Your Better Business Bureau is warning the public to be extremely cautious of companies that are offering “free” advice on how to get government grants. Because of the recently passed stimulus package and other actions taken by President Obama, Web sites are claiming they can help consumers easily get government grants to pay bills or get out of debt. Contrary to such claims, the federal government does not award grants to help consumers pay general debt and complaints to BBB show that people who sought free advice were ultimately charged as much as $69.95 every month on their credit or debit card.
Immediately following the approval of the $787 billion stimulus package, Web searches for the word “stimulus” returned sponsored link sites like officialstimuluschecks.com and ObamaStimulusGrant.net, in addition to many news stories and Web pages discussing the bill. Ads for grant schemes used enticing testimonials such as, “I got my stimulus check in the mail in less than 30 days...”
Ads have also popped up on Facebook and other popular sites, directing the public to Web sites such as www.davidgetsgreen.com, set up to look like a blog written by someone sharing the secret of how they received $12,000 in government grants.
BBB has received hundreds of complaints from consumers who went to Web sites such as www.federalgovernmentgrantsolutions.com that sold information on how to get grant money from the government. Two Las Vegas based companies, Grant Instructor and Raven Media have set up dozens of Web sites and received 409 and 295 complaints respectively from consumers across the U.S. and both have earned an F grade from BBB.
Before paying any money for assistance in earning government grants, BBB offers the following advice:
- While it’s 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’s 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’ BBB Reliability Report™, available free-of-charge at bbb.org, before giving out any bank account or credit card information.
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Please note: Since the Council of Better Business Bureaus first issued this release, some of the Web sites referenced may have been deactivated or edited. Please contact BBB for more details on the original content.