UPDATE 5/4/08 - Funeral Consumers Alliance and the FCA of Greater Kansas City have sent a joint letter to Missouri Lawmakers asking for amendments to the flawed prepaid funeral reform bills below. We also sent a line-by-line analysis of what's wrong with a proposed bill from the Missouri Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors.

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Missouri lawmakers have two bills in the hopper that would supposedly “reform” the state’s prepaid funeral laws to better protect consumers from losing their money to shady companies that steal their payments or go belly up. Trouble is, the bills don’t go far enough, and they’ll do as much harm as good if they’re passed.

Neither HB 2469 nor HB 2594 [you can download copies of the bills at the bottom of this article] adequately address the worst problem with current law - the fact that funeral directors can pocket a 20 percent commission from consumers’ prepaid deposits, then skim the interest every year from the consumer’s account! Allowing this kind of legalized robbery is not only unfair, it fairly begs shady operators to pad their pockets today with money that ought to be left to fulfill their obligations to consumers at the time of death. To put it bluntly, the law encourages companies to build a house of financial cards by putting short-term greed ahead of long-term stability.

Update 5/3/08 - The next time a funeral home tells you it’s a great idea to “guarantee today’s prices” by prepaying your funeral, pull out this article. Funeral Consumers Alliance has long warned against prepaying for your funeral, but even we’re surprised at how widespread the scams and stolen consumer money have become in the preneed industry. The latest preneed company teetering on the brink --- along with hundreds of millions of dollars consumers have prepaid for “peace of mind” --- is National Prearranged Services.

Article Index
The FTC Funeral Rule
FTC Loopholes!
Letter to the FTC
ICFA Whining (letter)
FCA Comments: Trade Regulation Rule on Funeral Industry Practices
Sudden Boycott: A letter to the FTC
All Pages

The Funeral Rule, enforced by the FTC, makes it possible for you to choose only those goods and services you want or need and to pay only for those you select, whether you are making arrangements when a death occurs or in advance. The Rule allows you to compare prices among funeral homes, and makes it possible for you to select the funeral arrangements you want at the home you use. (The Rule does not apply to third-party sellers, such as casket and monument dealers, or to cemeteries that lack an on-site funeral home.)

For more information, visit FTC Facts for Consumers Page, our General Price List FAQ, and the additional resources found on the pages that follow.

An Invitation to Funeral Pricing Abuse

If we were to die Monday through Friday — with one funeral a day — and two weeks off for the mortician's vacation, the following chart shows the number of funeral homes that would be needed in each state, compared to the actual number. There are undoubtedly some funeral homes that can handle more than one funeral a day, which reduces the "needed" number accordingly and probably explains the figures for California, Hawaii, and Nevada.