Consumer Education

For many parents, figuring out which video games are safe for kids can itself be a maddening game. Most game reviews in fan magazines and on enthusiast websites don't offer much help, with their fixation on geeky details such as frame rates, texture maps and physics engines. The packaging gives parents a few clues -- whether the game contains violence, strong language or sexual innuendoes -- but little else.

Regarding "Confusion rife for borrowers, study finds," June 14: Although the Federal Reserve and the Department of Housing and Urban Development oversee loan disclosure documents, the mortgage industry itself needs to practice full disclosure. In December, the California Assn. of Mortgage Brokers released its Consumer Education and Protection Worksheet. The goal is to enable a borrower to make an informed decision. We urge consumers to sit down with a qualified broker who will guide them through the complexities of the various mortgage products and give them honest and accurate answers.

The financing arm of General Motors Corp. will contribute $1.6 million to fund programs geared toward educating and assisting minority consumers with credit financing, as part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit charging racial bias in lending policies. GMAC also agreed to a markup cap of 2.5 percentage points on loans with terms of as many as five years and a cap of 2 percentage points on extended-term loans.

Federal bank regulators planned to roll out a Vietnamese-language version of their Money Smart financial-education program today in partnership with community leaders in Orange County's Little Saigon. The 10-session Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. program includes tips on using credit, the importance of savings and checking accounts and home ownership. It also examines how to avoid abusive and deceptive lenders as well as the high cost of payday loans and check-cashing operations.

People who sell herbs and other supplements may not be the best sources of health advice. When asked which supplements they would recommend for a woman with breast cancer, health food store clerks in a recent study responded with a litany of supplement suggestions, most of which have not been proven effective against the disease. Only a few warned of possible interactions with prescription drugs, and one store employee even suggested a woman stop her prescription regimen completely.