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How Consumer Protection Agencies Safeguard Our Daily Lives · Talking FACS

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  Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
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  of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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  and communities to improve quality of life.
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  Hello, and welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  I am your host, Mindy McCulley, Extension Specialist for Instructional Support
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  with Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky.
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  We are housed in the Martin Gatton College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment.
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  When you shop, you probably expect to be treated fairly, offered a reasonable
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  price, and sold a safe product.
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  Consumer protection agencies exist to ensure fair and safe transactions in the marketplace.
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  They are tasked with safeguarding consumer rights and interests.
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  There are many consumer protection agencies out there, but today we're going
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  to talk about three of them and find out what they do to help us.
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  So Kelly May, our Senior Extension Associate for Family Finance and Resource
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  Management, is going to share with us about fair and safe how consumer protection agencies help.
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  So welcome, Kelly. Thank you. I'm I'm glad to be here.
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  First of all, let's just talk about our big three, the Federal Trade Commission,
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  the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Food and Drug Administration.
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  What is the Federal Trade Commission, or also known as the FTC?
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  The FTC makes sure that competition is fair and that consumers are protected
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  across all different industries.
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  So they have their thumb in a lot of different pies, you might say.
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  So part of their job is to investigate and stop unfair competition.
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  They work on investigating and stopping scams, and they look into misleading advertising.
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  So if someone tries to trick people into buying something, like maybe with a
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  false claim, the FTC will step in to stop that practice from happening.
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  Sometimes they issue fines or other punishments to make things right for the consumer.
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  I recently saw something about a spice company.
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  We won't say the name here, but
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  action was brought against them with the FTC by another spice company because
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  the rival spice company said that they were misleading the consumer because
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  they were selling ground table pepper in a large container.
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  But because it was opaque, the consumer could not see that there was,
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  you know, really only about half of the container was actually full of pepper.
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  And so it was the same size of ground pepper container that has been used for decades.
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  But the actual weight of pepper has been reduced by about half.
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  Oh, wow. And that was really interesting.
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  That is fascinating. That's a great way that they protect the consumers.
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  And besides actual quantity and volume, sometimes it's issues with the claims that companies make.
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  So they promise that they will be the best and the fastest and the whatever it is.
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  And you can't just claim to be this and that. You have to be able to validate it.
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  And if you can't, they may come check on you. Right.
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  The other thing the Federal Trade Commission does that I like to tell people
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  about is that they provide assistance for people who have had their identity stolen.
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  They have assisted, in 2021, they assisted nearly 24 million identity theft
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  victims, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. and they provide resources too.
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  So they assist with recovery.
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  They have a whole toolkit for people who need it, who have had a problem and
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  now have this issue and don't know what to do.
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  And it helps step-by-step walk through.
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  This is where you start. This is what you do next. This is how you protect yourself
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  and bring everything back to order.
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  That's great. Yep. Okay. So then the next one is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is.
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  Kind of sounds like they're the ones who would do what you just said,
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  but they don't, evidently. Or maybe they do different things for that identity theft protection.
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  They do. They let the FTC handle the identity theft, and CFPB is a newer government agency.
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  And they came online several years ago to watch over how consumers interact
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  with banks, mortgage companies, payday lenders, and other financial businesses.
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  Okay. So they are in the finance realm and they are a regulator and their job
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  is to make sure that consumers are treated fairly by enforcing laws and making
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  sure, again, that they're not deceived.
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  So a lot of consumer protection is about that deception and making sure that
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  claims are true and that promises are honest and fair.
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  And for the CFPB, another thing is that contracts are accurate and specific
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  and do what they're supposed to do.
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  So if you are getting a loan, you want to know that the terms are what they
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  actually claim they are and not something different.
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  If you have a problem with a
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  financial product or service like a bank account or a
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  loan you can reach out to the cfpb for help
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  so they do take complaints and they'll take them online or over the phone and
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  they do investigate and try to resolve issues that people have one thing that
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  the CFPB does do is they provide educational resources to help people understand their choices so that if
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  they have the option to get a payday loan or a credit card or some other kind
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  of loan that they helps them compare and find the better deal for them personally.
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  Which may be one of several things.
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  And so I love that they offer consumer resources because like Extension,
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  we also offer consumer resources and we go see what they have to offer quite frequently.
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  The same with the Federal Trade Commission and the other consumer protection agencies.
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  We keep up with what they're looking at and that helps us to offer better consumer
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  protection information information on behalf of UK Extension.
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  So the last one is the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA.
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  And it would seem like the example that I gave earlier about the pepper would
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  fall under this administration, but because it was a competition issue is why
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  it fell under FTC. So tell us about the FDA.
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  All right. The FDA is an agency that looks at the safety and effectiveness Productiveness of products.
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  And so we often think of them looking at food and medicines and medical devices and things like that.
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  So that's why it sounds like pepper would fall under the FDA.
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  If it was an issue with how safe that pepper was, if there was something wrong
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  with the pepper that was making people sick,
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  then it may have been the FDA instead of the Federal Trade Commission,
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  the FTC, because the FTC is more, like you said, interested in the competition
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  and the fairness of the advertising around it. so it.
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  We have a complicated system nationally and in our economy, and we have a lot
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  of things going on at once.
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  And it's good to know that there are different groups that are out there looking
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  for different things, right?
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  Right. Keeping us safe. So the FDA is making sure that that food that we buy
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  is safe to eat and that the labels on the products are accurate.
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  So like when you see a bag of chips, for example, and it says they're lower in fat. fact.
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  How low is lower in fat? There is actually a percentage or a ratio that they
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  have to meet to make that claim.
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  And so the FDA can make sure that that label is accurate and that's what is
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  in that bag, that product.
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  So the FDA also checks medicines and medical devices to make sure they work
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  and that they're not harmful.
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  And of course, you know, research informs us over time and And sometimes things
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  change and sometimes they have to change their policies if they find out that
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  they thought something was okay and now they find that it's not.
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  So it's good to know that they're keeping watch on things and that those dangerous
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  products can be taken off the market.
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  Kelly, I, like you, am glad that we
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  have these various agencies that
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  are looking out for our welfare and making sure that the
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  products that we eat or that we purchase or that we use and that our finances
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  are safe products and that we are protected because that makes us feel just
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  a little bit safer as we go about our daily business.
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  Business thank you for taking the time to share with
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  us today thanks for having me i
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  enjoyed it if you are just tuning
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  in you are listening to Talking FACS and
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  you can find us wherever you find your favorite podcast. Thank you for listening
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  to Talking FACS. Wwe deliver programs focusing on nutrition health resource management
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  family development and civic engagement. If you enjoyed today's podcast, 129 00:10:00,844 --> 00:10:05,444 have a question or a show topic idea, leave a like and a comment on Facebook
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  at UKFCSEXT or send us an email at UKFCSEXT at uky.edu.
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  Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu to learn more about the University of Kentucky
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  Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program or contact your local Extension
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  agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
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  We build strong families. We build Kentucky. It starts with us.
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  Music.