• consumer 101

    Consumer 101: 3 Ways To Lower Your Out Of Control Cable, Internet And Phone Bills

    How much to spend on cable, internet and telephone is something nobody had to worry about only a few generations ago. Today, the Pew Research Center says that after housing, cable and satellite TV service was most frequently cited as a regular household expense (78%), followed by cell phones (74%) and internet service (65%). By contrast, just four-in-ten adults (42%) say they make a car payment. If you're looking for a way to cut the amount of money you spend on these "information age" expenses, we've got three of them to choose from. More »

    Feature

    12:18 PM on Thu Nov 13 2008
    By Meg Marco
    28,457 views, 74 comments

    Most discussed kwsventures: Cancel all 3. Life will move forward. more »

  • circuit city death watch

    Timeline: How Circuit City Came Undone

    Bankruptcy 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... More »

    Feature

    3:21 PM on Mon Nov 10 2008
    By Meg Marco
    45,490 views, 117 comments

    Most discussed Uh oh... Cleveland: I would love, love, love if this thing could be traced back to the firing of the experienced employees, who more »

  • getting out of debt

    5 Expenses To Cut Right Now If You're In Debt

    Let's say that like so many storied former-investment-banking-giants, you, the average consumer, have found yourself over-leveraged (wink, wink) and are looking to clean up your act before the whole thing falls down around you like the house of cards it is. Well, since you can't increase revenue at will, you'll have to decrease your costs. Where should you start? Here are 5 expenses that you can cut right now — so you can take the extra cash and throw it at your debt. More »

    Feature

    2:19 PM on Thu Oct 9 2008
    By Meg Marco
    58,969 views, 60 comments

    Most discussed Quatre707: If I cancel my cell phone, cable TV, Internet service, gym membership, and stop eating out... I may as well more »

  • debt

    How To Get Out Of Debt

    J is in a debt hole and needs help getting out. We're going to give it to him:

    We are pretty smart people who did some pretty stupid things and now we are just trying to get out of debt. We know exactly what to do in the future to manage our spending, savings and credit score. And we both agree that nothing is worth putting on a credit card if we cant go home and transfer money to the card to pay off the balance when we get home. But that doesn't change the fact that we are currently facing a staggering mound of debt and see no end in sight.

    J, you've got two choices: More »

    Feature

    12:27 PM on Thu Oct 2 2008
    By Ben Popken
    33,896 views, 104 comments

    Most discussed Norcross: I'm about to start this process myself. My wife and I got caught with her graduating law school (and thus more »

  • circuit city

    Dear New Circuit City CEO: Here's How To Fix Your Stores

    Yesterday, we asked you to tell us how Circuit City's new CEO should fix his stores. It's been a troubled few years for Circuit City. Before the former CEO resigned last week, he'd embarked on an expensive and drastic "turn around" plan that, well, let's be honest — failed. More »

    Feature

    12:13 PM on Wed Oct 1 2008
    By Meg Marco
    18,312 views, 68 comments

    Most discussed HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: Here is how to fix your company:Don't buy Blockbuster. You don't fix a failing company by buying a failing company. more »

  • investing

    How Not To Panic About The Stock Market

    Seeing the greatest single-day point drop in the Dow is probably not the kind of history anyone wants to be living through right now. The failure of the bailout bill to pass caused a big freakout in the market, which thought we were going to get a bailout today. But before you click the button to transfer all your investments to 0% return T-bonds (aka I give up on investing), first ask yourself if that's really in line with your long-term investment goals. Secondly, realize that point-wise it might the greatest drop, but it's not the greatest drop percentage-wise. In other words, we've been here, and bounced back, before. If you're decades away from retirement, today's plunge is a buying opportunity. Here are some thoughts about fighting the urge to panic. More »

    Feature

    5:36 PM on Mon Sep 29 2008
    By Ben Popken
    32,005 views, 78 comments

    Most discussed agnamus: While I appreciate Ben's sincere attempts to keep people from running on banks and pulling out of the stock market more »

  • wells fargo

    12 Confessions Of A Home Mortgage Collector

    A former Wells Fargo Home Mortgage home collector has stepped forth from the shadows to tell you what's really going on. Here's his confession:

    I was the best at what I did at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (WFHM) for years. What did I do? I was a collector. At Wells, collectors are in charge of most aspects of a loan, notably ability to repay (like repayment plans) and loss mitigation aspects (loan modifications, etc). I was also part of WFHM's disaster team. I no longer work there, thank god (and can take bathroom breaks that total more than 6 monitored minutes a day!). Here's what I learned that can save you from people like the kind I used to be: More »

    Feature

    12:36 PM on Wed Sep 10 2008
    By Ben Popken
    22,162 views, 61 comments

    Most discussed Yurei: "1. Chances are your mortgage is serviced (worked) by someone who has just graduated high school. A large majority of more »

  • Starbucks breakfast

    Starbucks New Healthy Breakfast Tasted, Opinions Formed

    Starbucks bravely asked us to try their new healthy breakfast items, knowing full well what a bunch of jerks we are. Why did they do this? No one can say. Anyway, it turns out that their new breakfast items are pretty darn tasty. Our full review inside. More »

    Feature

    11:35 AM on Fri Sep 5 2008
    By Meg Marco
    18,673 views, 88 comments

    Most discussed Segador: I agree 100% with Captain Duvel Moneycat being a regular contributer to this site. more »

  • returns and exchanges

    What To Do When A Store Sells You Box Of Crap And Won't Take It Back

    We get a lot of complaints about people buying things from stores like Best Buy and Target and finding that once they get them home — there's a bunch of bathroom tiles in the box instead of the item, or that the item is used, broken or smashed. When they try to return the thing, the store tells them that they're out of luck. When you ask why they think they can get away with selling you a paperweight instead of an XBOX, they point to some bullsh*t policy and send you on your way. You don't have to put up with this. In this post, we'll tell you a) How to keep this from happening to you in the first place. b) How to equip yourself with tools that will help you in the event that this does happen to you. c) How to take advantage of these tools so that you never get stuck with someone's old broken PS3. More »

    Feature

    10:29 AM on Thu Sep 4 2008
    By Meg Marco
    91,483 views, 125 comments

    Most discussed mdoublej: I'm afraid I may have started this trend in the early nineties. I worked at a software store with a more »

  • airline fees

    Top 3 Most and Least "Fee Crazy" Airlines

    Airline fees are a controversial topic these days, so we look a look at the fees that airlines were charging and picked the top 3 most and least "fee crazy" airlines. Avoiding fees is hard, so why not try to avoid the airlines that charge them instead?
    More »

    Feature

    8:30 AM on Wed Aug 27 2008
    By Meg Marco
    59,354 views, 92 comments

    Most discussed V for Vishnu: Its really too bad that the "Least Fee Crazy Airlines" don't fly outside North America. I need to fly more »