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Three Wisconsin companies that called consumers on the state's do-not-call list have agreed to pay a combined $136,000 in fines for their violations, state officials announced Wednesday.

A fourth company has lost its license to telemarket.

Three of the companies solicited consumers over the phone without registering as a telemarketer as required. The fourth company called numbers on the do-not-call list.

The settlements are a result of enforcement by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection in December and January.

Two companies that solicited consumers without registering agreed to settlements: Universal Windows Direct of Wisconsin Inc., of West Allis, has paid a settlement of $30,000 for 192 alleged violations. 1st Midwest Mortgage Corp., of Madison, has paid $75,000.

Easy Mortgage Inc., of Madison, has paid a $31,420 settlement for calling numbers on the no-call list. Jerad Albracht, a spokesman for the consumer protection department, said the case involved 200 violations.

"In investigating no-call cases, we often look at a particular 'snapshot' in time to assess the number of violations," he said.

In addition, Creative Openings Inc., of Kaukauna, was fined $45,000 last May for making nearly 1.2 million calls between January 2009 and November 2010 without registering as a telemarketer. Of those calls, 597,000 were to consumers on Wisconsin's no-call list.

But state officials said the company failed to comply even after being informed of the 89 complaints that consumers had filed against it since 2004. As a result, officials have denied the company's 2014 application to telemarket.

The forfeitures, fees and assessments go to the state's general fund, the court system and to the counties, as provided by law, Albracht said.

"Consumers who take the time to register their phone numbers on the No-Call List have the right to expect relief from telemarketing pitches," Sandy Chalmers, division administrator for trade and consumer protection, said in a news release Wednesday. "Let us know about No Call violations, because we are actively enforcing this law."

No further information was immediately available on when the remaining calls were made or how many consumers each company called.

Wisconsin consumers are lagging behind consumers in other states when it comes to reporting violations of the federal do-not-call list to the Federal Trade Commission. However, consumers with Wisconsin area codes were more likely to register on the FTC's list last year than were consumers in most other states.

Consumers who want to file a complaint can do so on the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection's website, by sending an email to datcphotline@wisconsin.gov or by calling the agency's hotline at (800) 422-7128.

For more consumer stories, viral stories, scam alerts, tips and the occasional freebie, visit the Public Investigator blog at www.jsonline.com/piblog.

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