http://militaryfinancenetwork.com/2008/12/31/honoring-those-who-served-free-burial-for-us-military-veterans/ Personal finance for military, veterans, and their families Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:37:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://militaryfinancenetwork.com/2008/12/31/honoring-those-who-served-free-burial-for-us-military-veterans/comment-page-1/#comment-1217 Warren Stetson Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:32:33 +0000 http://militaryfinancenetwork.com/?p=191#comment-1217 Watch out for scams too. A very common scam done by non-government cemetaries and funeral homes is to offer Veterans Specials to surviving spouses where they offer a free plot for the Vet provided the spouse buys the spot next to it. Of course the prices are doubled on everything so the spouse ends up paying a fortune. Another thing I've seen is funeral homes charging families $70 or more for the taps bugler who ends up being a volunteer from the American Legion. People get screwed harder than you could ever imagine on funeral related goods because survivors are so messed up from the loss. A good rule of thumb is to use a consumer advocacy service such as the free Funeral Consumers Alliance located at http://www.funerals.org to help weed out disreputable businesses and ensure that you are not spending any more than you truly want to or spending money on services that you really don't need. Watch out for scams too. A very common scam done by non-government cemetaries and funeral homes is to offer Veterans Specials to surviving spouses where they offer a free plot for the Vet provided the spouse buys the spot next to it. Of course the prices are doubled on everything so the spouse ends up paying a fortune. Another thing I’ve seen is funeral homes charging families $70 or more for the taps bugler who ends up being a volunteer from the American Legion. People get screwed harder than you could ever imagine on funeral related goods because survivors are so messed up from the loss. A good rule of thumb is to use a consumer advocacy service such as the free Funeral Consumers Alliance located at http://www.funerals.org to help weed out disreputable businesses and ensure that you are not spending any more than you truly want to or spending money on services that you really don’t need.

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