Money Facts Archive Get the real facts that will shape your future by having them delivered to your Inbox!

Webster’s College Dictionary defines legalese as "the conventional language of legal forms, documents, etc., involving special vocabulary and formulations, often thought of as abstruse and incomprehensible to the layman."

An easy way to take advantage of a consumer, therefore, is to (a) reduce a given transaction to a written agreement that (b) is highly unlikely to be read or adequately understood; much less actually "agreed to".

But when a disagreement raises its ugly head, watch how fast that written agreement is thrown in your face!

How many of the following documents have you signed without really reading or understanding all the "fine print"?

- your credit card agreements?
- your bank account agreements?
- your internet, phone, or cable agreements?
- your loan agreements?
- your mortgage documents?
- your insurance policies (home, health, life, auto, disability, etc)?
- your investment and brokerage agreements?
- your pension agreements?
- your warranty agreements?

Unfortunately, a vast majority of all these agreements which govern, for all practical purposes, your financial well-being are intentionally designed to be overwhelming in terms of their length, substance and design; in hopes that you’ll "sign up" without too much resistance.

You get the picture.

- Ed Smith, Publisher
The EHS Letter Manual