DENVER — The Colorado Public Interest Research Foundation (CoPIRG) has created consumer protection tips and tools for some of the latest issues facing consumers for National Consumer Protection Week 2025.
Denver7 Investigates has compiled some of those tips below.
How to store important documents in the cloud safely
Danny Katz, Executive Director of the CoPIRG Foundation, spoke with Consumer Investigator Jaclyn Allen, about a new guide for storing important documents safely.
"The last thing you want when you have an evacuation order, whether it's a tornado or a wildfire or flooding, is to be thinking about, 'OK, what are all the documents and forms that I need? So we have a guide that walks through, what are all the different documents that you need? What are the kinds of identifications, not only the things you'll need immediately after a disaster, but just things that are hard to replace," said Katz. "We also have a guide on how to put some of that stuff into the cloud so that you don't have to worry about grabbing all those things in case of an emergency. You can put some of that into a cloud, and we have some suggestions on how to use end-to-end encryption services to make sure that stuff is safe."
U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s new consumer guide, “The best way to store important documents before disaster hits,” will help you disaster-proof your documents.
Lowering & Fighting Medical Bills
Denver7 Investigates frequently covers issues with medical billing, which is one of the top 10 consumer complaints in the state.
"On average, each of us is paying about $1,400 out-of-pocket every year on medical bills, and so there's a lot that you can do to make sure that you're not paying more than you need to," said Katz, who added the PIRG guides show how to get a good-faith estimate, appeal an insurance denial, understand a medical bill, negotiate prices and make sure credit reports don't include paid medical bills.
Consumers can push back against an insurance company that's denied a claim, Katz said.
"Only about 1% of people do that, but when they do, there's a very high success rate," said Katz. "So being able to push back on that is also something we can walk through, as well as a few other tips.
"For example, if you paid off a medical bill that shouldn't be reported on your credit report, and that's important because our credit reports determine the cost of so many other things," Katz added. "So, paid off medical bills should not be on your credit report, and we talk about how you can guarantee that's not happening."
For tips on fighting medical bills, check out PIRG's six-part guide: “Medical Bills: Everything you need to know about your rights.”
Finding the best credit card for you
Meanwhile, finding the right credit card can be a challenge with all the options.
"If you Google best credit cards, you're going to get a lot of advertising at you, and it's going to be about, you know, points and mileage and those sorts of things, but very rarely is it easy to compare APRs, interest rates, fees, and more often than that, that's what's going to matter the most, that's going to drive up the cost," said Katz. "So this new tool, this federal tool, it's an unbiased tool. You won't have paid advertising coming at you as you're looking at over 500 different credit cards. And you can actually select the features you're looking for, and it can give you that unbiased result."
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) offers the Explore Credit Cards comparison tool. CoPIRG Foundation discusses the importance and utility of this tool and explains how to use it.
