Agency Paying Off For Idaho Consumers

The Idaho attorney general’s Consumer Protection Unit recovered more than $1.7 million for Idaho residents in 1994, a 78 percent increase over 1993.

With its recoveries and settlements, the Consumer Protection Unit has more than paid for itself.

The unit settled a case that resulted in refunds and reduced mortgage premiums totaling $2,067,282 for 7,660 Idahoans who are Fleet Mortgage holders.

The unit also settled cases with the Baylis Co. Inc. and United Communications Inc., both Boise-based telemarketers, and two Las Vegas telemarketers, North American Enterprises and Professional Marketing Inc. The settlements and restitution obtained from those four cases exceeded $100,000.

The unit also obtained a $326,000 judgment against an eastern Idaho contractor, Mason’s Inc., and its principals. And it obtained a $190,000 judgment against a North Idaho contractor, Stratton Construction. Both contractors had bilked scores of Idahoans out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in remodeling projects.