Attorney General Plans Consumer Event in Boxford

Attorney General Maura Healey during an event in Haverhill last year.

Attorney General Maura Healey’s office is discussing the new Consumer Advocacy and Response Division (CARD) at events across the state, including one in Boxford this month.

As part of the 18th annual National Consumer Protection Week, CARD staff and the Community Engagement Division of Healey’s office offers “consumer education events across the state on topics such as identity theft, how to protect yourself from scams, retail rights, and financial literacy,” according to a statement. It announced the creation of the new division, “set up to provide highly-skilled assistance to individual consumers seeking help from the attorney general’s office.” Among informational events to be held across the state, one presentation nearest to greater Haverhill, “common senior scams and consumer awareness,” takes place at 11 a.m., Wednesday, March 23, by the Boxford Council on Aging, 4 Middleton Road, Boxford.

“Our office is dedicated to delivering the highest quality assistance to consumers across Massachusetts. This new division will allow our office to better protect people from fraud, unfair business practices, and consumer abuse,” Healey said. “We will enhance our approach to direct consumer assistance, expanding our reach across the Commonwealth, and re-doubling our efforts to make sure consumers are armed with the knowledge and information they need to avoid scams and other predatory practices.”

CARD combines the staff and resources from Healey’s Public Inquiry and Assistance Center, HomeCorps, a foreclosure prevention program, and the Elder Hotline.

“Staff can directly assist consumers in working with businesses to resolve disputes, answer questions, offer referrals to appropriate organizations or government agencies, and provide information on other available services and community-based consumer programs,” according to a statement.

The CARD division has been organized into “specialized teams that focus on the most prominent consumer problems.” Among those listed are auto transactions (purchase and financing), debt collection, data security and identity theft, housing, home improvement contracts and utility bills.

In addition, CARD will have a group of consumer specialists “dedicated to assisting vulnerable populations including the homeless, immigrants, veterans, and elders.”

Healey’s office, according to the statement, “fields thousands of consumer complaints annually and in 2015 handled more than 2,600 cases resulting in more than $6 million in relief for consumers.”

One thought on “Attorney General Plans Consumer Event in Boxford

  1. In the city with a mayor who almost single handedly put taxpayers $100Million in debt which will literally take decades to pay off, leaving little money for anything else, I wonder if this program is going to educate voters on how to recognize an incompetent liberal hack?