The Better Business Bureau of Central, Northern & Western Arizona is warning the public to be extremely wary of companies that offer "free" advice on how to obtain government grants. Dozens of web sites claim that, because of the recently passed stimulus package and other actions taken by President Obama, consumers can easily get government grants to pay bills or get out of debt.
Whenever there is a program established, like a tax rebate or a stimulus package, hundreds of scammers come up with ways to trick consumers by offering what looks like free advice, or by offering products that seem to help people get out of debt, keep their mortgages from foreclosing or otherwise help them get money. These companies and individuals prey on those of our citizens who find themselves in a difficult financial situation or are desperate. They are not going to help you. Those scammers exist to try to get money from you.
Hundreds of specific complaints to the BBB involve consumers who went to web sites that sold information on how to get grant money from the government. Some of these web sites look like blogs written by people who seem to be providing testimonials about how a particular company helped them get a grant or loan from the government. They are scams. More complaints have been filed by consumers who who sought free advice and were ultimately charged as much as $69.95 every month on their credit or debit card. Others complainants state that they ordered a “free” CD and then saw charges by the companies to their credit card.
What You Need To Know: The federal government does not award grants to help consumers pay general debt. There are no legitimate government programs that will help you get stimulus money faster. There are no "secrets" that you can pay for to get government money to pay off your mortgage or credit cards or to get a loan.
Before paying any money for assistance in earning government grants, BBB offers the following advice:
- While it is true that the Federal government does give out billions of dollars in grant money every year, most grants are given to help students pay for college or for specifically defined reasons such as for research or to businesses in particular industries.
- There is no reason to pay for software or guides when applying for government grants. Such information is already available for free on federal government Web sites including: www.grants.gov, www.Studentaid.ed.gov, www.govbenefits.gov and www.sba.gov.
- Always check out a business before providing them with any bank account or credit card information. Reliability reports are available for free at www.bbb.org.
For more information on scams that are pretending to be part of the stimulus package, visit www.arizonabbb.org or call 602-264-1721.
NOTE: If you see an ad on this page for free government grants or similar wording, that doesn't make it a legitimate company. The ads on the page are placed by an automated system, and it doesn't catch scam artists. Before you reply to any ads for free loans or grants or secrets, no matter where you see those ads, use the methods outlined above to check out the company before becoming involved with it.
