expect, contend errors are too common.

If you've been a victim of an error, what would be important to you is whether the system can identify and correct the error quickly, before your credit, and possibly your life, is ruined.

This woman's tale shows just how hard it can be to reclaim your good name. That's what should be the focus of this debate.

Judy Ann Thomas of Ohio testified this week before a Senate committee  investigating the issue. She said she's been fighting to remove damaging, inaccurate information from her credit reports since 1999. 

"Despite the enormous importance of credit information, I never anticipated how difficult and devastating it would be to try and clean up or correct my reports, resolve issues or communicate with entities about this situation," Thomas told senators Tuesday. "The sheer volume of time, energy and resources necessarily devoted by me in my mostly-unsuccessful efforts is staggering."

Her credit history somehow got mixed up with the wretched credit history of another woman who has a similar first name - Judith - but a completely different last name and who lives in another state. The women, though, share seven digits in their Social Security numbers.

Thomas said she repeatedly disputed the incorrect information on her reports, but never got to the root of the problem. As a result, she was denied credit multiple times. That kept her from refinancing her home and getting a student loan for her daughter.

"I take great pride in the good name and impeccable credit rating I have struggled to build for myself, and it devastates me that these things are being compromised and there is nothing I can do about it," Thomas said.

She said disputing the errors as they appeared was a losing battle. She'd get them removed, then they'd reappear.

"It was obvious to me that no one was looking at the bigger picture of why this information was coming into my credit report in the first place," Thomas said in her written testimony.

You can read her testimony verbatim here, and read testimony from others at Tuesday's hearing here.

I've written about problems in credit reports, and what you can do about them, several times:

Credit report errors can cost you

Check your background check

Thomas testified that the other woman's awful credit history quickly sunk hers, too. She was unable to

The state Public Utility Commission issued a report today to state lawmakers about how electric companies performed during Hurricane Sandy.

Overall, the commission gave utilities high marks, but suggested areas for improvement.

Utilities turned to social media to keep in touch with their customers and coordinated better with local elected officials and local emergency officials during Hurricane Sandy last year than they had during storms in 2011, the PUC said. They also did a better job of handling the volume of customer calls.

In its report, which you can read here, the PUC said there is room for improvement, though.

It suggested PPL analyze circuits in the Lehigh and Northeast regions, Met-Ed analyze circuits in the Easton and Stroudsburg areas and PECO analyze circuits in Bucks County.

“In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the story we have to tell is in large part a positive one, with hundreds of thousands of customers having their power restored within 72 hours,” PUC Vice Chairman John F. Coleman testified before the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee. 

“However, we are aware that many others were left without electric service for up to 10 days.  We are pleased that many of the experiences from the severe-storm related outages of 2011 were incorporated into this response, which brought positive results. The process of building on what worked and changing what didn’t is well underway at both the PUC and the utilities.”

Below is today's testimony from PPL:

Good morning,

I’m Dave Bonenberger, vice president of Distribution Operations for PPL Electric Utilities.

Thank you, Chairman Tomlinson, Chairwoman Boscola and members of the committee, for the opportunity to share information about our ongoing efforts to improve reliability following Hurricane Sandy.

I am responsible for the construction, maintenance and operation of the PPL Electric system that spans 10,000 square miles and serves 1.4 million customers in 29 counties of central and eastern Pennsylvania.  Additionally, I am responsible for distribution engineering and standards, our reliability programs, and asset management.

Last November, our president, Greg Dudkin, appeared before you, immediately following Hurricane Sandy. He talked about our preparations, the storms’ impact, and our recovery efforts. I will focus today mainly on our post-Sandy improvement initiatives.

First, I want to note that there were a number of differences in how we prepared and how we responded to Sandy compared with the two major storms a year earlier, Hurricane Irene and the Halloween snowstorm.

Briefly, Hurricane Sandy was the largest storm in our history, leaving widespread devastation and more than 523,000 customers without power. Our eastern regions were most heavily affected.

We knew it was coming, we knew it was going to be bad and we prepared for it.

PPL Electric Utilities mobilized the largest workforce it has ever assembled to repair the wind and tree damage and efficiently and safely restore service to affected customers, including support from 56 companies from 16 different states.

Our restoration efforts benefited from an early decision to get as much manpower, equipment, and other resources in place as possible before the storm hit. In particular, we called crews up from our two sister utilities in Kentucky and their contractors five days in advance so they could be in the area and ready prior to the storm making landfall.

Based on the lessons learned from Hurricane Irene and other major storms in 2011,  

We achieved vastly improved customer service improvement and managed more than one million customer contacts due to increased staffing and improved technology for our Customer Contact Center. Our online Outage Center allowed for mobile outage reporting and status updates.

We improved our ability to house and feed thousands of utility workers who would join the massive power restoration effort via our mutual assistance connections.

We established self-contained trailer camps at Dorney Park and the Wayne County Fairgrounds that could accommodate all the needs of up to 500 contractors each. With so many people forced into hotels by the widespread damage, these pre-storm arrangements proved vital.

We established staging areas at resorts and shopping malls, so we could keep crews closer to affected customers and more effectively coordinate field work.

We significantly expanded our public and customer communications. This included daily briefings with public officials and emergency service agencies about our progress and challenges, so they could learn more about what was happening in the communities we serve. We also hosted multiple tours of our central and regional emergency centers for public officials.    

Our public communications were greatly expanded prior to the storm, during Sandy, and for the days after the historic storm during our recovery effort. We used all available communications channels at our disposal, including mass emails, text messages, outbound automated phone calls, traditional news media, our web site and extensively engaged our customers on social media.

It truly was an historic storm, and we feel we had an unprecedented level of preparation and response.

All of the planning yielded positive results for our customers affected by Sandy. We restored about half of our affected customers within 24 hours, 85 percent within four days and 99 percent within six days.

With any operational event like Sandy, we perform self-critiques and collect feedback from others.  We understand there are always ways to improve our performance.

Yet, we were humbled by some formal customer feedback, in addition to hundreds of letters and other correspondence and gestures from those in our community.

Earlier this year (Feb. 12, 2013), J.D. Power and Associates released findings of a broad study into consumer perceptions of federal, state and local governments and utility performance prior to and following Sandy. We were one of only three utilities recognized by J.D. Power for performing “particularly well,” particularly with regard to our public and customer communications. Consumers responded most favorably when they received proactive information directly from their utility and they could see field crews in action.

Additionally, our own surveys with hundreds of customers indicated 25 percent had a more favorable opinion toward PPL Electric Utilities following Sandy, much more than those who had less favorable customer satisfaction based on their storm experience. Overall customer satisfaction with the company’s efforts to keep them informed was 79 percent, a sharp improvement from a similar survey conducted after Hurricane Irene a year earlier.

*                *                      *                      *                     

For many of us, Sandy certainly reinforced our belief that we can never underestimate the power of nature.  Unlike our typical storms each year, major storms like Sandy bring unique challenges and lessons learned.

We know we can never be satisfied with the status quo.

Our post-Sandy performance improvement initiatives fall into three main categories:

More funding for our vegetation management program and increased line clearance work with revised standards, particularly along our 69-kv transmission facilities and three-phase distribution lines that serve larger numbers of customers.

After three years devoted to clearing of our rights of way for the high-voltage transmission lines that make up the Bulk Electric System, it is notable that we had no tree contacts with those critical lines during Sandy.

During major storms, the vast majority of outages are tree-related. The tree damage typically extends the length of outages due to the amount of clean up and repair. We will spend roughly $46 million on vegetation management this year, and we believe there will be an immediate direct reliability benefit for our customers.

45 operational process improvements to specific aspects of our emergency preparedness and response. Our operations and customer service management across the company meet every two months to review progress on these initiatives, which will help improve manpower tracking, work flow, productivity and communications – ultimately reducing outage duration.

And, our 2013 capital investment program to improve our electric delivery system, address aging infrastructure and strengthen reliability.

Some capital projects are planned to serve new customers or better meet increased demand in certain areas. Many of our programs and projects are designed to upgrade facilities and improve service.

It’s our largest scale infrastructure investment since the 1960s and 1970s, and very much needed.

We have nearly 250 large projects scheduled this year across our system -- all aimed at better meeting the needs of our customers, today and for years to come with fewer outages.

Fundamentally, we believe the most significant benefit to our customers is our commitment this year to invest nearly a billion dollars to strengthen, renew and upgrade the reliability of our electric system.

This year’s work is part of a five-year, $3.8 billion infrastructure investment. The significantly increased investment in our delivery system actually began in 2009, well before Irene and Sandy, and has been stepped up each of the past four years.

We’re rebuilding older transmission lines, replacing thousands of poles and towers, and expanding our network to be more robust and reliable. On the distribution system, we are modernizing our local substations with new equipment and upgrading dozens of local circuits to have more flexible operations and better serve customers.

In our strategy to address aging infrastructure, we will replace approximately 6,000 older wooden transmission poles this year. We’ll rebuild several of our vintage power lines (among the first built across the state), and we’ll replace dozens of substation circuit breakers and transformers.

Among the storm hardening initiatives, we are replacing poles and foundations based on more rigorous construction standards and improving our lightning protection along power lines.

Specifically, we recently announced two major transmission projects that were developed after Sandy to strengthen our system in the Lehigh Valley that was heavily damaged. Each of the projects represents investments of several million dollars. The new lines will be built to a much more rigorous construction standard.

As part of our system upgrades, there’s an increased commitment to distribution automation and technology to reduce outages and improve response to interruptions. We are making major investments in a new distribution management system (DMS), upgrades to our outage management system (OMS), and our dispatch systems. The public sees the crews working in the field, while the systems behind the scenes compile and manage vast amounts of data to help us work most efficiently.

We are expanding our PPL Smart Grid deployment from the Harrisburg area in recent years to Monroe County this year. With nearly 500 automated devices and substation upgrades, the $10 million project will improve the reliability of electric service to 70,000 customers in an area often impacted by stormy weather.

We also have plans for further upgrades each of the next five years. More than half of our service territory will be equipped with smart grid technology in the next five years.

 Under the technology umbrella:

The new distribution management system will help our system operators immensely, provide greater visibility into dynamic system conditions, and automatically perform tasks that now require operator intervention. Similarly, we are installing upgraded SCADA systems at 16 substations, which provide remote access to monitor and control power equipment and enable system operators to act more quickly to resolve system problems.

The multi-million-dollar upgrades to our outage management system will help us more efficiently evaluate, prioritize and dispatch work.

A new automated system will help dispatch crews faster during storms. These new systems will be in place this year.

We are nearing completion on a new corporate data center and Operations Center for PPL Electric Utilities outside Allentown, a substantial PPL investment in the Lehigh Valley and in our information systems. The new 111,000-square foot center will house our transmission and distribution control centers and emergency command center, as well as engineering, IT and training support staff.

Additionally, we continually upgrade our PPL Electric Utilities web site. This year, our customers can perform more tasks – from reporting or checking on an outage to reviewing account history and paying a bill – more easily on a smart phone or tablet.

I wish to express our appreciation to the Pennsylvania legislature and the PUC for working together with utilities to encourage accelerated infrastructure investment.

Act 11 enacted last year allows us to more efficiently plan, borrow funds, buy materials and make system improvements. As a result, we can do more to improve our operations, strengthen our reliability, and better serve customers.

We were proud to submit a detailed Long-Term Infrastructure Improvement Plan last fall and have it approved by the PUC in January this year. It details our various reliability programs, funding levels, and specific schedules. It’s a solid five-year plan that we will execute to benefit our customers.

Due to Act 11, we are investing more. Our system will operate better, and our customers will benefit.

Additionally, we are participating in a number of industry collaborative efforts – statewide and nationally -- to explore best practices.  Our joint initiatives with the other Pennsylvania utilities have been productive and will result in greater coordination among utilities, as well as with local governmental entities. Our national industry groups like EEI, EPRI and AEIC have been leading coordinated efforts to evaluate certain measures for storm hardening of critical facilities and determining how we can improve on our mutual assistance and customer communications.

In conclusion, many PPL Electric Utilities employees are involved in our post-Sandy storm response and system improvement initiatives. 

We will always be our harshest critic.  Immediately after the Sandy recovery was concluded, employee groups met to perform self-critiques.  Employees met at their local level and within each function.  Then, we evaluated the numerous proposals to identify 45 storm response initiatives to pursue this year. Many of them pertain to internal processes and procedures. They also address areas like training and information systems.     

At the same time, we understand the importance of listening to our customers and getting feedback from constituents like you.

We know we must better coordinate with local agencies. And, we must be focused on better customer and public communications during prolonged storm recovery efforts. We are fully committed to be diligent in these areas.

PPL Electric’s substantial capital investments are geared to a stronger delivery system and sustained reliability improvement.

Our customers count on us to deliver the power they need from morning till night, even when severe weather deals us challenges.

We believe we have programs, projects and, specifically, storm response improvements to meet those expectations.   Thank you again for your time and interest today.

Yesterday's news about a death following an incident at a Carbon County nursing home may have you wondering about the oversight and care provided at area nursing homes.

Here's how you can find out.

My colleague, Manuel Gamiz Jr., reported that the death of an 85-year-old resident of the Weatherwood Nursing Facility in Weatherly is a homicide.

The Luzerne County coroner's office said Margaret Lechleitner was pushed on April 20 by another resident. She was taken to Hazleton General Hospital where she died on April 21 of a subdural hematoma, authorities said.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health inspects nursing homes periodically, and more frequently if it receives complaints. Those reports are posted publicly on the department's website, here.

You can look up reports on a specific home, or scan reports of all homes by county if you're looking for a home. You also can compare the performance of homes.

Kevin Drake, of Drake Construction, was ordered Friday morning to stand trial on eight cases of home improvement fraud after customers testified they paid him to build decks, additions and basements that were not completed.

I wrote about the allegations against Drake, of Lower Macungie Township, about a month ago. You can find that column here.

Among those who testified at Friday's preliminary hearing was Jennifer Makoul of Upper Milford Township. Makoul said she hired Drake in October to build a deck, paying $22,000. She said work didn't even start until two weeks after the project was supposed to be finished, and Drake's crews didn't get far before work stopped for good.

"There were just some posts that were put in," Makoul testified. "It wasn't even framed."

Drake, who recently filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, did not speak at Friday's preliminary hearing. He has been in jail since his arrest about a month ago. District Judge Michael Faulkner agreed to reduce Drake's bail, but did not grant his attorneys' request to dismiss most of the charges.

Defense attorney Mike McGinley told the judge there was no evidence of criminal intent, that he intended to take money and not perform the work, at the time Drake signed the contracts.

McGinley said the cases belong in civil court because they are "ambiguous contractual issues."

He said work was started on most of the projects, and Drake did not skip town or shut down his business and remained in contact with the customers, though several customers said reaching him wasn't always easy.

Lehigh County Assistant District Attorney Sarah Heimbach said all that must be proven under the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act is that the projects were not finished and money was not refunded to customers.

She said the fact that eight homeowners came forward citing similar stories is significant.

"This was a course of conduct and a pattern of behavior," Heimbach told the judge.

She questioned why Drake kept signing contracts and taking money for new projects if he was having trouble completing current projects.

"I think that can speak to his intent," she said.

If you're looking to hire a contractor, you can find tips here. 

These disciplinary and licensing actions were announced recently by Pennsylvania's licensing boards against professionals who live and work in the Lehigh Valley area. The information is taken verbatim from the PA Department of State's website, where you can find all of the actions against professionals statewide.

PA Board of Accountancy

Montgomery County

Janet T. Reid, license no. CA046688L, of Darby, Montgomery County, was assessed a civil penalty of $150 for failure to timely complete acceptable continuing professional education. (12/31/12)

 
PA Board of Nursing

Berks County

Carisa D. Zidik, license no. RN500599L, of Sinking Spring, Berks County, was suspended retroactive to September 19, 2011, said suspension stayed in favor of probation until at least July 1, 2014, for having
violated the terms of a previously issued board order. (10/11/12)

Alison Marie Rock, license no. RN567897, of Womelsdorf, Berks County, was indefinitely suspended for no less than five years, such suspension to be immediately stayed in favor of no less than five years of probation, because she is unable to practice professional nursing with reasonable sill and safety by reason of mental or physical illness or condition or dependence upon alcohol, hallucinogenic or narcotic drugs or other drugs which tend to impair judgment or coordination. (02/26/13)

Lehigh County

Terry Cesare, license no. RN208622L, of Whitehall, Lehigh County, was indefinitely suspended for no less than three years retroactive to November 15, 2012 because she has violated a lawful disciplinary
order of the board. (02/26/13)

Schuylkill County

Christine Joann Mistysyn, license no. RN306754L, of Cressona, Schuylkill County, was indefinitely suspended for no less than three years retroactive to April 6, 2012, based upon violation of a previously
issued board order. (10/22/12)

Maria Margaret Matlock, license no. RN316976L, of Pottsville, Schukykill County, was suspended for one year, with such suspension immediately stayed in favor of probation, because she falsified or knowingly made incorrect entries into a patient's record or other related documents. (02/26/13)

 
Real Estate Commission

Bucks County

Sydney M. Wilson, license no. RS321024, of Jamison, Bucks County, was granted a probationary real estate salesperson’s license to run concurrent with his criminal probation. (11/28/12)

 
PA Board of Vehicle Manufacturers, Dealers and Salespersons

Bucks County

Steven E. Murphy, license no. MV189138, of Bristol, Bucks County, was suspended based on his failure to pay a previously imposed civil penalty. (12/31/12)

Federal banking authorities announced Tuesday that Citizens Bank and one of its affiliates, RBS Citizens, have settled investigations into their overdraft protection programs and checking reward programs.

About 340,000 customers will get a total of about $3.9 million in restitution.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said in a news release that Citizens Bank "engaged in deceptive practices" in the marketing and implementation of its overdraft payment program, checking rewards programs and stop-payment process for preauthorized recurring funds transfers.

Citizens Bank has branches in the Quakertown and Lansdale areas south of Allentown.

The bank will pay a $5 million fine and pay about $1.4 million in restitution to about 75,000 customers who were affected between January 2008 and November 2011.

Citizens Bank did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency alleged RBS Citizens made "inaccurate or misleading disclosures" about the operation of its overdraft protection programs, the rebate qualification requirements of its checking rewards program, or the bank's ability to process stop-payment requests.

RBS Citizens, which did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, will pay a $5 million fine and about $2.5 million in restitution to about 265,000 customers who were affected between September 2007 and September 2011.

Customers will not have to take any action to get their refunds. 

It's smart for the government to cut spending. It's stupid to cut it by "sequestering" funds across the board instead of targeting true waste.

All that does is potentially disrupt life-saving services, such as making sure planes don't crash into each other. Reports today say there have been flight delays at airports because the FAA has furloughed air traffic controllers to meet its required budget cuts under the sequester.

If you've got some time on your hands at an airport, here's some reading material showing the type of waste the government should be cutting instead of keeping needed airport workers at home.

Nearly a quarter of earned income tax credit payments made by the Internal Revenue Service are improper, costing the government $11-13 billion in the last fiscal year, auditors said in a report today that makes it sound as if this is expected and not a big concern.

If your phone never leaves your hand and as a result you've gotten a shockingly high bill, you've experienced "bill shock."

You're not alone. Authorities say 30 million people, or about one of every six wireless users, have been hit with a higher-than-expected bill. That shouldn't happen in the future, though. Here's why.

Major wireless carriers met their deadline this week to set up systems that alert their customers when they are approaching their monthly limits on calls, texts and data, or when they may face international roaming charges, the Federal Communications Commission announced.

It said Thursday that about 97 percent of wireless customers now are protected from bill shock under that program.

You can learn more about the alert program here, and about bill shock here.

If you're one of those people who say "it never will happen to me," the odds may be against you if you're talking about fraud.

A survey found one in ten adults were fraud victims in 2011.

The survey, which you can find here, was done by the Federal Trade Commission. It estimated that more than 25 million adults were victims. Here were the top types of fraud:

• Weight-loss Products (5.1 million estimated)
• Prize Promotions (2.4 million est.)
• Unauthorized Billing for Buyers’ Club Memberships (1.9 million est.)
• Unauthorized Billing for Internet Services (1.9 million est.)
• Work-at-Home Programs (1.8 million est.)
• Credit Repair Scams (1.7 million est.)
• Debt Relief (1.5 million est.)
• Credit Card Insurance (1.3 million est.)
• Business Opportunities (1.1 million est.)
• Mortgage Relief Scams (800,000 est.)

A new report points out more wasteful government spending in programs ranging from catfish food safety inspections to the purchase of military uniforms.

Today's Watchdog column has more details about the stupid ways our government acts with our money sometimes. I've written about this before, too. You can find my previous columns here, here and here.

I didn't have room in the column or the time to share all of the examples. You can read the report from the Government Accountability Office here and the comptroller general's testimony to Congress about the findings here.

If you're wondering whether your government ever acts on recommendations like this, you can monitor that here.

The Pennsylvania auditor general says reviews of corporate tax returns found errors that mean the struggling state isn't getting all of the money it's owed.

More than 1,250 returns were reviewed. Auditors determined corporations had underpaid by $40.8 million and overpaid by $5.5 million, resulting in a net amount of $35.4 million due.

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale wrote to the state revenue secretary on Monday - tax day - asking him to collect what is owed. You can find his letter here.

"In a $28 billion budget, $35.4 million may not seem like a lot, but it is enough to restore some of the devastating budget cuts made in the past two years," DePasquale said in a news release.

To make amends to homeowners who were mistreated during foreclosure proceedings, the feds reached settlements with banks and mortgage servicers to pay affected homeowners or provide them with other help.

The first batch of checks arrived recently, and some homeowners couldn't cash them. Nice. These people already may have been hosed once. Now they're being jerked around again.

"The paying agent for checks being sent to borrowers under the Independent Foreclosure Review has assured the Federal Reserve Board that early problems with some checks have been corrected and that funds are available to cash all checks," it said in a statement, which you can read here.

If you aren't familiar with the Independent Foreclosure Review, here's a primer I wrote earlier this year, and a recent update. 

I'd still like to hear from Lehigh Valley area residents who get checks from this settlement, as I'm trying to gauge the impact locally.

If you get a check and have problems cashing it, contact Rust Consulting, which is administering the settlement, at 888-952-9105. 

To give credit where credit is due, I first saw this reported today on The Consumerist (read it here).

I previously passed along the Pennsylvania attorney general's warning to be cautious when donating to causes for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Here's more information about things to watch for.

Today's Watchdog column notes that a suspicious Twitter account already has been shut down, and that more than 120 domain names were registered for new websites that appear to be linked to the senseless tragedy.

The Department of Homeland Security has weighed in on that, saying while the intent of the registrants is unclear, historically some websites end up being trouble.

Here are tips from a variety of consumer protection authorities:

Pennsylvania attorney general

Better Business Bureau

Arizona attorney general

Washington attorney general

Oregon attorney general 

The despicable bombings at the Boston Marathon have monopolized our attention for a full day now. If you want to show your compassion by donating, don't let some crook run away with your cash.

Dubious charitable appeals follow most tragedies, and apparently it's happening with this one, too. 

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane today urged donors to be cautious. She said reports have surfaced about "questionable charity appeals," many of them online. 

“Pennsylvanians are very generous, and they will surely want to help the victims of this terrible crime,” Kane said. “As with all charitable giving, it should be done carefully and wisely. You want to be certain your charitable donation gets to the people who need it most.”

Read her tips here.

More than a year after she died, an Allentown woman's children finally can go to the cemetery and see her date of death on her tombstone.

Arlene Bittner died in October 2011. Her daughter and son spent months going back and forth with the funeral home about the delay in engraving her date of death. They eventually contacted the Watchdog seeking help.

I wrote about their problem a few months ago, you can read the column here. And I'm happy to report that I was told this week the inscription was complete, and the problem is solved.

I checked it out today and it looks nice. I hope the family finally can rest in peace knowing their mother's final wishes finally have been taken care of.

When hiring a home improvement contractor, choose carefully. There are many good ones out there, but others will give you trouble, as I noted in today's Watchdog column about contractor Kevin Drake.

Here's how you can try to protect yourself.

That means you can't stop your research there. Your home is your most-valuable asset, and you should do more to check out the person you're trusting to work there. Here are other tips to protect yourself, and other resources for checking out a contractor:

Better Business Bureau

Pennsylvania county courts database to check for criminal cases

Pennsylvania district judges database to check for criminal cases and small-claims lawsuits. Here's a list of district judges, find the one that covers your neighborhood, or the community where the contractor lives.

Lehigh Valley Builders Association to check if a contractor is a member. Membership is a good sign.

It’s also a good idea to look for civil lawsuits and judgments at your county courthouse. Records for many counties are not online, so you’ll need to check in person at the civil records division, often called the prothonotary.

And don't forget to get references from your contractor.

If you run into trouble, you can contact the attorney general's office, your local police or the Better Business Bureau. You also can file a lawsuit.

Most checks that arrive unsolicited in your mailbox are fake ones from crooks who are trying to rip you off. But if you get a letter and a check from Rust Consulting Inc. soon, chances are it's real.

It's your share of a national settlement over mishandled foreclosures.

The first batch of checks - about 1.4 million of them - is scheduled to be sent April 12, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve announced today.

Future checks will sent in waves through mid-July. Recipients should already have received a postcard with information about the pending payments. I wrote about that last month (here).

The checks are headed to people whose homes were in foreclosure in 2009 or 2010 by 13 banks and their subsidiaries: Aurora, Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, Morgan Stanley, PNC, Sovereign, SunTrust, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.

Those banks cut a deal earlier this year with federal banking regulators to pay 4.2 million homeowners a total of $3.6 billion in cash payments and $5.7 billion in other assistance (mortgage modifications, short sales, deeds in lieu of foreclosure, etc).

The plan initially had been for the banks to review foreclosure proceedings individually upon request to look for evidence of wrongdoing through a process known as the Independent Foreclosure Review, which I wrote about in December (here).

The review program had sought to determine whether foreclosures included errors such as borrowers being foreclosed on when they weren't in default; being denied a loan modification that should have been approved; not getting legally required notifications; being charged improper fees; or being foreclosed on in violation of bankruptcy laws or a law that protects military service members.

But that process was slow and while bank consultants had been paid $2 billion, homeowners hadn't received a cent. So the feds and the banks reached a deal to scrap that process and compensate everyone who was eligible for a review, even if they hadn't asked for one. (See my story on the new plan here).

Homeowners could get anywhere from a few hundred bucks to as much as $125,000.

I'm not sure how many Lehigh Valley area residents are going to cash in. I know the Federal Reserve had mailed about 23,000 eligibility notices to homeowners in Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Monroe, Montgomery and Schuylkill counties.

If you get a check, let me know.

People with questions can contact Rust Consulting at 888-952-9105 or go to www.independentforeclosurereview.com.

While the checks from Rust Consulting are real, officials are warning people to be vigilant for scammers who may try to cash in on this settlement.

You don't have to pay anything to collect your money. If someone calls you and asks for payment to process your claim, or if you're asked to cash a check and wire money to pay taxes on your payment, that's a scam.

Today's Watchdog column warns businesses to beware of mailings and faxes that look like bills but may not be. In other cases, what looks like a harmless survey really could be an attempt to sign you up for a costly contract.

Here's what can happen if you don't read the fine print.

The Federal Trade Commission recently got a judge to temporarily shut down an overseas operation that it alleged tricked small businesses and non-profits into collectively paying millions to be listed in an online directory in which they had no interest in being listed and did not understand they'd be charged for.

Here's what the FTC said in a news release last month: 

"The defendants send mailings to retailers, home-based businesses, local associations, and others who attend trade shows.  The mailings mention a specific trade show or exhibition and are designed to appear as though they are merely asking the recipient to update and check the accuracy of information for the 'exhibitors directory' for the named trade show or exhibition.

"As alleged in the FTC’s complaint, the mailings include a form stating that the recipient’s basic information has been listed in the directory for free, and instructing them to confirm its accuracy or make corrections on the form.  The form falsely suggests that the parties have a preexisting business relationship and that the directory listing is related to the recipient’s participation in the named trade show or exhibition.  Many recipients do not notice a statement, buried in fine print at the bottom of the form, that by signing and returning the form they agree to pay the defendants $1,717 per year for three years.  Often, the person who returns the form is not even authorized to enter into contracts for their employer."

You can read the full news release here.  

Hang up if you get a phone call requesting personal information for your "national medical card" under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). It's a scam, authorities say.

The Pennsylvania attorney general's office issued this warning about the scam today:

          “Do not ever give out personal, health care or bank account information over the phone, unless you initiated the call and you know who is on the other end,” said Kane. 

          Kane says if someone calls, offering to help you obtain this nonexistent national medical card, you should call the AG’s Health Care Hotline at (877) 888-4877.  Any information you can provide-- such as the name, telephone number, or location of the caller-- will be very helpful. 

          You can learn more about this (and other scams) by visiting the Attorney General’s website at http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/

          The Health Care Section of the Attorney General’s website can be found here:     http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/complaints.aspx?id=458

I continue receiving complaints from people who are fed up with telemarketing robocalls. Some people get many calls a day.

Being on the Do Not Call list doesn't do the trick. These scofflaws could care less about that, and know that authorities don't have the resources to track down every violator.

But here are a few ideas that may help.

The Federal Trade Commission, which gets 200,000 complaints about robocalls a month, is just as interested at stopping the calls as you. So it set up a contest for the best ideas.

The winners were announced today. Their entries (which you can find here) are pretty technical, and it's up to the marketplace to decide whether they can be implemented.

The FTC also received several other tips that you might be able to try yourself now. They range from asking your phone company for help to setting up your voicemail message to trick automated dialers into thinking your number isn't active.

You can learn more about these tips in a video (here) from the FTC. 

The Better Business Bureau is in the business of grading how other businesses conduct their business. If you've ever wondered whether the BBB is subject to the same sort of scrutiny, the answer is yes. The national organization recently took a harsh stance against one of its chapters.

The chapter serving the Los Angeles area, BBB of the Southland, was expelled from the Council of Better Business Bureaus last month. Questions had been raised about how it accredited businesses, something I'd written about several years ago (read it here).

"We hold businesses to high standards for honesty, transparency, fairness and integrity, and we hold ourselves to those same standards," Carrie Hurt, president and CEO of the council of BBBs, said in a statement, which you can read here. "Over a period of more than two years, BBB of the Southland failed to resolve concerns about compliance with several standards required of BBBs, including standards relating to accreditation, reporting on businesses, and handling complaints."

The Los Angeles Times reported that the board chairman of the BBB of the Southland defended his chapter's record and resigned its membership in a letter.

"Our board has endured repeated, unjustified criticism that we haven't been exercising our governance responsibilities as the auditors believe we should," chairman Jerry Dominguez wrote, according to the LA Times article, which you can read here.