m
PAGE 2
Consumer's
Corner
by Barry L. Boneno
Executive Director
High Point Consumer
Credit Counseling
Every payday, Mr. John
Brown (a fictional name
for purposes of this
article] drops over to my
office at 142 Church
Avenue, Suite 200, and
willingly turns over part
of his wages to me. Mr.
Brown does not owe me
any money, but I manage
Mr. Brown’s money to
whittle away at his
mountain of unpaid bills.
Mr. Brow/n is a fictional
character, a statistic, He
represents the average
client I see every day, a
male about 33, with a wife
and two children, a
laborer, a man who rents
his home and owns a car.
(He thinks he owns his
car, but technically the
bank holds a lien on it for
the unpaid balance.)
Mr. Brown once owed
$3,400 to ten (10)
Creditors. That’s why he
came to me. The Creditors
were on his back and he
could no longer stand the
constant phone calls and
visits.
By working with Con
sumer Credit Counsehng,
Mr. Brown has learned
that most of his Creditors
will give him an extended
amount of time to pay off
the bills. They would
rather bide their time to
get their money than
repossess his car or
furniture.
In fact, the supporters
of Consumer Credit Coun-
seHng are local business
men, lawyers, major
employers, bankers, loan
companies, and the Model
Cities Commission, who
are more interested in
strengthening the econo
mic fabrics of the
community, not in ripping
it with debt-torn men and
women.
When Mr. Brown first
came to me, his attitude
was one of dispair. He
just could not see how he
was going to get out of the
mess he was in, and had
been for sometime.
I had Mr. Brown list his
income and his wife’s
income, plus another
asset such as savings
bonds, life insurance (few
clients have such assets).
Then he listed his
creditors, banks, finance
companies, retail stores
and the like, the amount
of each debt, the dates
due and the number of
payments behind to each.
I then have him to list the
amount of money his
family needs to live on —
for housing, food, cloth
ing, car, insurance, per
sonal allowances, med
ical, gifts, donations,
entertainments and the
like.
The difference between
Uving expenses and the
monthly income is what I
use to pay Creditors.
Often trimming expenses,
“tightening the belt”, can
increase the difference.
In addition, I may suggest
to some clients that they
secure a second income if
this is possible.
Finally, Mr. Brown
signs an agreement to
bring the designated
amount of money to me
every payday. Mr. Brown
also agreed to make no
further credit purchases
during the life of his
program until he had first
checked with me.
Mr. Brown has a long
way to go, about three (3)
years, but in the end his
bills will be liquidated,
and his pride, self-confi
dence, and family well
being will be restored.
If you would like more
information on this pro
gram, please contact me
in High Point at 919
885-0041.
if}
outreach
Humai\ Resources in Action
in North Carolina
by Jim Burns
Based on a study of the
1970 census earlier this
year by the Division of
Social Services of the N.
C. Department of Human
Resources, both the num
ber of people and the
percentage of the North
CaroUna population that
would be regarded as
"poor” declined substan
tially during the ten years
between 1960 and 1970.
There were 1,796,000
poor persons in the state
in 1960, this number had
declined to 992,000 by
1970. In percentage
terms, 39.4 percent of the
people in North Carolina
were poor in 1960
compared to only 20.2
percent of the state’s
residents in 1970. This is
almost a 50 percent
reduction in the number
of people in poverty over
the ten year period. Yet in
spite of our progress, the
fact remains that one out
of every five people in
North Carolina was living
in poverty at the begin
ning of the 1970’s. The
nationwide incidence of
poverty was 12.6 percent
— over seven percent less
than North Carohna.
Who are the poor in
North CaroUna? There
are a number of personal
and family characteris
tics that seem to produce
a high susceptibility to
poverty. In general, the
kinds of people who are
especially likely to be
Continued on Page 8
DEADLINE
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in the TRIBUNAL AID is THURSDAY NOON.
Material arriving at this newspaper atterwards
will be published the following week.
MAIL TO;
THE TRIBUNAL AID
P. O. Box 921
High Point, N.C. 27261
Know Your Rights
(Part three in a series.
The local Credit Bureau
keeps a file on each
person who is potential
user of credit in the High
'Point area. A new federal
law allows you to check
out and challenge any
untrue credit information
in your file.)
Suppose 1 have gone to
the Credit Bureau and
looked at my file, and
found that some bills I
have paid are marked
unpaid, or there is some
other unfavorable infor
mation in the file that is
untrue. What can I do?
You can tell the Credit
Bureau about the mistake
and they must check it
out, and correct it if they
find the information is
untrue or cannot be
verified.
If any information is
removed after this check,
the consumer may re
quest that the Credit
Bureau send the correc
tion to anyone who
received the wrong infor
mation about you within
the past six months,
Is there any charge for
this service?
If you have been denied
credit within the past 30
days because of this
wrong information in your
file, the Credit Bureau
must make these changes
free of charge. If you have
not been denied credit
within that time, but just
want to get the record
straight, the bureau will
make a very small charge
for the corrections.
On the other hand, the
High Point Bureau refuses
to make the changes after
an investigation?
(1) You can go to the
store or loan company
that made you the bad
report and try to work it
out with them or get them
to send in a letter stating
that the information is not
correct.
(2) You can write a
short statement of why
you think the file is in
error, and the Credit
Bureau must put this
statement in your file and
send it to anyone who has
denied you credit within
the six months.
(3) If you think that the
Credit Bureau has either
intentionally or negligent
ly retained false informa
tion in your file, and you
have been damaged by
THE TRIBUNAL AID
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8,1973
ASTROLOGY GUIDF
Bv
Aries
This column of ([uestions and answers on federal
tax matters is provided by the local office of the L.S.
Internal Revenue Service and is published as a public
service to tiixpayers. Tho column answers Questions
The Ram” (Mar Libra "The Balance
21-Apr 20) Your declara- (Sept 24-Oct 23) Do take a most frequently asked bv taxpayers
tions have stirred up a dim view of a promise
major controversy and in ^ade in haste. Most of Q. My state has a lottery. If I
some quarters they are your successes will come win one of the cash
interpreted as criticism, from your ovvn efforts but lax on'i^'“
So dear Aries, if you want a Gemini will be of great , ,
to win you’d better assistance in legal points, are"
decide that you are not You will be approached must be included in your in-
too big to eat crow, right? by an old friend for however, if you itemize
uy dll uiu iiieiiQ lor ygyj, you can de-
financial help. duct vour pamblinp losses,
Taurus "The Bull” (Apr such as the cost of losing lot-
21-May 21) Rather than Scornio “The Srnrnir>n”
. .1 i • T j.- tne bcorpion gambling winnmps. up to the
ry to be a materiaustic [Oct 24-Nov 22) The extent of your winnings. If you
success or an idol in the frustrations that you have winninRs, you can’t
eyes of some, strive experiences in the last
instead to make yourself fg.^^ months are nearly at prize in a lottery, it might be
the kind of person "you” an end. Beneficial aspects to ‘income
like. It is very important to ^ill begin to be apparent uZ?fy" la^gf TZnt in!
like yourself, Luv. So cut later part of ’73 and obtained in one year to
out the “grandstanding” , will carry over into 74 taxed in the lower brackets
, , uvci iiiiu /*± Qf your previous tax ,years,
ana get down to some vvith one exception. Do not More details are available in
serious business. engage in anv activitv Publication 506, “Comput-
, ^ ing Your Tax Under the In-
^ tnat involves a gamble. come Averaging Method.”
Gemini The Twins (May Write your nearest IRS office
22-June 21) For the sweet Sagittarius “The Archer”
sake of confessing you [JvJqv 23-Dec 21) Your well
have brought an ava- meaning friends taay
lanche down on your sincerely believe they are
head, Gem. Since you helping you with your
have paid your Dues biggest problem, only to
you should not be judged discover the problem has
too harshly for this one always been you yourself,
fall from grace. You see, isn’t that so? But don't
confession isn t ALWAYS depend on their, support
good for the soul. ^qo long, Luv, things are
about to change.
Cancer "The Crab” (June
22-July 23) You project Capricorn "The Goat” STAY
independence, dear, and (Dec 22-Jan 20) Nobody is AWAKE
that’s OK...you can ban- giving you the complete L#t doetor’l formula stop It
The l(M?aI police hoys club is
sponsorinj; a benefit showing
of a mo\ie. Tickets are $10.
Can I deduct the ticket price
as a charitable contribution?
A. A portion of the ticket price
is deductible, namely, that por
tion that exceeds the fair mar
ket value of the showing. For
example, if the regular price
of the movie is $3, your deduc
tion would be $7.
Q. I understand that the IRS
winds up with thousands of un
delivered refunds each year.
How can this happen?
A. The great majority of re
fund checks go astray because
taxpayers moved and left no
forwarding address with the
Postal Service. Still other tax
payers neglected to correct the
label attached to their tax re
turn. This includes, for exam
ple, changing a label to show'
a new address or name result
ing from marriage.
Errors or omissions in t»y
returns have delayed
to some taxpayers. They sKouW
follow the instructions pr,
vided with the notification tliev
received from the IRS to hel
speed their refund.
Taxpayers contacting tu
IRS about their refund shoSd
be able to pfive the name and
address as it appeared on the
return, the present name and
address, social security number
and the type of form filed.
Often. IRS employees can
find out almost immediately
what happened to a refund
check throuRb a computer sys.
tern available in many IRS of.
fices. The system indicates, for
example, when the Postal Serv-
ice has returned a check.
Undelivered refund checks
can be remailed almost imme-
diately to the new' address.
After October 1, however, all
undelivered refund checks’are
cancelled. Issuing checks in re-
gponse to inquiries received
after that date takes consider
ably more time because special
processing is required.
As for refund checks lost or
stolen in transit, those who
lave information on these
hecks should contact their
nearest Internal Revenue Office
immediately.
CHANGE yOUR
ITCHING?
die it. But your whole life facts, so rely on your own Zemo speeds soothing relief to ex-
isn’t it? So for one who far off the mark.
minor rashes, skin irritations, non-
poisonous insect bites. Desensitizes
face germs, aids healing. “De-itch’*
skin with Zcmo, Liquid or Ointment
Quick relief, or your money back 1
IID YOU BttV YOUR
FimNITURE
doesn t want it, you make show itself near
your own decisions and the middle of the week. It
accept responsibility. could be the start of
something big. Don’t
Leo The Lion [July hesitate. You may not get
^24-Aug 23) You would be this opportunity again,
wise to not express the Luv.
views you hold privately
on certain sublects to one Aquarius "Water Bear-
and all.^ You are asking gr" (Jan 21-Feb 19) Your
for criticism if you use usually steady disposition
your close pals as a forum is beginning to be a bit
for your opinions. A bit of erratic and worn along
soft pedal wouldn’t hurt, the edges, due to some
petty gossip. Don’t take it
Virgo “The Virgin” (Aug to heart...it will pass
24-Sept 23) Sometimes Continued on Page 5
your schemes are just too
amazing for words. So far I
you’ve pinpointed several j
targets that are paying I
off, but don’t “rush in | Please register iiK'as ;i siib,scriber to THIi j
where angels fear to n RIBHNAL AID for the following twelve montlisVj
tread." A little caution is | Enclo.sed is my six dollars ($6.00) advanced I
from a
TRIBUNAL AID
ADVERTISER ?
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Continued on Page 8 ^^e thing, old buddy. I subscription dues.
How to get your
refrigerator to cook things.
Stir the right things into
Jell-0” lirand Gelatin and
your refrigerator will fix
crunchy salads, interesting
fruits and new side dishes.
For over 250 exciting ideas,
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Box 8074, Kan- ra
kakee, Illinois, H iri
60901. JJcLL'O
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THE TRIBUNAL AID
P. O. Box 921
High Point, N.C. 27261
IN HIGH POINT IT'S BOYLES
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Ev0rything sold at a aiscount .
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TWO LOCATIONS
781 North Main St. PJi. 883-4147
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High Point, N.C.
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