There are no dues to join FCANF. For a single Lifetime contribution of $20 for an individual, or $30 per couple, members receive the following:
• Funeral Planner Kit, including information on burial, cremation choices, cemetery options, and your legal/consumer rights
• FCANF planning forms
• Price survey of area funeral services
• Names of mortuaries and cemeteries that offer reduced pricing for FCANF members
• Optional informative pamphlets
• FCANF newsletters
• Invitation to FCANF member events
• Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care forms are also available
• Organ/body donation information/forms for anatomical gift-giving
• For a free brochure and form to join the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Northeast Florida, call 904-379-0047, Jacksonville, Florida.
The National FCA Asks Congress for Federal Rules for Cemeteries:
New Funeral Laws are being proposed by Funeral Consumers Alliance because there are still no federal standards for the safekeeping of prepaid funeral or burial funds. Between 25 percent and one-third of all funerals performed annually are prepaid. A recently bankrupt network of funeral homes, cemeteries, and life insurance companies is in receivership in another southern state after regulators charged the companies with skimming funds from consumers' life insurance policies and running a Ponzi scheme to get more prepaid buyers on the treadmill. Authorities found the company had $987 million in negative equity. This Funeral Industry breakdown affects more than 200,000 families in at least 19 states, and hundreds of funeral homes.
In the state of Florida, funeral homes and cemeteries need deposit only 70 percent of the money you paid toward services and a fraction of what you prepaid for merchandise such as caskets and vaults. If you move or change your mind, the company can keep about half of everything you invested for your funeral and burial, even though they've given you nothing. It's legalized robbery.
FCA urges Congress to pass meaningful legislation which would, at a minimum:
• Bring all death-related businesses under the FTC Funeral Rule, and codify the Rule
• Create national minimum standards for state regulation of cemeteries
• Require 100 percent deposit of all prepaid death service money, and give consumers the right to a full refund or transfer.
For more information or interviews, contact Bev Miller in Jacksonville at 904-379-0047, or Executive Director Joshua Slocum at 802-865-8300, or email at fca@funerals.org
• For a free brochure and form to join the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Northeast Florida, call 904-379-0047, Jacksonville, Florida.
The National FCA Asks Congress for Federal Rules for Cemeteries:
New Funeral Laws are being proposed by Funeral Consumers Alliance because there are still no federal standards for the safekeeping of prepaid funeral or burial funds. Between 25 percent and one-third of all funerals performed annually are prepaid. A recently bankrupt network of funeral homes, cemeteries, and life insurance companies is in receivership in another southern state after regulators charged the companies with skimming funds from consumers' life insurance policies and running a Ponzi scheme to get more prepaid buyers on the treadmill. Authorities found the company had $987 million in negative equity. This Funeral Industry breakdown affects more than 200,000 families in at least 19 states, and hundreds of funeral homes.
In the state of Florida, funeral homes and cemeteries need deposit only 70 percent of the money you paid toward services and a fraction of what you prepaid for merchandise such as caskets and vaults. If you move or change your mind, the company can keep about half of everything you invested for your funeral and burial, even though they've given you nothing. It's legalized robbery.
FCA urges Congress to pass meaningful legislation which would, at a minimum:
• Bring all death-related businesses under the FTC Funeral Rule, and codify the Rule
• Create national minimum standards for state regulation of cemeteries
• Require 100 percent deposit of all prepaid death service money, and give consumers the right to a full refund or transfer.
For more information or interviews, contact Bev Miller in Jacksonville at 904-379-0047, or Executive Director Joshua Slocum at 802-865-8300, or email at fca@funerals.org
P.O. Box 8409, Jacksonville, FL 32239
