When an insurer decides whether to offer you a new policy, or whether to raise rates on a current one, he most likely pulls a CLUE report that lists any homeowner or automobile insurance loss claims (or sometimes even just inquiries) that you’ve made over the past 3-7 years. Hopefully you monitor your consumer credit report for errors, but as you can see, that’s not the only one you should keep an eye on.
7 Restaurant Dishes That Are Too Embarrassing To Order By Name
By August 10, 2009
Perhaps you have noticed that restaurants like to give their food interesting names. Perhaps you have also avoided ordering the food by its interesting name because it’s completely ridiculous. We looked through dozens of chain-restaurant menus to find the 7 most painful-to-order names out there. Enjoy.
Credit Card Processors Launch A New Strategy To Defeat Theft
By May 26, 2009
This fall, credit card processors will being rolling out a new approach to preventing data theft, based on the assumption that it’s impossible to thwart every attack. Instead of keeping 100% of criminals out, they’ll segment and encrypt the data into such small chunks that it will no longer be a cost-effective crime.
Make Sure You Secure Your Smartphone
By April 24, 2009
Do you own an iPhone, G1, Blackberry, Windows or Nokia smartphone? Fancy phones are a nice target for thieves, and unfortunately they’re often packed with sensitive information that can be too easily accessed and exploited. Why not take the time this weekend to make sure it’s secure?
9 Legal Drugs With Extremely Disturbing Side Effects
By April 16, 2009
We asked for it and you sent them in, a smorgasbord of drugs with extremely disturbing side effects. Here’s nine of the most disturbing we found. Jeez! Sometimes the cure really can be worse than the disease…
It's Tax Day! Here Are Some Post Offices That Are Open Late…
By April 15, 2009
Today is the day, folks. You’ll need to finish up your taxes and send them on their way to the IRS.
16 Ways To Get The IRS To Audit You
By April 14, 2009
Bwahhhh! The Tax Man cometh! Here are 16 red flags to watch out for. If you wave them, it will be like if you called up the IRS and said, “Hello? IRS? I’d like you to come audit my sorry ass six ways from Sunday. Here’s my address.”
A Big-Ass List Of Student Loan Resources
By March 30, 2009
It’s a tough economic climate to be graduating from school — and maybe an even tougher one for those of you trying to get financial aid. We’ve put together a list of some financial aid and student lending resources to help make things easier.
Behold The 2009 Worst Company In America Bracket!
By March 23, 2009
Your nominations are in and the teams have been seeded, all that’s left to do is vote! Without further ado, the Official WCIA Committee would like to present… The 2009 Worst Company In America bracket!
Save Money On A Funeral
By March 6, 2009
Someone wrote to us this week that a person in his family is terminally ill, and that he was told “that the cost of the casket, funeral, viewing, and burial would possibly exceed 12,000 dollars.” He thinks that’s an “exorbitant amount of money,” and so do we. There is no reason to pay that much money for a kick-ass funeral that people will be talking about for years to come. You don’t need to be a cheapskate to manage this, either—you just need to be aware of your rights and know what traps to watch out for. Here’s our list of what to do the next time you have to plan a funeral.
3 Steps To Protect Yourself When Making Major Electronics Purchases
By February 24, 2009
Stores like Best Buy like to take advantage of your natural fear that a piece of electronic equipment that you just spent a bunch of money on is going to break. And, let’s face it, it might — but that’s no reason to rely on an expensive extended warranty from the retailer.
Top 10 Most And Least Affordable Cities
By February 20, 2009
The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo have put together an index of the most and least affordable metro areas. The index was created by calculating what percentage of a city’s residents making the median income can afford a house in that city.
10 Tax Incentives For You From Bush's Bailout Bill
By February 16, 2009
Remember that guy Bush? Well back in October he signed one of those fancy bailout bills and it had a bunch of tax incentives for you. Here are the highlights of The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 relevant to your tax return:
NY AG: Before Losing $15 Billion, Merrill Lynch Quietly Made 696 Employees Millionaires
By February 11, 2009
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wrote a letter yesterday to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), head of the House Financial Services Committee, (which is currently holding hearings Washington on how banks are spending bailout funds.) In the letter, Cuomo expresses concern that Merrill Lynch moved up their bonus schedule so that they could make sure that taxpayers would get the bill.
Mandatory Binding Arbitration: The Worst Choose Your Own Adventure Ever
By February 10, 2009
Mandatory binding arbitration agreements are bad for consumers for so many reasons that, unless you’re the victim of one, it’s hard to keep track of the various ways you can be screwed. So we’ve come up with this helpful illustration: a choose-your-own-adventure-styled trip through the arbitration process.
How To Not Get Sued For What You Said On Yelp
By January 23, 2009
Recently, angry chiropractors and dentists have sued Yelp reviewers for defamation, loosely defined as “publicly telling mean lies that hurt more than feelings.” Apparently, no one takes the internet seriously, until all of a sudden someone does. Here’s what anyone who leaves comments online should know about defamation.
GRAPH: The Decline And Fall Of Circuit City
By January 16, 2009
Liquidation is a time for reflection, we guess, so we put together a nice little time line of Circuit City’s precipitous decline over the past 2 years. We begin our journey in March of 2007, when Circuit City announced that it was firing everyone who knew what 1080p meant so that they could hire cheaper labor…
A Very Simple Flowchart Explaining The Digital TV Transition
By December 23, 2008
There has been some demand among readers for a flowchart that explains how you will be affected by the digital TV switch that will happen this February. Your wish is our command.
