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The state of Florida is offering single-family homeowners in the state free wind inspections that can then be used to get insurance discounts. [My Safe Florida Home]
money
By 4.25.08
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Going broke on $100,000: A sample budget showing how easy it is for a family making six figures and with 2 kids to get sucked into deficit spending. [Dr. Housing Bubble]
By 4.25.08
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American Express’ profits fell 6% as more Americans defaulted on their credit card debts. [NYT]
4 Hints For Getting Your Ticket Money Back When The Airline Goes Bankrupt
By 4.25.08
We got passed a communique from the Fiserv debit-card processing company to its clients that offers some insights for consumers concerned about getting their money back if they have bought tickets on an airline that has gone bankrupt (as several have recently). Here’s the takeaways:
- Chargebacks can be filed on all tickets, whether they were purchased directly from the airline or from a third-party
- You don’t have to take a replacement flight offered by another carrier if you don’t want to
- You have 120 days from the date of expected travel to file a chargeback
- Depending on merchant policy, travel insurance may be transferable or redeemable
(Thanks to mac-phisto!)
10 Ways To Save Real Money
By 4.25.08
The champagne is dry and crusty, and all the hundred-dollar bills used to light cigars have crumbled into ash. It’s time to tighten our belts and get real about spending less and saving more. Here’s 10 ways to save some serious cash…
How To Thaw Your Frozen HELOC
By 4.25.08
According to Yahoo Finance, there are several things you can do if you are one of the many homeowners who found out that their home equity line of credit was frozen by the lender. If your HELOC is frozen you can:
Advice On How To Raise Financially Savvy Kids
By 4.25.08
CNN asks some money experts for tips on how to teach kids about personal finance. Laura Levine, the executive director of Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, says she uses a special piggy bank for her 3-year-old son—it has four chambers, “one for saving, one for spending, one for donating and one for investing,” and helps teach him that money is not just for “one thing.”
Rebate Checks Start Arriving Monday!
By 4.24.08
Monday is your lucky day, taxpayer, that’s when rebate checks start arriving, ahead of schedule. That’s right, the rebates were originally slated for May 2nd, but thanks to “a new computer program that updates records daily – faster than an older program that updates weekly,” Americans will start getting their free beer money on April 28th. Wow, IRS and efficiency together in the same sentence?
Use Electronic Postage And Highlighter To Guarantee Mail-In Rebate Success
By 4.23.08
Rebates are one of those “sales games” where the companies use all sorts of rules and tricks to reduce the likelihood that most consumers will “successfully” complete all the steps, but if you’re anal and like getting money, like this guy over at the SlickDeals forums, you can do a few things involving highlighters and electronic postage to improve your odds:
5 Credit Card Scams To Beware
By 4.23.08
Completely fictional companies pass these charges onto people’s credit card bills and bank accounts and cellphone bills. The processing companies just pass them on and it’s up to consumers to monitor their bills and dispute the charges. So the fake company is just very nice about canceling all the charges from the people who complain, and then they rake in from all the people who don’t check their bills close enough.5. “Cramming”
Completely fictional companies pass these charges onto people’s credit card bills and bank accounts and cellphone bills. The processing companies just pass them on and it’s up to consumers to monitor their bills and dispute the charges. So the fake company is just very nice about canceling all the charges from the people who complain, and then they rake in from all the people who don’t check their bills close enough. [More]
WaMu Reverses Decision To Exclude Subprime Losses From Executive Bonus Calculations
By 4.22.08
Activist shareholders forced big changes at a Washington Mutual stockholder’s meeting last week, especially the reversal of a much-criticized decision to exclude subprime losses when calculating executive bonus pay. Washington Mutual was one of the lenders cavorting the most eagerly in the refuse trough of subprime lending, and has endured some of the largest losses as a result. Other key shareholder wins included splitting the CEO and Chairman position, and the resignation of several key board members. Nice job, activist shareholders, way to wake the hell up long after the damage was done.
By 4.21.08
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As supermarket prices rise, people aren’t just trading down from name brand food to store brands, they’re also trading down from more expensive organic brands. Also, making their own detergent. [CNN Money]
Commerce Bank Workers Only Allowed One Courtesy Fee Reversal Per Customer?
By 4.21.08
Fun fact, it seems like Commerce Bank employees only get one fee reversal per customer account. I had three fees, two cycle-service charges and an “account inactivity” fee. The supervisor agreed to waive the two cycle service charges but wouldn’t budge on the inactivity fee. I popped back in a few days later and tried speaking to a different rep to see if I would have better luck. He wasn’t able to do it for me and he was even surprised to see that the two cycle service charges were gone. “I’ve never seen more than one of them waived before,” he said. “I guess they must have had two different people punch in requests…” So that sounds like the normal rule might be only fee reversal per employee per customer account. Just something to keep in mind should you be doing fee battle with Commerce Bank.
By 4.18.08
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This guy says he saves $500 a year on groceries by buying the whole cow from local farms. [Lifehacker]
Banks Canceling All App-O-Rama Player's Credit Cards?
By 4.17.08
Are credit card companies cracking down on “app-o-rama” (AOR) gamers, those folks who do a slew of credit card applications at the same time for to get as many bonus offers, credit lines, and 0% balance transfers as they can? After some of these FatWallet forum members did an AOR, all their credit cards were closed with one bank. For one guy, stook2001, this meant five new Citicard credit card accounts as well as three already existing Citicard accounts in good standing. The only reason given for the closing was the number of inquiries on his credit report. AOR thrived when credit card companies were throwing all sorts of enticing promotional offers in a desperate drive to get more customers. Now that credit card defaults are rising and credit card companies are trying to get rid of customers that might end up as liabilities, AOR could be just as on its way out as a no-doc stated income interest-only option-ARM mortgage.
The 9 Ways to Get Rich
By 4.16.08
The personal finance blogger at Can I Get Rich on a Salary has detailed nine ways he believes people can become rich. His list includes the following:
