Money Minute: It pays to do your homework, BBB says [Video]

Consumers are getting better at consuming. Or so the latest numbers from the Better Business Bureau suggest.

Consumers checked out the BBB’s statistics on millions of companies a record 103 million times last year, up 18% from 2010. Meanwhile, complaints lodged with the bureau fell about 7%, to 927,000.

That tells us that more people are doing their homework before making decisions that affect their money. And as a result of such due diligence, they’re finding less to gripe about.

“That is terrific news, that’s what we want to see,” said Carrie Hurt, chief executive of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. “When consumers come to us first for information about businesses, they are much less likely to need our dispute-resolution services later.”

But there are still industries that are magnets for complaints. Topping the BBB’s list of most-kvetched-about firms are (in order): new-car dealers, television providers such as cable and satellite companies, collection agencies, used-car dealers, banks, phone companies, furniture retailers, car repair shops and online retailers.

For me, the takeaway here is that it pays to have as much information as possible before parting with your hard-earned cash. And for businesses, at least those on the above list, there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

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