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We have discussed at length all of the reasons why the United First Financial Money Merge Account (UFF MMA) program is a waste of $3,500. In fact, we’ve even proven how even if the software was FREE, consumers are better off not using it.

The evidence which  supports these assertions is based in simple math. A few simple calculations show that MMA loses every time against a basic do-it yourself method. It is common knowledge that the fastest way for a consumer to pay down a group of debts is to pay the minimum monthly payments on each bill, and after paying all required monthly expenses, send any extra cash toward the debt with the highest interest rate.

I’ve written extensively in the past about the train wreck that is Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) and its nutty CEO, Patrick Byrne.  Just when I think there couldn’t possibly be more to write about the horrible company and Byrne’s crazy antics, I’m proven wrong.

For those that have been following Overstock.com for the past few years, it came as a great surprise that the Securities and Exchange Commission decided to investigate the company and its financial reporting. It came as a surprise because for three years, Sam Antar (former CFO of Crazy Eddie and convicted felon) has been exposing their financial reporting misdeeds on his blog. Yet the SEC didn’t seem willing to take any action.

For years, Milwaukee County has been a bloated government entity. Spending has been out of control as the politicians continued to expand what the government controlled, and they didn’t seem to care since it was “only” taxpayer money.

When Scott Walker became the County Executive, he made a promise to not add more to the taxpayer burden. He’s kept that promise, and “essential services” have not suffered. Even non-essential services haven’t suffered.

More than a year after I started to write about the evils of United First Financial, its representatives are still trying to dazzle the crowds with bogus claims of factorial math.

It’s become clear that the primary method for selling consumers on this ridiculously expensive software that the consumer doesn’t even own ($3,500) is by confusing them. Prattling on about the massive algorithm used to determine the “optimal” method of paying down one’s debt to save the most money.

If you’re in the U.S. and you have a credit card, you may be very familiar with arbitration clauses. Most of the credit card companies, and plenty of other companies you do business with, have these clauses in their contracts. What they generally say is that you the consumer give up your right to ever have your day in court. Instead, you agree to go through binding arbitration, a private process in which the arbitrator makes a decision and you can almost never appeal.

Consumer advocates hate these arbitration clauses. The process is heavily weighted against the consumer, and the consumer has essentially no recourse if things turn our wrong.

It is often alleged that the arbitrators who decide these cases are not independent or unbiased. The credit card companies essentially keep them in business, so how can they be unbiased? Are they going to decide against their bill-paying clients?

But how do you prove the allegation that the process is rigged in favor of the credit card companies? It’s next to impossible.

But Deanna Richert, a former manager for NAF (National Arbitration Forum), has essentially blown the whistle on the process. She has filed a lawsuit against her former employer, and in it, she makes some serious allegations. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports:

In her suit, Ms. Richert describes a world that was anything but unbiased, where NAF went to great lengths to please the big credit card companies that were its repeat customers. See previous LB coverage here. Ms. Richert claims to have witnessed managers instructing employees to call arbitrators and tell them to change decisions they’d made against credit card companies. At the same time, the suit said, arbitrators also called NAF to ask how they should rule on issues before them.

Of course, the NAF says she has no proof of her allegations.

Except she’s not the only one saying that the NAF process is rigged in favor of the credit card companies. A Wall Street Journal article reports the following:

A former part-time NAF arbitrator, Harvard University law professor Elizabeth Bartholet, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year that NAF discontinued sending her cases in 2004 shortly after she ruled in favor of a consumer.

Before that case, she had ruled in favor of credit-card companies 18 consecutive times, she told the committee. She says she finished several pending NAF cases after she ruled for the card holder, but then wasn’t given more cases. The official reason the NAF gave for canceling more work was scheduling conflicts. But Ms. Bartholet said in an interview that an NAF manager told her she was likely removed because she ruled for the debtor. “Someone else will fill NAF’s vacuum if Congress doesn’t reform the [arbitration] system,” Ms. Bartholet said.

Forgive me for being skeptical of the fairness of the arbitration process. It’s difficult to rule against those who put food on your table.  And are these two women making up their stories? I doubt it.

It’s time for consumers to take a stand against the arbitration process which clearly puts them at a disadvantage and denies them due process. Oh sure… I understand that consumers consent to this process when they do business with the credit card companies. That’s why it’s time to either stop doing business with them or do something to force a change that makes things more fair for the consumers.

Kevin Thompson hires himself out to multi-level marketing companies to give them legal counsel. Supposedly he knows his way around the legality of MLMs, just like my buddy Gerry Nehra supposedly does.

So I was perusing Kevin’s website and came across this interesting diatribe about what separates “legitimate” MLMs from illegal pyramid schemes. I’ve written a lot about Mary Kay Cosmetics, Usana, Herbalife, Prepaid Legal, and the like. And guess what? All of them seem to violate the most basic rule Kevin sets forth… to be legitimate you have to sell mostly to people not affiliate with the scheme, but these companies have distributors who purchase the bulk of the products!

Yes, it can happen. And that’s exactly what happened to Sam Antar, former CFO of Crazy Eddie… a massive fraud for which he’s now a convicted felon. He’s had his eye on Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) for a couple of years, and despite stalking and harassment paid for by Overstock’s wacky CEO Patrick Byrne, Sam keeps on investigating.

This week Crain’s New York Business had Sam’s mug on the cover, along with a story about his forensic accounting skills.

Today Matt Taibbi posted a “shocking” article and video purporting to show a day trader engaging in massive naked short selling of a stock. And the firm that clears his trades, Penson Financial Services, goes along with it all.

As a fraud investigator, I take honesty and fair dealings very seriously. When I make a mistake, I own up to it. When someone I’m doing business with makes a mistake, I expect them to also take responsibility and make things right. I have been defrauded by Bagshop.com and its related brick and mortar company Petticoat Lane, and I hope to help others avoid losing money because of their lies too.