The Best Personal Finance Podcasts

If you're a podcast sort of person, Get Rich Slowly has a list of 12 personal finance podcasts that they say are the best of the bunch—informative, entertaining, well-produced, and unique. "Money Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for a Richer Life" is their top choice:

The episodes are succinct but informative, and offer practical tips for dealing with money: how to improve your credit score, good debt versus bad debt, how to adjust your withholding, and wealth secret number one.

Meet Crissy, The High Priestess Of Coupon Clippers

Personal Finance Roundup

4 Credit-Card Protections Shoppers Should Know About [Smart Money] "Thanks to some little-known credit-card protections, shoppers don't have to get stuck with unwanted or broken merchandise."

Three Ways to Lower Your Auto Insurance Premium [The Wall Street Journal] "We looked at how insurers are calculating premiums these days and compiled a few tips."

6 gas-saving myths [CNN Money] "Sure you want to save gas, but there's a lot of bad advice on how to do it."

How to sell your hair for cash [Smart Spending] "High-quality hairpieces are still made from real human hair and there is a huge market for sourcing natural hair."

9 ways to build credit from scratch [MSN Money] "It's much easier to start with good habits than to repair black marks later on."

— FREE MONEY FINANCE
(Photo: BeautifulMachine)

Sallie Mae's 100+ Point FICO Drop Error Getting Fixed

Sallie Mae has publicly apologized for a coding error, potentially affecting around 1 million customers, that caused some consumers credit scores to drop over 100 points, and some consumers report that their dinged scores are already back up. If your score is not back to normal and you are in the middle of a transaction where your good credit is at stake, Sallie Mae said it will provide a credit reference letter. You can also call Sallie Mae customer service at 1-888-2-sallie. Sallie has pledged that the fix is in, but consumers can still take matters into their own hands by pulling their free credit report from annualcreditreport.com and disputing the incorrect information with Experian. Note, it's against Federal law for creditors to report false information to credit bureaus, and consumers can sue violators up to $1,000.

PREVIOUSLY: FICO Scores Drop Over 100 Points After Sallie Mae Recode, Potentially Millions Affected

(Photo: Getty)

FICO Scores Drop Over 100 Points After Sallie Mae Recode, Potentially Millions Affected

Your Complete Portfolio in Only Seven Investments

Costco Is A Great Place For Cheap Drugs

Store-Branded Credit Cards Triple How Often Cardholder Shops There

They tell us if we can get someone to sign up, and be approved, that we have guaranteed that that customer will shop at our store, on average, three times more often than they would have if they didn’t have a card with our store’s name on it.

- a retail sales clerk when asked what she thinks about the credit card applications she has to churn up if she wants to keep her job.

An Interesting Conversation About Store-Branded Credit Card Applications [No Credit Needed]

Card Won't Swipe? Lick It!

This was sent to us as an, "oh, this is gross and bad customer service," but I actually think it's a good tip for something to try if your credit or debit card won't swipe, and there's no plastic bags around.

Today, at the Costco in Rancho Cordova, California, a Costco employee licked my ATM card. When I tried to scan my card, the usual happened. It wouldn't scan. I tried several times, to no avail. The cashier, "Victoria A.", then took my card from me. I thought she was going to scan it at her register, but I was wrong! Instead, she licked her index finger, rubbed it on the magnetic strip on my ATM card, then ran it through the scanner. To be fair, the scanner DID read the card once the card had been licked. I think Costco should have a policy about employee licking. What do you think?

Rubbing the card through a plastic bag to build up static electricity also works well. Just based on my own personal experience, there's usually a large reservoir of plastic bags available in the general vicinity of the checkout area.

Costco employees should not lick ATM cards [Splash's Training Day]
(Photo: Ninha Morandini)

Don't Get Cheated On Closing Costs

Some homebuyers are pissed because when the actual line item fees for various closing costs come in less than the estimation, their closing agents are simply pocketing the difference. How do you fight back? This article on LawyersandSettlements says,

Ask if the recording charges are indeed estimates, and ask why. Then demand to see the actual recording fee(s) once actuals are established, and compare them with the estimates. At the very least, insist that you are re-imbursed for the difference once actuals are determined, and demand to see the paperwork after the fact.

Real Estate Overcharges: Others Get Rich on Your Money [LawyersAndSettlements]

(Photo: Getty)

Personal Finance Roundup

Eight Ways to Slash Travel Costs [Yahoo Finance] "Get creative with these eight tips, travel off the beaten path a little, and save some of your cash for when you get home."

Personal Finance 101: The Basics of Estate Planning [The Simple Dollar] "A short tutorial on estate planning: what you need to do to be sure that you are covered in the case of a disaster."

Work part-time [CNN Money] "Nell Minow, co-founder of The Corporate Library, says sticking to an unconventional schedule made her successful."

7 Things You Need to Know About Health Savings Accounts [Crosswalk] "If you are unfamiliar with how HSAs work, here are the basics."

6 ways to save money on car insurance as rates rise [USA Today] "There are steps you can take to lower your insurance rates."

— FREE MONEY FINANCE

(Photo: cgines)

Mo Rocca Shills For Bank of America

I guess Mo Rocca saw how good John Hodgman did with that whole Apple gig and decided to get a piece of the action himself and hook up with a major corporation for some funny videos. Unfortunately, no one seemed to warn Mo that Bank of America is a little different than Apple. Namely in that people hate Bank of America. Apple: shiny. Bank of America: vile cesspool. Mo seems like a pretty smart guy, so I hope at least he's putting his whore dollars in a credit union. Or at least somewhere better than Bank of America. A pile of dirty socks would suffice.

Mo Rocca On Banking [Official Site]

Latest And Best Online Savings Accounts Rates

Where's My Stimulus Payment?

The IRS has a tool that lets you find out when your Stimulus Payment will arrive. Just punch in your social, filing status, and number of exemptions on your 2007 taxes. Its usefulness is limited, though, as it can't tell you when your payment arrive until about a week before they send out the check.

Where's My Stimulus Payment? [IRS] (Thanks to Josh!)
(Photo: Getty)

Reach Chase Bank Executive Customer Service

BoA Closes Your Credit Cards If You Ask Why They Increased Your APR